Natural Resource Officers

British Columbia has numerous laws to protect its land, water, forests and cultural resources. 95 Natural Resource Officers (NROs) work throughout British Columbia to ensure compliance with legislation and take enforcement actions as necessary.

Mandate of Natural Resource Officers:

Conduct compliance inspections and take enforcement actions, including investigations of commercial business operations and activities of individual members of the public.

Enforce compliance with government regulations that have been established to:

Protect the environment

landslide areas
streams and fish habitat
community watersheds
productive forests, biodiversity considerations and sensitive ecosystems

Prevent revenue loss

unauthorized harvest of trees or other forest products
land use authorizations
revenue recoveries related to forest damage from human-caused wildfires

Protect economic or social interests

protection of recreation site facilities
enforcement of fire use and land use prohibitions

Improve health and safety

use of resource roads
protection of water sources and streams
integrity of resource roads

Natural Resource Officer Brochure (PDF)

Key Functions & Methods

Natural Resource Officers use a range of tools and actions to enforce B.C.’s resource management laws. They include:

educating the public and maintaining a presence in the field
completing compliance inspections:
- routine inspections, in response to complaints or incidents
- scheduled inspections (co-ordinated with Natural Resource Sector partners), in response to the ministry’s identified priorities
investigating alleged non-compliance with legislation, when enforcement action is being contemplated
taking enforcement actions
- Find out more about enforcement actions

Areas of enforcement

investigations of human-caused wildfires, safe use of campfires, industrial land clearing and debris burning (Wildfire Act)
designated heritage sites or heritage resources (Heritage Conservation Act)
unauthorized use of Crown land, illegal cabins, unauthorized foreshore structures such as wharfs, retaining walls and infill (Land Act)
water management and conservation (Water Sustainability Act)
damage to the environment caused by off-road vehicle use (Forest and Range Practices Act and Off-Road Vehicle Act)
livestock, hay use and Crown pastures (Range Act)
recreation sites and trails, forest use, theft from forests, reforestation, harvesting practices, resource roads (Forest and Range Practices Act)
road and silviculture legacy obligations (Forest Practices Code of B.C. Act)
cutting and licensing of Crown timber, timber valuation, transportation monitoring, marking and scaling (Forest Act)

Designations, authority and legislation enforced by NROs

Natural Resource Officers are authorized to enforce a broad range of environmental and natural resource laws:

Lead responsibility

Secondary responsibility

Some Natural Resource Officers have also been designated as Special Provincial Constables and some officers have the authority to enforce provisions of the following legislation:

Public feedback

If you have questions or concerns about the conduct of any Compliance and Enforcement Branch staff member, please use the following form to provide feedback.