Provincial Parks
Newfoundland and Labrador is home to 13 Provincial Parks that are run and regulated by the provincial government. Like National Parks, they are in place to maintain and preserve an ecological aspect of the area. However, they often have less funding then National Parks and in some cases this can impact the degree to which the areas stay protected.
Butter Pot Provincial Park
Butter Pot park is located on the
Avalon Peninsula, around 36 Km away from St. John’s. It is a popular tourist
destination for camping and swimming in the summer and skiing and snowshoeing
in the winter months.
Some
of its main tourist attraction includes the hiking trails and beautiful
scenery, including the “butter pot” hill for which it is named. The Natural
history of the park also entices many to visit. It is a geological marvel,
containing rocks dating back to the Precambrian period, around 600 million
years ago.
The
proximity of the park to the capital city has both pros and cons. The park is
easily accessible to a large populace. It can be a nice day trip or a spot for
a weekend campground. By being accessible to the public, the beauty of the surroundings as well as information sessions provided by the park can reach a large
audience.
On
the negative side, the park attracts large RV campers, has running water
facilities including washers and dryers and is located just minutes away from a
major highway. These all add to the pollution and degradation of the area. With 175 campsites, the park sees a
large quantity of traffic and this use may not always be beneficial to maintaining
the surroundings.
While
ATV and snowmobile use is banned in the park, stricter policies on vehicle use
around the area may have to be implemented in order for the park to maintain
its ecological integrity.
Butter Pot Provincial Park
Provincial Parks in Labrador
There are two provincial parks in
Labrador. While one, Pinware River Provincial Park, is primarily a
tourist destination, providing opportunities for camping, picnicking,
fishing, hiking, and more, the other, Duley Lake Provincial Park
Reserve, was actually established for conservation purposes.
Duley Lake Provinicial Park Reserve is
located very close to Labrador City, and is only around 7 km2 in
size. It was established in order to protect the open lichen woodland
of the area. Despite its status as a conservation area, the park is
opened to tourists from June until September, and contains campsites,
along with swimming, boating and picnicking areas.
The park is meant to be a
representative of the open lichen woodland areas prevalent in
Ecoregion E of Labrador, also known as the Mid Subarctic Forest
Region. The extent of this ecoregion can be seen in the photo below.
Open lichen woodlands are unique and
occur only in certain conditions. They are only found in the lowest
reaches of the sub-arctic, and are often sandwiched between
forest-tundra to the north and coniferous forest to the south. A
typical open lichen woodland consists of well-spaced spruce trees,
with lichen covering a large portion of the ground's surface. Open
lichen woodland can be seen below.
Unfortunately, there is not
much information available regarding Duley Lake Provincial Park
Reserve. While the park exists in order to protect a unique
ecoregion, it must be noted that the park is very small in size, and
hosts tourist activities for a number of months each year. It would
be interesting to assess whether tourism, or conservation, has won
out in this case.
Salmonier Nature Park
Salmonier Nature park is a well known park located on the East coast of Newfoundland, that is nearly 100% ran and funded by the provincial government. It opened in 1978, and was originally established as an environmental education center. Over the years this park has become a popular tourist destination, where it has adopted a role of wildlife research, rehabilitation and environmental monitoring.
Tourists are drawn to the nature walks/trails where they can be immersed in the middle of the beautiful newfoundland wilderness, and experience the complexities of the wildlife interactions. The goal is to make the visitor feel like they are part of the surroundings.
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| Image source: http://www.callipygia600.com/allpictures/canada/slides/slide_70.htm |
An average of 40,000 people visit the park annually, approximately 5,000 of these being school groups, where students receive on site school programing. The public education program that is provided allows visitors to gain an appreciation for wildlife and the natural community it in habits.
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| Image source: http://www.newfoundlandmarten.ca/gallery.php |
As mentioned, the park is an important research site as well. In 1999 the Newfoundland marten was designated as endangered by COSEWIC. Yet since 1995 the park staff have been captive breeding the Newfoundland marten and releasing them. Since then, in 2007 the marten was demoted from endangered to threatened due to the stabilization of the population.
References:
Government of Newfounldand and Labrador website, Department of Environment and Conservation http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/parks/parks/p_bup/index.html
http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/snp/about_snp.html
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