The Coastal Douglas-fir (CDF) Biogeoclimatic Zone is one of the smallest ecological zones in British Columbia (BC), with rare vegetation species and globally unique ecosystems. This rich biodiversity store also helps to boost community resilience to climate change. At the same time, the development pressures these communities face to provide affordable housing for a quickly-growing population threatens efforts to protect these ecosystems. Planners thus need useful planning tools that can respond to this specific context and effectively address both concerns.

This report sets out to better understand density transfer mechanisms in British Columbia and the CDF zone, and its potential as a policy tool for conserving valuable forests and supporting affordable housing provision. Through a thorough scan of current density transfer policies in regional OCPs, as well as in-depth interviews with local planners on selected case studies, we found that despite the current lack of uptake, there is significant potential for local planners in the CDF zone to further explore the use of density transfer policies in enabling sensitive growth management in collaboration with landowners and developers. We provided a set of recommended next steps for further exploration.

This work was produced for and in partnership with the Coastal Douglas-Fir and Associated Ecosystems Conservation Partnership (CDFCP), as part of the UBC Sustainability Scholars program in 2022-23. The report includes a scan of current density transfer policies in regional OCPs, a discussion of experiences and insights from case studies, and proposed considerations and next steps for potential wider application of density transfer policies. A presentation of the report findings is available as a webinar on the CDFCP website.