The Protected Landscape Approach - Centre for Mediterranean ...

14. Collaborative management of protected landscapes
Box 1. Proposed Champlain-Richelieu Valley International Heritage
Corridor, United States and Canada – a Transboundary Protected
Landscape
This transboundary historic waterway, which since North American colonial times has formed a
crucial historical link between the Upper Hudson River Valley and Canada’s St. Lawrence River,
encompasses Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River, and associated cultural landscape. The
Champlain-Richelieu Valley (New York and Vermont in the USA; Quebec Province, Canada)
consists of two regionally important watersheds. It is rich in cultural resources as well as natural
resources and impressive scenery. Cultural resources include sites of aboriginal people, colonial
settlements, forts, naval battle sites and industrial development dating from Samuel de Champlain’s
initial voyage to the area in 1603 through the Industrial Revolution. The landscapes and historical
heritage record a formative part of the history of the United States and Canada, as many major battles
were fought along this corridor. Other sites reflect the relationships among early French and English
explorers and settlers, First Nations peoples, and the history of the impact of human activity on the
natural landscape (Drost 2001a). This cultural landscape has been shaped over the past two centuries
by farming, forestry and transportation along its waterways. Much of the land is still under agriculture,
with small dairy farms characterizing the region in Vermont and New York, and larger-scale crop
production more typical of farmland in Quebec. Tourism is important to the local economy, and the
area attracts visitors from the nearby urban centres of Montreal and Albany as well as more distant
locations in the USA, Canada, and abroad.
The Champlain-Richelieu Valley is being considered for designation as an international heritage
corridor. This would involve designation in the United States as a National Heritage Corridor, and a
comparable designation in Canada. On the US side, the National Park Service conducted a special
resource study and held a series of workshops and public meetings to obtain input from a wide range of
local stakeholders. Legislation establishing a national heritage area in the valley is currently before
Congress. A parallel process is underway in Canada among the Canadian federal government, the
Quebec provincial government, and regional governmental stakeholders.
The Champlain-Richelieu Valley offers an important opportunity to test the Category V approach
in a transboundary region where a Category II protected area would likely meet strong local
resistance. There are many challenges to achieving designa tion and a workable management plan for a
transboundary area of this scale, encompassing two countries, two states and one province, and
hundreds of local governments. The various political entities on either side of the border have different
mandates, and this presents a significant challenge in creating effective administrative structures.
Nevertheless, experience in the Champlain-Richelieu region demonstrates that public participation
can help build local support for designation, enhance communication and foster mutual understanding
among diverse communities across political boundaries. In the Champlain-Richelieu Valley, com -
munities and residents have already begun voluntary approaches to protect natural and cultural
resources, including private land conservation (e.g., conservation easements and agri cultural preser -
vation re strictions) and public-private partnerships. This initiative is helping to protect the natural and
cultural richness of the landscape, linking communities across political boundaries to their shared
history and reminding local residents and visitors of the diverse cultures that have inhabited the region
(Drost, 2001b; Drost et al., 2002).
The John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, listed by IUCN as
Category V, was designated by the US Congress in 1986 to preserve and interpret for present
and future generations the nationally significant values of the Blackstone Valley. The designa -
tion encompasses nearly 400,000 acres located within central Massachusetts and northern
Rhode Island, along 46 miles of the Blackstone River and includes 24 cities, towns, villages and
almost one million people. The valley’s distinctive character was shaped by the American
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