Photograph credit: Nicholas Curran
ConserBlog was created by the collective work of Nicholas and Michael. Nicholas is a Nova Scotian and has a degree in Biology and is currently working towards his Honours. Michael is from Ontario and is studying Geography at Memorial University. These two CFA's are enrolled in Conservation Biology and have created ConserBlog in order to educate the public on current issues facing protected areas in Newfoundland, Canada, and around the globe.
This blog is dedicated to showcasing the province of Newfoundland and Labrador's effort to protecting its ecologically significant areas for present and future generations. ConserBlog will give the general public insight into how this province is doing in the fight to protect our natural bioregions and all they encompass. ConserBlog will also be examining conservation efforts from regions around the globe and seeing how we, as Newfoundlanders, are doing in comparison.
Why do we need to have protected areas? In a world where the human population is predicted to reach 10 billion by 2050, urban sprawl, pollution, and over utilization of our natural resources is rampant. We need to develop plans to protect ecologically significant areas before they disappear forever. Species of plants and animals are going extinct at an alarming rate, therefore as we humans are at the root of most of these problems, it is our responsibility to alleviate them. Setting aside protected areas is one way that we can assure that we maintain biodiversity for our children and our children's children.
The provincial government has categorized its protected areas into four distinctly different groups; provincial parks, Heritage Rivers, wilderness reserves, and ecological reserves. There are seven provincial parks in Newfoundland and Labrador. These parks' main objective is to give people outdoor recreational opportunities while encouraging people to experience their natural surroundings. There are only two heritage rivers, the Main River and the Bay du Nord River, in Newfoundland. Heritage Rivers are designed to protect rivers of national significance and to encourage public interest in these important landscapes. Wilderness reserves and ecological reserves are areas set aside by the government for the protection of ecologically significant areas. The main difference between a wilderness reserve and an ecological reserve is the size of the protected area. Wilderness areas are very large, more an 1000 square kilometres and there are only two in the province, whereas ecological reserves are smaller and more numerous (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2012). Is this network of protected areas significantly large enough to protect our provinces' plants and wildlife for generations to come? ConserBlog will attempt to answer this question.
Here is a link to a map of all the provincial parks and protected areas in Newfoundland:
http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/parks/maps/2010wallmap.pdf
Source:
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, site viewed on February 10, 2012.
http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/index.html
A good choice of subject matter - we definitely need to be talking a lot more about protected areas.
ReplyDeleteAre you familiar with the Protected Areas Association and their longstanding efforts - spearheaded by environmental visionaries like Jon Lien and Laura Jackson - to obtain a plan for a representative network of protected areas in Newfoundland and Labrador? I'd love to hear your thoughts about the strengths and weaknesses of that eco-region approach to designating protected areas.
I worked beside PAA for the greater part of the Summer and was very interested in the work they were undertaking throughout Newfoundland but also the work right here in St. John's. Not only do I like the fact that they have a good stance on the Mealy Mountains National Park, as mentioned in a following blog, but they also realize that plant-based pharmaceuticals and their by-products are an important aspect as well.
DeleteEstablishment of specific eco-regions for protected areas would at first glance seem as the most sensible way to protect an area but not all eco-regions are self-sustainable. Many of these areas rely on their surrounding eco-regions for support and diversity. In order to have the greatest effect we would need to plan management strategies which incorporate all of these very specific regions into one large area, which is a prime example of the Mealy Mountains National Park.
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