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File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "The British Columbia Experience" for the Planning for Rural Growth event in Whatcom County, Bellingham, Washington.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This is an important overview document of the farmland preservation program, summarizing the situation after about 6 years since the program's introduction.

There are several interesting points made in the paper - which was given to a non-BC / Canadian audience. A sample of these points included:

• The ALR is based on ecological characteristics of the land and this was very important to the ALR's
  success;
• The ALR is a long term zone;
• The legislation is not enough - the ALR will not be secure until agriculture and the farming community become an integral part of planning at every level;
• The Langley Properties and work of the Property Management Branch which re-surveying the properties into viable commercial farm units;
• Conflicting priorities of provincial agencies create difficulties;

GGR observes that the Commission has the opportunity "... to have provincial input into planning for agriculture." This is an action, that in due course, the Commission would play a leadership role."

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka to the Canadian Council on Rural Development entitled "Land Use Control".

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This is another important document.

GGR covers several points including a discussion of the impact of changes to rural areas from the food producer's perspective. He notes that local governments are not well positioned to effectively achieve farmland preservation - but there is a need for a coordinated approach.

The point is made that good rural planning depends on good urban planning.

A summary is made of efforts at rural planning and farmland preservation in other North American jurisdictions. An example is outlined of the complexity of overlapping land use controls and returns to a common theme - "merging the reality of land as a commodity with the ethic of land as a natural resource"."

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka to the Canada Soil Survey Committee in Ottawa entitled "Land Capability Analysis".

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This is a fairly technical speech explaining the history, and mechanics of the evolving land capability analysis process in BC. It gives insight into this early period in which there was a fair amount of trial and error to develop the best techniques to display and utilize information.

From an agricultural perspective the speech notes (p.5) that compatibility between agriculture and other sectors is not high. The speech demonstrates what would emerge as an important link between Land Capability Analysis and the ALR. On page 7 "possible predictions that will result in land use conflicts but perhaps better long range planning" are insightful and in the case of this statement, reads like a tentative foreshadowing of the BC farmland preservation program that would emerge in about two years.

"(1) Agriculture - "(c) Conservation of agricultural land through rural zoning of those high capability and high productivity soils, near markets."

It is unknown if the use of the acronym C.S.S.C was intended to refer to the "Canada Soil Survey Committee", which held its eighth meeting in Ottawa in 1970, or to the "Canadian System of Soil Classification. Regardless, for more information on the subject a copy of the 1998 / 187 page report by the Soil Classification Working Group entitled, "The Canadian System of Soil Classification" can be found here: https://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/manuals/1998-cssc-ed3/cssc3_manual.pdf "

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka at UBC entitled "Land Capability Analysis".

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "BC Experience: Establishing Priorities for the Use of Rural Land Resources" for the Canadian Institute of Planners Annual Conference in Kitchener, Waterloo.

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This is a second speech GGR gave at the 1980 CIP Conference.

The 'rural' stage is set by stating that BC is 94% crown land of which 53% is unreserved crown land - so lots of rural land to plan for.

The paper largely outlines 8 examples of rural land use priorities in BC including:

1. Integrating rural land use policy under the Environment and Land Use Act
2. Agricultural Land Commission Act protecting farmland
3. Forest and Range Act
4. Municipal and Regional government community, settlement and regional plans - largely on non-crown land
5. The Federal government's amended Fisheries Act
6. Special Statutes Planning - The Islands Trust Act
7. Crown land Planning Strategies
8. Environment Planning via an Environment Act, Water Basin Plan and Wildlife along with complimentary legislation.

The paper helps to place the farmland preservation in the context with other land use planning efforts in British Columbia."

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Consensus Decision Making" for an Executive Development Program.

File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "B.C. Agricultural Land Preservation Program". This speech was originally given on March 23, 1977 at the Sol Conservation Society of America National Symposium. Includes a version of the speech turned into a paper submitted for publication as "British Columbia's Agricultural Land Preservation Program" in the Assessors Journal. The speech and paper is accompanied by:

• supplementary transparencies for presentation
• Resume for G. Gary Runka
• Canada Land Inventory Ratings
• Summary of Applications Processed under the Land Commission Act
• Areas Included and Excluded from the ALR by Year
• Flow Chart for Applications under the Agricultural Land Commission Act

Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"This speech was given on March 23, 1977 and represents a major paper given to an international audience.

GGR provides a contextual overview of B.C. and breaks his speech into an overview of the legislation, how the ALR was established and the administration of the Reserve.

The speech, in part, draws upon themes in other speeches but this paper tends to pull all these subjects together in this single presentation.

GGR notes that up to this point 80% of the exclusion applications are from non-farmers and it is estimated that the program has saved 40,000 acres (16,187 ha.) of farmland from being converted to irreversible uses.

GGR outlines several key principles to having a successful program to preserve agricultural land including:

• Regulations must be based on solid technical data people can understand;
• Any control mechanism needs to be basically apolitical;
• Must include shared decision-making - local governments and the public were involved in creating the ALR plans and local governments continue to provide comments and recommendations on applications; and
• Ensure opportunity for integration and communication with the Ministry of Agriculture and other provincial government agencies and Advisory Committees of the B.C. Federation of Agriculture.

This speech was published as part of the symposium proceedings: "Land Use, Tough Choices in Today's World: The Proceedings of a
National Symposium, March 21-24,1977, in Omaha, Nebraska" by the Soil Conservation Society of America."