File consists of a speech given by Gary Runka entitled "Urban Growth Impact on Rangelands in British Columbia" for the Society for Range Management - Pacific Northwest Section in Spokane, Washington.
Commentary on this speech by Barry Smith of the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands:
"In this speech GGR focuses on a single example of the Lauder Ranches at Glimpse Lake (north east of Merritt and about 12 km north of Douglas Lake) and states that his perspective for the purpose of his presentation is to look through the eyes of one that perceives the utilization of the forage resource to best advantage is for red meat production as opposed to the view of the urban planner.
In this example it appears the "urban" land use is a proposal to subdivide land along the lake shore for residential / recreation purposes.
GGR outlines the potential impacts on the long standing ranching operation. In his summary he mentions his concern with regard to recent changes to the (now) Agricultural Land Commission Act in stating, "...I think recent amendments to the Agricultural Land Commission Act opening appeal of Commission decisions to the political arm is going to cause serious problems (politicians do not understand the impact question)..." This is a reference to the appeal mechanism to ELUC.
There is also an appeal for beef producers to get involved more directly in planning and political processes which is a theme GGR has expressed in previous speeches."
