Management for natural areas differs markedly from that of other lands, where efforts may be directed towards modifying or controlling nature, producing crops or extracting natural resources. Within natural areas, efforts are directed at maintaining ecosystems in as natural a state as possible. This goal has extensive implications in that many ideas and practices that are relevant or essential to successful resource management on other lands are inappropriate in natural areas. Sustaining the integrity of natural ecosystems will be a major challenge in the coming years. There are increasing cumulative stresses from sources such as adjacent land use, downstream effects of air and water pollution, invasions by exotic species, visitor use and climate change. All of which can result in irreversible degradation of natural ecosystems [1] the loss of biodiversity and impoverishment of gene pools.
Natural habitats, undisturbed by human activities, are rapidly disappearing in southern Canada. More intensive development generally surrounds southern areas, such as agriculture and urbanization. Only small, scattered remnants of a once wild continent remain. Some wide-ranging large mammals, particularly grizzly bears, wolves, and migratory species such as the caribou, need large, relatively intact landscapes in which to wander, move between winter and summer habitats, feed, mate and raise their young. The science of conservation biology [2] holds that populations of wild animals must remain interconnected across landscapes if they are to survive over the long term.
Industry proponents suggest setting aside a small core protected area inside larger buffer zones may protect biodiversity. Core protected areas form a critical foundation of a land use management approach that will ensure the persistence of wildlife populations. However, it may be decades before we know whether these techniques will allow industrial development to coexist with healthy wildlife populations. The only evidence we have to date is that industrial development causes habitat loss, alienation, and fragmentation that contribute to risks to wildlife populations [3].
In 1989, World Wildlife Fund Canada [4] and the Canadian Park and Wilderness Society [5] (CPAWS) conceived an ambitious campaign called Endangered Species [6]. Its goal is to protect at least twelve percent of Canada in a wild state by the year 2000. Every province, each territory and the federal government has said, in writing, that it will achieve the Endangered Spaces goal.
Concerning Canada's National Parks, Parks Canada [7] envisions having a stronger leadership role in protecting and preserving heritage areas well into the next century. This role has two key components: a broad definition of protected heritage, and a view of leadership that encompasses more than ownership. It recognizes that national historic sites and national parks are only one component of the Canadian network of heritage areas [8]. For example, the Banff National Park Management Plan [9] is a blueprint for action into the 21st century. This vision could be a model for many parks, for many generations to come. The new park management plan explains what will be done in the next fifteen years and sets out the groundwork for more action at a later date. This plan makes it clear that Banff National Park is, primarily a place for nature. Ecological integrity is the cornerstone of Banff National Park and the key to its future. The Management Plan requires Canadians to understand that they cannot allow the stresses and strains of human development to injure the wild places that are pledged protection in Banff National Park.
However, not all natural areas receive adequate protection. For example, there was an attempt by the Alberta provincial government to sell a public legacy for private development. The land in question is 110 acres of land along the West Castle River [10], southwest of Pincher Creek in the forestry reserve of the Rocky Mountains. The land to be sold adjoins the thirty acres at a nearby ski slope, already in private hands. Many Albertans spent countless volunteer hours doing research, preparing reports, and participating in the Natural Resources Conservation Board [11] (NRCB) hearings. The concerns were the negative impacts on the environment including damage to the river, the obstruction of a major connecting corridor between Alberta and American wildlife populations, and the negative impact the development would have on quality of life for Albertans. In addition, isolating the American grizzly bear population could lead to its extinction. They questioned why the development would occur at the narrowest part of a major movement corridor for wildlife. After the hearings the NRCB concluded that public interest would unlikely be served by placing lands of obvious environmental value in private hands. Further, the NRCB felt that maintaining public lands in a wild state is essential for the area. The NRCB ruled that construction could not proceed until they established a wild land area. They also required that the development be confined to the west side of the West Castle River, where the present ski slope is, to reduce the adverse environmental effects. Three years after the recommendation, there is still no protection for the Castle Wilderness, and the government is selling the land [12] for private development without any opportunity for public opinion.
In 1990, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named six areas in Canada [13], World Biosphere Reserves, an internationally recognized ecosystem. Biosphere Reserves [14] demonstrate a balance between conservation and development. A Reserve must have one or more protected core areas that conserve significant ecological features. Buffer zones around the core may be used in ways that do not affect the protected area. Biosphere Reserves contain lands used for a variety of human purposes. Reserves provide excellent opportunities to study and compare undisturbed land and developed areas [15]. They are a standard against which one can measure the effects of human impact on the environment.
The Biosphere Reserves of the world collectively constitute a World Network. National governments nominate them and they must meet a minimal set of criteria and adhere to a minimal set of conditions before being admitted. They intend each Biosphere Reserve to fulfill three basic functions: a conservation function, by contributing to the conservation of the ecosystem; a development function, by fostering economic and human development that is ecologically sustainable; and a logistic function, by providing support for research, monitoring and education. Individual Biosphere Reserves remain under the sovereign jurisdiction of the countries [16] in which they are situated.
Mont-Saint-Hilaire Biosphere Reserve [17] is located in the province of Quebec. The Gault Estate [18] was established as a Federal Bird Sanctuary in 1952 by Order of Council and bequeathed to McGill University in 1958. In 1972 a legal agreement with the university established the Mont Saint-Hilaire Nature Conservation Centre for joint protection of the area. It was accepted in April 1978 as a Biosphere Reserve. The mountain has one of the largest untouched areas of northern coniferous-hardwood forest in the eastern forest region. The Gault Estate has been left undisturbed as much as possible. They only permit human produced structures in the Development/Access section. There is strict zoning and a major emphasis on education, rather than recreation which means that human impact has been limited.
Waterton Lakes National Park Biosphere Reserve [19] is found in the Rocky Mountains [20]. They have identified it as one of the more, if not most, significant areas for archaeological study in Alberta. Waterton was the first Canadian National Park [21] to receive this distinction. In 1895 it was created as a Forest Reserve, and in 1911 became a National Park. It combined with Glacier National Park in Montana in 1932 to form the first International Peace Park in the world and in 1979 became a Biosphere Reserve. The core area of this Reserve is the entire National Park area. The surrounding areas represent many different federal, provincial and individual ownership and range in use from Glacier National Park in Montana with total protection and wilderness use, to intensive agriculture and mixed farming, sustained yield silviculture, oil and gas exploration and production.
Long Point Biosphere Reserve [22] is the largest and finest area of sand spit and dune formation [23] in the Great Lakes area. It is also a significant area for birds. The Long Point Company bought and managed most of the land in 1866. It became a Biosphere Reserve in 1982. The core protected area is also recognized as a Monarch Butterfly Reserve and most of the wetlands and adjacent uplands are also recognized as important bird areas. Some concerns in the area include, air pollution from nearby industry, marina development, the cutting of private channels, and the increased use of chemicals on the mainland farms.
Riding Mountain Biosphere Reserve [24] is located in south western Manitoba. In 1895 an area of 247,000 hectares was set aside as a Forest Reserve and within it, in 1906, a game reserve [25] was established. They established the National Park [26] in 1930 and accepted the area as a Biosphere Reserve in 1986. On the lowlands and on the slopes of the escarpment is a variety of deciduous tree dominated plant communities, a remnant of the warmer climates 5000 years ago. Artifacts up to 4000 years old have been found and suggest that native peoples visited the park to hunt and fish. Some fur traders exploited the area in the 18th century. The vegetation of this Reserve has been altered by past grazing and logging, both of which are no longer permitted. Intensive agricultural development of the surrounding lands is now causing pressure on the wildlife populations of the park.
They established the Charlevoix Biosphere Reserve [27], in Quebec, to primarily integrate natural landscapes and wildlife with the development of rural agriculture, local participation and education. Natural attractions [28] abound in this Reserve, including the Hautes-Gorges de la Riviere Malbaie which is the deepest gorge in eastern Canada. The region is important for its unique geological features and for the diversity of its fauna and flora, including an internationally important wetland, a population of internationally threatened whales and of regionally threatened ecosystems. The Reserve was designated in 1988. Some difficulties with this Reserve are the lack of coordination between the various provincial and national authorities, which has, and continues to, cause management difficulties within the ecosystem.
The Niagara Escarpment Biosphere Reserve [29] is facing similar management difficulties. The Escarpment is a 725-kilometre corridor from Niagara Falls [30] to the tip of the Bruce Peninsula. It is the last remaining ribbon of green space across southwestern Ontario and is home to rare ferns, 1000-year-old cedar trees and the highest diversity of wild orchids in the province, hence an area that deserves particular attention [31]. In 1997 the Ontario government decided to move its protection from the Ministry of Environment and Energy, to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Many environmentalists have argued that the government decided on this without justification. The Environment and Energy minister, had a long-standing, solid record of support for Escarpment protection. The new minister has a record of favoring resource extraction over resource conservation. The concern is that although the Ministry of Natural Resources has the responsibility to protect some natural areas as provincial parks, it also regulates the resource exploitation industries such as forestry, gravel pits and quarries. According to the environmentalists, the Niagara Escarpment belongs under a ministry where environmental protection is the sole mandate [32]. The Niagara Escarpment became a reserve in 1990 and it is hoped that it will receive the attention it needs and warrants [33].
In January 1999, two new Biosphere Reserves were nominated: Redberry Lake [34] in Saskatchewan and Clayoquot Sound [35] in British Columbia. In addition, Mount Arrowsmith [36] on Vancouver Island (British Columbia) has completed a nomination submission and will hopefully be recognized officially.
In Canada, the wild and wide-open spaces are synonymous with its history, art, economy and its very identity. When Canadians work together to protect these spaces, they are doing much more than preserving their environment, they are preserving the things that make them uniquely Canadian.
| TOP | CONTENT | VGT HOME |