Ontario's Natural Heritage Areas - Ministry of Natural Resources

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Ontario participated in the IBP/CT survey from 1968- 1974 as one of 10 Canadian panels (Box 4-3). Ontario’s involvement issued from its mandate for Provincial Parks and other conservation areas together with Canada’s lead as a participating nation. The Canadian effort was guided by a national committee comprised mainly of university researchers and chaired by Dr. W.A. Fuller (Department of Zoology, University of Alberta). The national IBP/CT Committee provided overall direction and support to the regional panels with funding provided by the National Research Council of Canada (Fuller, 1975).The Ontario program was administered by a provincial committee that was co-chaired by Dr. J. Bruce Falls (Department of Zoology, University of Toronto) and G. Angus Hills (Soil Scientist, Division of Research, Ontario Department of Lands and Forests). The Parks Branch, Department of Lands and Forests (now the Ministry of Natural Resources), was a key participant in the Ontario IBP/ CT effort since its objectives were so closely aligned with those of the International Biological Programme. The work of the Ontario IBP/CT Committee centred on several aspects: overall coordination with the national IBP/CT Committee, interpretation and application of the IBP/CT protocols and survey methods, guidance on the completion of the IBP surveys and reports, assessment of IBP Sites, and collaboration with governmental agencies to promote and to encourage the conservation of IBP Sites. Box 4-2. Rationale for protecting natural areas. • Maintain large, heterogeneous gene pools to conserve biodiversity. • Perpetuate samples of the full range of biodiversity for research. • Establish benchmarks to assess environmental management activities. • Serve as outdoor museums for nature study and appreciation. • Provide opportunities for education and understanding nature. Source: Nicholson (1968). Ontario’s Natural Heritage Areas 82 Box 4-3. Regional panels of the IBP/CT survey in Canada. 1. British Columbia 2. Alberta 3. Saskatchewan 4. Manitoba 5. Ontario 6. Quebec 7. Maritimes 8. Newfoundland and Labrador 9. Arctic 10. Subarctic Source: Fuller (1975). Legislation and Policy Basis Since International Biological Programme Sites have no inherent protection status, the conservation of a specific site is reliant on protection measures afforded to it by cooperating jurisdictions. Accordingly, the Ontario IBP/CT Committee worked closely with governmental agencies to encourage the protection of International Biological Programme Sites located in Provincial Parks and other types of protected areas, and to encourage provincial and regional efforts to conserve unprotected sites. Early on, some sites were protected in Wilderness Areas, Nature Reserve Parks, and Natural Zones (a classification used by the Parks Branch, 1967) (subsequently as Nature Reserve Zones under the 1978 Provincial Parks Policy) in other classes of Provincial Parks, while other sites were protected in Conservation Areas managed by Conservation Authorities. Many Provincial Parks and Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest identified through MNR District Land Use Plans in the 1980s were designed to incorporate IBP Sites. In addition, a number of sites have been protected through securement initiatives of The Nature Conservancy of Canada and other private organizations working in concert with provincial and regional interests. And as recently as 2001, International Biological Programme Sites were added to Ontario’s system of Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves under the auspices of the Ontario Living Legacy Land Use Strategy (MNR, 1999a).
The Ontario IBP/CT work helped define and strengthen protection policies for Provincial Parks, and provided a list of candidate sites that have been used for various environmental assessment and land-use planning initiatives, including the Niagara Escarpment Plan and regional official policy plans prepared under the Planning Act. Today, International Biological Programme Sites are represented within most of the protected categories covered in this report. As the first methodical assessment of natural areas in Ontario, the IBP survey remains an important information source for various environmental interests involved in identifying natural areas for conservation. Protection Goal and/or Objectives Overall, the goal of IBP/CT was to conduct a worldwide inventory and assessment on the status of ecosystem representation in protected areas. The aim of this inventory was to establish which ecosystems were adequately represented within existing protected areas, and which ecosystems still needed to be protected in order to fully represent world ecosystem types. Standardized protocols for characterizing and documenting IBP Sites included the adoption of a classification of world vegetation types (Fosberg, 1970) and the utilization of a standardized survey check-sheet (Peterken, 1970) to furnish an objective assessment of protected areas that could guide future conservation efforts (Box 4-4). The survey also helped to document research needs in various ecosystem types and protected areas, and it provided a catalogue of areas that could assist with setting future research priorities. From a protection standpoint, proponents advocated Box 4-4. Contents of the IBP/CT check sheet for Ontario. • Site location, jurisdiction, and conservation status. • Geology, physiography, soil, and aquatic attributes. • Summary of vegetation and plant communities. • Typical and special floristic and faunistic features. • Supplementary ecological site assessment. • Site boundary and aerial photo vegetation mapping. • Concise essay of the site ecology and communities. • Date and surveyor(s) sign-off. a high level of protection for International Biological Programme Sites to conserve biological diversity and to retain natural areas for scientific research and education. At an international level, this ideal emerged from the early alignment of the IBP effort with the IUCN movement on National Parks and Equivalent Reserves. This perspective was widely adopted in Canada, where a number of regional IBP associates, beginning with advocates in British Columbia, promoted the establishment of specific legislation for ‘Ecological Reserves’ as the preferred means to protect International Biological Programme Sites for conservation, scientific research, and education (Franson, 1972, 1975; McLaren and Petersen, 1975). The British Columbia Ecological Reserves Act of 1971 was used as a model and by 1985 all provinces except Ontario and PEI had developed specific legislation for Ecological Reserves (Taschereau, 1985). Ontario elected to protect IBP Sites within Nature Reserve Parks, Nature Reserve Zones in other types of Provincial Parks, and various other conservation designations. However, the recent passage of the new Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act now provides for protection policies that are comparable to the initial goal and objectives of IBP/CT and legislation for Ecological Reserves in other provinces. Selection Criteria In Ontario, IBP Sites were identified using criteria established by the International Biological Programme to complete a global list of protected and unprotected sites: (a) “Areas should, taken together, contain adequate and manageable examples of the entire range of major ecological formations or ecosystems in the world and illustrate the range of variation within each. (b) The Series should include sites which, although they do not qualify for inclusion under the first criterion, support species of plants and animals of outstanding interest or great rarity. (c) The series should include sites which are of scientific interest because of the human management to which they have been subjected, even if this has in some cases led to more or less far-reaching modification of the biota. 83 Ontario’s Natural Heritage Areas
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Selection Criteria Candidate areas
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5.6 National Wildlife Areas Introdu
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Figure 5-5. National Wildlife Areas
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Selection Criteria The Government o
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• A considerable group of species
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The greenbelt is comprised of seven
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Image by P.A. Gray • Natural Area
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Ontario's Natural Heritage Areas - Ministry of Natural Resources

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