A natural landscape to rival the Serengeti
Ontario is on the cusp on establishing one of the world’s greatest protected areas systems. With its commitment to create a conservation lands network covering at least 50% of the Great Boreal Forest, the province is ready to create a network that will rival world-renowned protected areas from Alaska to Africa.
Protected areas can protect sensitive sites like the karstlands of the James Bay region (top) and sensitve species, such as wolverine. They also can attract visitors willing to pay a premium for a true wilderness experience. |
This represents a whole new scale of thinking about the real needs of the entire ecosystem, rather than simply setting aside small islands of protection in a sea of development. It recognizes what scientists have been telling us for years: that we have to think bigger to ensure parks can really do their jobs.
A big approach is well suited to the northern boreal region, where species such as woodland caribou require vast areas of older forest for survival. It is also, scientists say, an appropriate response to the threat posed by climate change. A well designed protected areas system can both protect the vast carbon storehouses in this region while also making sure that our protected areas systems are large enough to accommodate the habitat changes that are already underway due to climate change.
In fact, the Great Boreal Forest represents Ontario’s chance to use leading-edge conservation science to develop a better approach to protected areas and species preservation. By ensuring that key habitat areas remain connected, for example, planners can avoid the isolation and vulnerability that species in small and isolated protected areas often face.
This is a region shaped by powerful natural forces like fire and wind and recognizing the role these forces play in shaping ecosystems also requires creating very large protected areas.A large natural fire could easily sweep across a smaller protected area and push species into a much less accommodating industrial landscape outside of it. We need to be able to accommodate forces like fire within protected areas if we want to protect the dynamic nature of the boreal forest.
The other groundbreaking aspect of the approach to protected areas being proposed for the Great Boreal Forest is the commitment to undertake full landscape planning, including protected areas designation, as a key part of planning for the future of the whole region. This will allow us to identify critical areas for species survival, carbon storage, water protection and Aboriginal traditional use and cultural survival before deciding where industrial activities may be appropriate
First Nations in the region will be intimately involved in planning and caring for these new protected areas that will protect their rights to hunt and fish. The hope is that this world-class protected areas system will also help communities to build new enterprises around ecotourism, fly-in fishing or other nature appreciation businesses.
Remote tourism is already an important industry in Northern Ontario and with the decline of traditional resource-based industries, it is an important area of potential future growth. Studies have found that fishing enthusiasts and nature travellers will pay a significant premium to visit large and well protected natural areas. Given that the Great Boreal Forest represents one of the world’s last true wild forests, the potential to market the area worldwide is great.
Protected areas also represent a sort of insurance policy for our actions on the rest of the landscape. These areas safeguard important gene banks and other valuable natural capital. For species such as woodland caribou, they are a critical refuge from industrial development, which often creates conditions caribou simply cannot tolerate. So these new protected areas will be important for conserving and restoring species and ecosystems across our northern landscape.
For First Nations, they also ensure that important food resources are protected as they consider allowing development in other areas. To replace “country food” like moose or fish with less nutritious store bought substitutes would cost tens of millions of dollars for communities in this region. Keeping the landscape healthy by designating a permanent network of protected areas also keeps communities healthy.
There is also a call for a new type of protected area for the area — one that provides for Aboriginal community involvement in management decisions and direction. This, with other new land-use designations emerging from the new planning approach, will help to fully include communities in the design and stewardship of these important areas.
What Ontario does in the Great Boreal Forest will be watched closely around the world. Building a successful new land use plan will require a solid foundation and that foundation, many now agree, should be an integrated large-scale protected areas system with the community resources to manage it for the long term.
