Killarney Provincial Algonquin Provincial Park Mellon Lake Temagami Park Conservation Reserve Is the park you visit this summer . LYNX - JOHN MITCHELL, EARTH IMAGES, HOME - EVAN FERRARI HOME - EVAN IMAGES, - JOHN MITCHELL, EARTH LYNX WE NEED A LAW THAT PROTECTS OUR PARKS OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, LOCAL CITIZENS and conservation groups in Ontario have had to jump to the defence of our provincial parks and conserva- tion reserves again and again. From proposals to develop an international tournament-scale golf course in Bronte Creek Provincial Park to the ongoing dispute over mining in the Mellon Lake Conservation Reserve, our parks and protected areas have been threatened by one ill-considered development pro- still going to posal after another. Places we thought were pro- tected for future generations have instead been targeted for roads, recreational developments and even mining and logging. be there next Why is this happening? Simply put, we do not have a strong park law that rules out destructive uses and protects these special places for our kids and their kids. In fact, a recent report produced by the University of Victoria ranked Ontario last among all year? provinces and territories for the legal protection of parks and protected areas. The study pointed out that Ontario does not have strong limitations on develop- ment in parks and that our parks system does not have a clear mandate to make the protection of species and ecosystems the top priority in parks COVER TOP FROM LEFT: ANDY HEICS, DEBORAH FREEMAN, JANET FOSTER - MASTERFILE, GARY MCGUFFIN; CENTRE: BRUCE LITTELJOHN BRUCE CENTRE: MCGUFFIN; DEBORAH FREEMAN, JANET FOSTER - MASTERFILE, GARY HEICS, ANDY FROM LEFT: TOP COVER management. www.wildlandsleague.org continued on page 2 Roads are wilderness destroyers. From left: Gravel pit and Highway 60 in Algonquin Park; Lake Superior Provincial Park We need a law that protects our parks vation reserves and our weak legislation means Ministry continued from page 1 of Natural Resources staff must consider these proposals. Our understanding of the role that parks play in ì recreational development, including golf courses, protecting our environment, securing habitat for species theatres and entertainment complexes that are increas- — including endangered animals and plants — protecting ingly being proposed as ways of raising revenues to sources of clean water and helping to purify our air has offset park budget cuts. Golf courses replace rich and changed dramatically since the Ontario parks system was diverse habitats with areas that require intensive water- formed in 1954 with just eight parks. Today, Ontario ing, fertilization and pesticide use. Entertainment can boast more than 600 protected areas, but we centres, water parks and other recreational still do not have a law that protects these wild developments also displace valuable natural areas from incompatible uses, including: habitat and increase traffic, noise and distur- ì expanded motorized recreation, including bances for wildlife. snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) use. ì mine staking, despite a recent decision by Today’s snowmobiles can travel at very high speeds the government to stop new claim staking in and snowmobile trails are often as wide and hard parks, remains a threat particularly if the packed as a municipal road. ATV use, meanwhile, is government ever decides to make a policy reversal. At growing rapidly thanks to aggressive marketing by particular risk are 23 of our most important parks, manufacturers. Use of these machines can lead to ero- including such wilderness areas as Wabakimi, Woodland sion, soil compaction, habitat destruction and distur- Caribou and Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater, where mining bance of sensitive wildlife, particularly during nesting claim staking could still be permitted at the discretion of season. Recently, there have been increasing demands the Minister of Natural Resources. to build new snowmobile and ATV trails in our parks. ì How divided a natural area is by roads is now widely How weak is the current protection for recognized as a key indicator of how healthy the area’s our parks? ecosystems are likely to be. Roads break apart the large > Today, whole parks can be eliminated at a meeting of habitat areas required by many species into smaller, less the provincial cabinet. The boundaries of our parks are useful fragments, increase dust, Mining at Mellon Lake Blasting a hole in the parks system noise and heat in The repeated attempts by an Ontario mining com- stopped miners from trying to extract granite surrounding areas, pany to develop a mine in the Mellon Lake Con- in this new protected area. lead to erosion and servation Reserve near Kingston have Conservation groups, local citi- pollution problems drawn attention to the threat posed by Aerial view of zens and cottagers have put enor- Mellon Lake mine in waterways and mining to our parks and conservation mous time and resources into site pave the way for reserves. Mellon has long been des- fighting this destructive proposal illegal access by ignated an Area of Natural and Scien- and it just keeps coming back – poachers and tific Interest due to the unusual spe- under the Aggregate Resources others. Developers cies, such as the eastern prickly pear Act there is no limit on how many continue to push cactus, that populate its open rock times the mining company can re- for new roads in ridges. This recognition led to the area apply for a permit. All of our parks being chosen as a new Conservation should be declared off-limits to parks and conser- Reserve in 1999. But that hasn’t mining once and for all. FOSTER/ MASTERFILE MELLON LAKE - JANET - DEBORAH FREEMAN, SUPERIOR LORI LABATT, PIT AND FOX GRAVEL Is the park you visit this summer still going to be there next year? not set out in law, so sections of parks can (and have better legal protection. In been) deleted. The cabinet also has almost unlimited 1992, for example, the Ministry authority to allow any use it sees fit in a park or reserve, of Natural Resources recom- including logging and mining. mended revising parks legisla- > There are no requirements to manage parks to tion to recognize the key protect habitat, even for endangered species. ecological role of parks and to > The majority of our parks do not even have current better ensure their long-term management protection. In a discussion plans, which paper on parks legislation, the means they have ministry noted that “the preser- no plans for vation of natural heritage protecting species cannot be achieved without a and ecosystems. strong legislative framework.” Most recently, the official Exploring nature in Lake > Funding for recommendations presented to Superior Provincial Park the parks system the provincial government at has been cut the conclusion of the Lands for Life land-use planning significantly. This The future for all wild species in our process also called for better legal protection for our has led to more parks is not secure parks system. Again, a key recommendation was that we and more empha- formally recognize that the purpose of parks is to protect sis on generating revenue from park use instead of on and preserve nature, not to accommodate development. protecting or restoring the natural values of our pro- The current government has acknowledged that our tected areas. parks system needs better protection and has made a How can we better protect our parks? commitment to drafting new parks legislation. CPAWS- Wildlands League has been encouraging the government Ontario’s parks and protected-areas system today consists to take action on this promise. With a team of 20 of 634 parks and conservation reserves covering more experts, we have drafted a detailed proposal and recom- than 9.4 million hectares. We have made enormous mendations for a process to develop a new Parks Act. progress over the past decade toward our goal of repre- To ensure a healthy future for our protected areas, we senting all of Ontario’s natural regions in our protected- believe Ontario needs a park law that makes the ecologi- areas system and we now have a clear plan for complet- cal protection of parks and conservation reserves the first ing this critically important task in the northern and priority in parks planning and management. We need a central parts of the province. But our efforts could be law that: severely undermined if we do not ensure that this irre- ✓ legislates the boundaries of parks and conservation placeable natural legacy is protected for future genera- reserves so that they cannot be arbitrarily changed tions. ✓ makes the development of management plans focused Over the past two decades, a number of provincial on maintaining the ecological health of our protected committees and advisory bodies have pointed to the areas mandatory need to give Ontario’s parks and protected-areas system continued on page 4 Algonquin’s Algonquin Ontarios flagship suffers the unkindest cut majestic old- growth pine More than 75% of Algonquin Park is open to logging and the impacts on the supposedly stands have all protected ecosystems and species inside the park are far ranging and severe. A number of but disappeared important tree species, including white and red pine, yellow birch and red oak, are known to be regenerating poorly in the park either due to poor re-growth after logging or wildfire sup- pression (also linked to logging). The skyscraping white pines that once soared above the rest of the forest canopy have almost all disappeared from the park, taking with them impor- tant nesting sites for hawks and eagles and refuges for bears. And logging activities directly disturb sensitive creatures. The still-expanding road network built to facilitate logging in the park stretches for more than 2,000 kilometres – that’s enough road to join the park to St.