Bit of a Buffer

The MRNF and the NCC² announced today the acquisition of 5 Km² of protected property at the north west edge of the park.

MRNF stands for the Quebec ministere des Ressources naturelles et de la Faune, while NCC² stands for the Nature Conservancy of Canada plus the National Capital Commission (pardon my playfulness with the two NCCs).

Thus the solid green area at the left of the diagram represents Nature Conservancy of Canada, not National Capital Commission.

The announcement made much of the partnership of the three organizations which were involved in the following agreement:

• The Nature Conservancy of Canada has worked over some time to acquire these properties and to legally layer onto them environmental protections.
• The Nature Conservancy sees these properties as part of an ecological corridor between the western end of Gatineau Park and some additional protected lands that they administer to the south on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River.
• The Quebec MRNF and the National Capital Commission are contributing funds partly by which the Nature Conservancy can continue to administer protection in perpetuity. The Quebec government will hold title to the lands.

The details of the environmental protection are still to be finalized between the three organizations and an interesting question came up during the press conference. Past owners of the lands had existing agreements with hunters who were allowed to shoot on the land. These agreements are still in place for the coming hunting season and it hasn’t been decided yet what will happen in future years. Although many people might react to deer hunting as being somewhat at odds with environmental protection, the Gatineau Park Ecosystem Conservation Plan points to deer as an important stressor of Park ecosystems, their populations being quite high, and recommends: “Encourage the hunting of deer in areas peripheral to the Park where the deer population is too large, in partnership with the MRNF”

I spoke briefly to Nathalie Zinger the Quebec Regional Vice President of the Nature Conservancy of Canada who reminded me that not only might such hunting be in line with the Park’s Ecosystem Conservation plan, human presence, in this case in the form of hunters, can sometimes assist in environmental protection. Such citizen advocates can be the eyes and ears of organizations such as hers.

I think perhaps that’s two interesting questions… (a) shooting deer – good for the environment, (b) wilderness users – good for protection.