Two Nice Posts
The blog Willow House Chronicles has posted two Gatineau Park related pieces; one entitled Champlain Lookout Trail and the other The Mackenzie King Estate. Each include a nice mix of text and pictures.
Wolf Trail Profiled in Ottawa Citizen
Dave Brown, Publisher of Ottawa Outdoors Magazine has written an article in Today's Citizen describing the Wolf Trail near Meech Lake and encouraging Ottawans to get out into Gatineau Park instead of just admiring it from the Ontario side.
Species at Risk
The Ottawa Citizen included this little nugget that it extracted from the NCC Environmental Report
Gatineau Park has 10 new additions to its species-at-risk list, bringing the total of species at risk to 168 on NCC lands with 143 in the park alone.
Ditto from Josh Pringle at CFRA
The National Capital Commission says 168 species are at risk on NCC lands in the National Capital area.
The 2009-2010 environment report shows 143 of the species at risk are in Gatineau Park, including wolves, Blanding's turtle and the peregrine falcon.
The NCC says it has committed to protecting the important ecosystems found in Gatineau Park by creating the Gatineau Park Ecosystem Conservation Plan.
Rock Climbing Update
Last night the Ottawa Gatineau Climbers' Coalition held a meeting to allow their membership to react to the latest NCC plan for climbing in Gatineau Park. The NCC is offering a restricted number of routes but wishes for the Coalition to sign a partnership agreement that will enable joint management of the activity.
This morning the Coalition president Eric Grenier was interviewed on CBC's Ottawa Morning show along with NCC Biologist Catherine Verreault. The audio for that interview is posted at the show's web page under the heading "Rock Climbing."
Eric Grenier reported that the Coalition saw itself as having three options:
- Accept the conditions offered by the NCC and work with them
- Reject the NCC offer but continue to work with the NCC toward better access
- Disband the Coalition in the view that it has failed in it's goal.
He reported that it was the second option that was chosen. He reiterated the view that has been reported here, that the climbers feel that the NCC has imposed these considerations based on outdated information and without sufficient involvement of the community.
Catherine Verreault spoke second and reported that the escarpment was the most ecologically sensitive and important part of the park, and also that the park is now operating with conservation as a priority. To Grenier's comment about peer review of the climbing management approach she indicated that the overall conservation plan had been reviewed my outside experts. She acknowledged the quality of the plan put forward by the Coalition and expressed gratitude for the efforts they contributed but she said that some of the ideas couldn't be taken into account because of the constraints of the Ecosystem Conservation Plan.
The difficulty appears to be that the NCC is operating on a basic principal that human presence in the area is problematic in itself. The climbers on the other hand take the view that their presence is minimal and that best practices now used reduce this even more. In the past they've claimed that the full historical list of climbing routes, approach paths and staging areas constitute about one percent of the escarpment.
When asked questions about the impact of climbing and how that compares with other activities Catherine Verreault said that their studies had not looked at those comparisons because that was not the goal. She said "the goal was to restrict the activity, to be able to protect more the escarpment because any human presence has impacts..."
Gatineau Park interpretive programs at Lac Philippe
I'm a little late off the mark with this but there are almost nightly interpretive sessions at Lac Philippe going on during August. You can see the calendar of what's on here for events both in French and English. I've transposed the English events into the GuideGatineau "upcoming events" list and calendar.
Bear Sighting
Cindy reports a bear sighting near Relais Plein Air and trail 5. That's the area below and to the east of Pink Lake.
A Day at Lac Philippe
Erica who runs the KitchissippiKids blog has posted a report on her visit to the beach at Lac Philippe.
She includes tips, costs and directions.
John Baird on NCC & Gatineau Park
A piece in the Ottawa Citizen starts out reporting that John Baird Ottawa West Nepean MP and now government House leader is reassuring government workers that in trying to control government spending, their jobs won't be at risk. He then goes on with other sunshine messages that might be considered by a cynical person a laying of groundwork for an election call. As far as the NCC and Gatineau Park go, the Citizen reports:
He expressed delight at the “outstanding job” done by National Capital Commission chief executive Marie Lemay and chair Russell Mills, both Harper government appointees.
“Marie Lemay is just an outstanding public servant. These are two non-partisan individuals who were chosen for their skill and merit.”
Under its current leadership, Baird said the NCC is more open and transparent than it was in the past. “It’s just exciting to see,” he said. “I think it enjoys a lot more popular support than it did five years ago.”
He said the government is keen to pass amendments reintroduced in April to the National Capital Act that legislate many of the policy changes the NCC has already made. The proposed changes will also better protect Gatineau Park and the Greenbelt, which Baird called “two jewels” in the area.
Gat Park Video Background Wins Summer Job
According to the Prairie Post Algonquin College student Kevin Caners landed his summer job in Waterton Lakes National Park with the help of a video shot in Gatineau Park.
CPAWS Photo Contest
Deadline August 31 for the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Ottawa Valley Chapter Gatineau Park Photo Contest. Photo contest winners will have their images included in the CPAWS 2011 calendar. Click here for more details.