Conservation Plan Documents
When the NCC released their Gatineau Park Ecosystem Conservation Plan last week the document that became available was a 45 page summary. The plan itself is described in the summary as being 127 pages plus 4 appendices. This document was said to be available in paper format at a handful of locations.
The reason the full Plan has not been made available online is uncertain but I have heard anecdotally that it is because not all of the supporting material has been translated yet.
The summary was downloadable from the NCC website but since that time several other shorter documents have been added there for download.
Fact Sheet
A two page Fact Sheet has been posted which boils the plan down to:
- five conservation issues;
- a statement on the Park's overall health;
- the NCC's vision for the Park for the year 2035;
- six conservation priorities; and
- an action plan consisting of priority projects for the next few years plus ongoing monitoring
Priority Initiatives
A three page Priority Initiatives document gives some detail in the areas of projects concerning
- Eardley Escarpment Conservation and Rehabilitation
- Identification and Characterization of Ecological Corridors Adjacent to Gatineau Park
- Shoreline Rehabilitation for the Lakes in Gatineau Park
In addition the Priority Initiatives document describes changes planned to recreational activities and the Park's desire to offer only environmentally respectful recreation. The following activities are identified as requiring some changes. This appears to be one of the first times that geocaching and hiking on unofficial trails are officially identified as activities targeted for more control
- Hang Gliding
- Rock Climbing
- Ice Climbing
- Geocaching
- Snowmobiling
- Hiking on Unofficial Trails
- Horseback Riding
Did You Know
A two page document titled Did You Know? has also been posted and it includes information including:
- species at risk that call Gatineau Park home;
- a listing of seven of the ecosystem and habitat areas within the Park;
- the uniqueness of the Eardley Escarpment;
- the success of the revitalization and protection of Pink Lake 20 years ago
Importantly the document points to the 1999 Plan for Canada’s Capital which designates the Park as a Type II protected area as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is under this designation that Gatineau Park is officially set aside primarily to preserve ecosystems and under which recreational uses are given secondary importance.
March 23rd, 2010 - 19:00
What? Hiking on unofficial trails?? Couldn’t this make 90%+ of the park off limits???
Eventually there comes a point…
March 24th, 2010 - 00:56
Now come on!
More NCC damage control – with help from NCC spokesman Charles Hodgson!
How can you make excuses for the fraud perpetrated last week by the NCC? The Conservation Plan, whatever you say, still hasn’t been released—and it’s 2 years late. Release means anyone who wants a copy gets a copy. Period. And excusing its not being released because some background documents weren’t yet translated! The first revised draft available 2 years ago was 98% translated…
Are we all being played for fools?
Furthermore, mention of private property as one of the 3 leading ecological threats has been completely eliminated from all the recent partial documents I’ve seen, as was any mention of measures to eradicate it in the “Priority Conservation Actions.”
And to say, as Charles does, that an IUCN Category II national park designation “officially” sets aside Gatineau Park to do anything is utterly ludicrous. Are you out of your tree?
The IUCN is just another airy fairy wish list: it has no legal bearing and no official status: it’s a benchmark; a moral imperative—not a legal obligation.
Besides, if an IUCN Category II national park designation had any teeth, it would have compelled the NCC to remove private properties from the park. That’s right: it “calls on governments “to prevent or eliminate as soon as possible exploitation or occupation” in an entire designated area” (IUCN, 1990).
Had you bothered to read the damn thing, instead of tripping over yourself to excuse the NCC, you would have known that this designation: “excludes exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation of the area [and urges governments] to eliminate and thereafter prevent exploitation or occupation inimical to the purposes of designation.”
Go ahead, Chipper, read the thing on the Internet. It, at least, is available for all to see.
Am I the only one who loves Gatineau Park enough to do the proper homework?
Shame!