Connell, David

The Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-KMA) in northern British Columbia is globally significant for its size, special resource management, and cultural and ecological values. These characteristics were secured in perpetuity through the British Columbian Government’s M-KMA Act in 1998. However, today low public awareness and engagement are seen as threats to the M-KMA’s effectiveness and longevity. Using a mixed-methods approach, this research examined the role of awareness and engagement in safeguarding the M-KMA by conducting semi-structured interviews and a media analysis, both of which informed a public survey. Informing the research design were underlying theories in sense of place, place branding, and the relationship of planned behaviour to place-protective behaviour. Additionally, resource management practices like ecosystem-based management informed the research design and methods of public participation in policy formation.

With the continuous expansion of the oil and natural gas fields, there is growing concern regarding the impacts of oil and natural gas activities on the agricultural land base in northeast British Columbia. The Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) and Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) entered a binding contract, called the Delegation Agreement (DA), in an attempt to manage oil and gas activities on ALR lands and streamline the land use application process. However, with increasing activities in the region, too much prominence has been given to oil and gas development and not enough to farmland protection, which is the fundamental mandate of the Agricultural Land Commission Act (ALCA).

Following a protracted attempt at voluntary metropolitan planning in the Calgary region, that was characterized by ongoing rural-urban tensions, in 2017, the Government of Alberta mandated seven urban and three rural municipalities to participate on the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) to develop a regional growth strategy. The purpose of this research was to inform metropolitan planning that protects farmland within the context of the CMRB mandate. Using the Municipal District of Foothills, a rural municipality with membership on the CMRB, to focus the research, the local legislative framework for farmland protection was evaluated and land use priorities were identified. Farmland was found to be at risk of conversion and fragmentation to support commercial, industrial, and residential development, and urban growth as a result of deficiencies in the legislative framework that allowed conversion. Based on these findings, it was recommended that Calgary metropolitan planning include policies that enable farmland protection.