The territory covered by parks canada includes land in all canadian provinces and territories. Lori parker ecologist team leader parks canada linkedin. The cesi ecological integrity of national parks indicator, however, refers to an aggregate indicator across all parks and park ecosystems. The pca ecological integrity monitoring program is being developed across all national parks to provide data for reporting on the ei of parks and their greater park ecosystems gpes, and is targeted to be operational by 2008 parks canada agency, 2006. This approach has been pioneered in canadian national parks and the examples are from parks canada. Monitoring for ecological integrity and state of the parks. Parks canadas evolving monitoring program for ecological integrity since the release of the first priority report parks canadas ei monitoring program has undergone some signi. More recently the increasing number and awareness of external. Reporting ecological integrity in canadas national parks volume i.
Mckenna, the federal environment minister, confirmed that the primary objective of parks canada was the maintenance and restoration of ecological integrity within. Ecological integrity monitoring specialist parks canada. Our company is dedicated to improve environmental observations, monitoring, protection and environmentally related information management to the benefit of biodiversity, protection of. Canadas national parks provide a home for many plants and animals from lilies to majestic forests, and from insects to grizzly bears. Ecological monitoring science and conservation parcs canada.
Report highlights parks canadas efforts to maintain and restore ecological integrity. This has occurred in the network of national parks in quebec, canada fig 1, which participates in an ecological monitoring program since. Maintaining and restoring ecological integrity requires limits on development in national parks, particularly those where development can impact ecosystem health, mckenna said in the report. An important challenge for parks canada is to know what plants and animals occur in a given park, what ecosystems they use, and how these species and ecosystems are changing over time. Uncovering regional variability in disturbance trends. Lisa will provide an overview of the ecological integrity monitoring program for mount revelstoke and glacier national park and highlight how songbirds fit into this program. Uncovering regional variability in disturbance trends between parks and greater park ecosystems across canada 19852015 douglas k. Maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes, shall be the first priority of the minister when considering all aspects of the. Parks canadas ecological integrity monitoring program parks canada agency, 2007a was selected for three reasons. View sebastien renards profile on linkedin, the worlds largest professional community. Visit our keyboard shortcuts docs for details duration. Ecological integrity status and trends of ecosystems in 41 national parks, canada, 20165 figure 2.
The maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity is the legislated first priority in canadian national parks management. Monitoring activities in protected areas have a long history. The information collected through this program provides baseline data for a variety of purposes including the planning and management of parks and protected areas. Ecological integrity should be assessed using science and indigenous knowledge. These perspectives allow a deeper understanding known as twoeyed seeing. Using satellite remote sensing to monitor and assess. The answer, while of fundamental importance to park managers, is far from simple. The ecological integrity of national parks is assessed by monitoring representative components of major park ecosystems, such as forest, freshwater and wetlands. Parks canada s ecological integrity monitoring program parks canada agency, 2007a was selected for three reasons. The ecological integrity of national parks is assessed by monitoring representative components of major park ecosystems, such as forest. Ecosystems have integrity when their native species, landscapes and functions are intact. Why parks canada is interested in biodiversity management parks canadas mandate states that.
The guiding legislation for ontario parks, the provincial parks and conservation reserves act, 2006 defines ecological integrity as a condition in which biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and. Panel on the ecological integrity of canadas national parks. Gpes are delineated by pca according to the zone of ecological influence surrounding a park boundary that is most likely to cause impacts to the park. Monitoring land cover change and ecological integrity in canadas national parks r.
Minister mckenna affirms ecological integrity is the first. These program elements are required as part of recent legislation and. A brief summary of the parks canada agency program for ecological integrity ei monitoring and state of the park reporting is given. The national park service inventory and monitoring program conducts longterm ecological monitoring within national park. Catherine mckenna has released her response to the largest public. Nik was behind the creation of ecological maps for some of canadas most noted parks, including mapping the vegetation of gatineau park. The banffbow valley has been a site of environmental conflict since the creation of banff national park bnp in 1887. Sheila copps, asked a panel of canadians with expertise in ecological sciences and. The concept of ecological integrity was added to the lexicon of parks canada manage ment in the 1980s,as a replacement to the idea of natural.
Lori parker ecologist at parks canada edmonton, canada area. Gatineau, qc, june 8, 2018 cnw parks canadas conservation and restoration core program plays an. The ei monitoring framework was developed by parks canada to provide a conservation science context for comprehensive ei monitoring and reporting in national parks. Making ecological integrity in canadas national parks the. Maintaining and restoring ecological integrity requires limits on development in national parks, particularly those where development can impact ecosystem health, mckenna said in the. Good monitoring, restoration, and public education programs are essential for parks canada to meet its mandate of maintaining or restoring ecological integrity.
On behalf of the people of canada, we protect and present nationally significant examples of canadas. Parks canada agency ei monitoring and reporting program. Monitoring land cover change and ecological integrity in. Parks canadas conservation and restoration projects. For parks canada, ei monitoring is a park management tool that supports.
This ecological integrity mandate was added to the. Optimization of an ecological integrity monitoring program for. Supporting continual improvement of full ecological integrity monitoring program. This document describes the parks canada agency pcas plan to complete activities and deliverables in order to achieve full compliance with the directive on open government. Chapter 2ecological integrity in canadas national parks. Ecological monitoring canadas national parks provide a home for many plants and animals from lilies to majestic forests, and from insects to grizzly bears. Ecological integrity of national parks ecological integrity status and trends of ecosystems in 41 national parks by province and territory, canada, 2016 the canadian environmental sustainability indicators. The study of national parks reveals what and how people conceive of nature. This refers to the status and trends of key ecosystems in each park.
The heart of ecological integrity is the naturalness of an area. Madeleine wrazej resource management officer i ecological integrity monitoring at parks canada british columbia, canada 29 connections. The pca ecological integrity monitoring program is being developed across all national parks to provide data for reporting on the ei of parks and their greater park ecosystems gpes, and is targeted to be. It is a key measure of the condition of our national parks. An ecological integrity assessment eia is an approach to systematically rate the current ecological integrity of an occurrence of a plant association or ecological systems. The guiding legislation for ontario parks, the provincial parks and conservation reserves act, 2006 defines ecological integrity as a condition in which biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and the composition and abundance of native species and biological communities are characteristic of their natural regions and rates of change and ecosystem processes are unimpeded. Ecological integrity of national parks page 4 of 17 list of figures figure 1. Parks canadas objective is to allow people to enjoy national parks as special places without damaging their integrity. For national parks, ecosystem management considers the following.
Ecological integrity in ritish olumbias parks and protected areas performance indicators ecological integrity is a complex concept and difficult to measure directly. Cs ecological integrity is monitored in the bc parks and. In this study, a signature extension approach to land cover change detection is explored to develop an earth observation based approach for monitoring ecological integrity in canadas national parks. Ottawa protecting and conserving the natural environment is parks canadas main job, the federal environment minister concludes in her response to a massive public consultation on. Ecological integrity science and conservation parks canada. Ecological integrity and canadas national parks stephenwoodley introduction thispaperexplorestheevolutionoftheideaofecologicalintegrityasanendpoint that is used in the management of canadas national parks. Canadas environment minister says protecting and conserving the natural environment is the main job of parks canada. This parkspace initiative will focus on detecting and quantifying the impacts of climate change on vegetation, permafrost and wetlands. Knowing how many kinds of plants, animals, and ecosystems we have. Guidelines for ecological integrity monitoring institute for parks. Pouliot natural resources canada, canada centre for remote sensing, 588 booth st. Ecological integrity to be top priority for parks canada.
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