The GCC and the ORV Coalition

OFF-ROAD VEHICLE REGISTRATION A REALITY
After 7 years of hard work by the Coalition for Licensing and Registration of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs), the British Columbia government has announced it will implement expanded regulations for all ORVs.

British Columbia has been the only place in North America to have no legislation in place regarding ORVs and one of the few provinces in Canada with no management strategy for and no plan in place to regulate the sport. On November 10, 2009, the BC government announced that rules for ORV registration and licensing, helmet use, youth safety and environmental measures will be implemented over the next two years under a new ORV management framework

For further information, please see:
BC manages off-road vehicles (BC Government news release)
New BC rules for off-road vehicles (CBC news story)
The Coalition for Licensing and Registration of Off-Road Vehicles (Coalition's website) 

Coalition for Licensing and Registration of Off Road Vehicles

The Coalition for Licensing and Registration of Off-Road Vehicles is a broad-based alliance of motorized recreation interests: conservation organizations, industry and government industries. It has a very clear mandate: to achieve provincial licensing and registration of ORVs that includes a management strategy for ORVs in British Columbia.

The coalition has been working collaboratively on these issues since 2002. In 2006, it released its recommendations, Solutions for a Sustainable Future: Final Recommendations for Registration, Licensing and Management of Off-Road Vehicles in BC, to the provincial government for consideration as the foundation of ORV legislation in BC.

In September 2002 initial discussions took place between the Quad Riders Association of British Columbia (ATV/BC) and the Grasslands Conservation Council of British Columbia (GCC). The GCC committment to the ORV issue had already begun with the ATV Backgrounder document and the formation of the ATV Committee in early 2002 and the subsequent publication of BC Grasslands magazine in August of 2002 that focused on the ORV issue.

As a result of the September 2002,  there was a great deal of exciting progress on the ORV licensing and registration issue. To address the need for improved management of all off-road vehicles in BC, the GCC teamed up with the following groups :

• Quad Riders Association of British Columbia
• Federation of British Columbia Naturalists
• British Columbia Snowmobile Federation
• Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – BC
• British Columbia Cattlemen’s Association
• Greater Kamloops Motorcycle Association
• Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia
• TrailsBC
• Okanagan Trail Riders Association
• Pacific North West Motorcycle Association

Together, these groups created the Coalition for the Licensing and Registration of Off Road Vehicles (ORVs).

Key provincial government agencies also agreed to participate in the Coalition in an advisory capacity. There is active participation from:

• Ministry of Forest
• Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries
• Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
• Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection

The Coalition’s mandate is to achieve provincial licensing and registration of ORVs and improved management of all off-road vehicles in British Columbia. It is the Coalition's intent to:

• Work closely to secure support from MLAs, Ministers and other grassland user-groups;
• Work with a consultant who will produce a document that will assist government in developing an off-road vehicle management strategy, including legislation and various delivery mechanisms for licensing and registration of off-road vehicles in BC; and to
• Help to implement an off road vehicle strategy for the province 

Since 2002, the coalition has been working collaboratively to achieve improved management of ORVs in British Columbia. In 2005, the coalition made great strides towards a solution for the many issues that surround ORV use in BC by releasing 47 recommendations to the provincial government in a document called Solutions for a Sustainable Future: Final Recommendations for the Licensing, Registration and Management of Off-Road Vehicles in BC.

While this process in underway, the GCC will continue to inform government and other interest groups about the urgent need for a system of licensing and registration as well as the need for an effective educational process as a means to achieve environmentally responsible use of off-road vehicles.

The GCC and the ORV Coalition are working proactively to inform government and other interest groups about the impacts of Off Road Vehicle (ORVs) and the urgent need to put in place an effective management system, including licensing and registration, so people can be held accountable when they use their off road vehicles in closed areas or in a manner that damages the environment. The GCC and its partners believe that if better planning and management are combined with an effective education process, the province of BC can achieve environmentally responsibly legislation that concern the use of off-road vehicles.

The Coalition is committed to educating the general public and has been interviewed on CBC Radio on two separate occasions as part of their outreach program.

• For a transcript of the first interview  with MLA Bill Bennett and Bev Felske (ATV/BC) about the Coalition for Licensing and Registration of Off Road Vehicles on BC Almanac, May 15 2003, click here.
• For a transcript of the second interview on BC Almanac October 15, 2003 regarding habitat loss in the Kootenays, click here.

For other ORV resources, click here.

For more information about this conservation initiative, contact Tasha Sargent, Stewardship Planner (GCC) at tasha.sargent@bcgrasslands.org or (250)374-5787.