GATINEAU PARK IS UNIQUE, AND IT REQUIRES A UNIQUE APPROACH
Natural area is monitored and thriving amid urban pressures, Mark Kristmanson writes.
I am often reminded that one of the most distinctive aspects of the National Capital Region is the sheer natural beauty of Gatineau Park and its proximity to the urban core.
Just 15 minutes from Parliament Hill, Gatineau Park is a popular destination for millions of residents and visitors. Hundreds of kilometres of trails, numerous lakes, breathtaking forests and vistas, and abundant wildlife make it a precious and unique Canadian treasure.
The National Capital Commission and its predecessors created this park and have developed it over six decades. In this time, the park’s total footprint has increased; the number of private properties within the park has decreased; and the ecological integrity of the park has improved — all while ensuring Canadians can access the park in greater numbers.
The NCC’s unique approach, anchored in the 2005 Gatineau Park Master Plan, aims to balance conservation with environmentally sustainable recreation to ensure that Gatineau Park endures.
The NCC adopts a rigorous approach to preserving the ecological integrity of the park. Its conservation and park management teams conduct ongoing studies to inventory and protect species at risk, and to monitor, preserve and restore high-value ecosystems and habitats. We work closely with the Province of Quebec, the local municipalities and conservation groups on restoration projects and to reduce the presence and proliferation of invasive species.
Our most recent status report on Gatineau Park ecosystems concluded that most of the key ecological zones are in good health — an important achievement given the increasing pressures of urbanization in areas surrounding the park, and the intensity of visitation and activities within the park.
Since 2014, the NCC has held ongoing workshops with a wide range of users who visit the park for recreational activities, in order to raise awareness about the impact of certain activities on the park’s environment. Ongoing dialogue with Algonquin leaders ensures that their traditional practices can be accommodated in the park, celebrating Algonquin history and culture.
It must be said that the development of private properties within the park has always been a municipal responsibility — in this case Gatineau, Pontiac, La Pêche and Chelsea — and this is a crucial responsibility. For its part, the NCC uses its authorities and resources to acquire private properties in the park.
In 2008, the NCC estimated that 600 hectares of land within the park’s boundaries were in private hands. Since then, it has acquired 50 properties representing a total of 210 hectares — or more than one-third of that total.
The remaining private lands represent less than two per cent of the area of Gatineau Park.
In the past year alone, the NCC acquired seven new properties in Gatineau Park, with priority given to environmentally sensitive areas and sites at risk of private development.
This track record demonstrates an active and concerted effort — real protection — for a Park that is both unique in its geography and in its history.
Over the years, the NCC has developed planning and conservation tools to manage the park on a day-to-day basis while pursuing the long-term goal of protecting its ecology.
Certainly, additional authorities — including legislative safeguards for the Park’s boundaries and enhanced enforcement tools for natural-resource protection — would enhance the NCC’s park management tool kit.
But any future efforts to reinforce Gatineau Park’s protection must build on the past six decades of NCC stewardship. It would be wise to recognize the park’s unique multi-jurisdictional reality and its history as a Capital park. And we must carefully balance the mutually reinforcing goals of ecological integrity, public access and economic benefit.
That is why, in 2017, the NCC will launch the renewal of the Gatineau Park Master Plan with a broad consultation of the public, municipalities and diverse stakeholder groups that value and cherish Gatineau Park.
I hope that we will seize this opportunity to work together as a region to foster the natural and human potential of Gatineau Park for the generations to come.