Plan falls short: biologist
Author of original protected areas plan calls it ‘deeply flawed’
A long-awaited conservation plan for the province was released last month to both celebration and criticism, and one of its original authors is expressing both those sentiments.
Douglas Ballam was one of the primary authors on the original natural areas system plan drafted in 1995. At that time, he was a biologist with the province’s parks and natural areas division.
He left that career in 2000 because a lack of progress on the plan — due to what he says were government stall tactics — left him feeling burnt out.
Since the plan was drafted, Ballam has been calling for its release so public consultation can proceed.
And today, while he’s pleased that consultation has begun, he has several concerns.
“I believe that the plan is deeply flawed, but that it is better than doing nothing for another 30 years,” he told The Telegram.
“Objectively, from a scientific viewpoint, this plan is as far from perfect as you can possibly get, except for not having a plan at all.”
Newfoundland and Labrador currently has 6.9 per cent of its land protected, while the Canadian average is 12.1 per cent. That lags behind the global average of 15.4 per cent. Currently, national goals aim to bring the country’s protected areas up to 17 per cent.
Ballam said if every suggested area in the plan were to be established as presented — which is unlikely — it would mean an additional two per cent of protected areas for the province, bringing the total to 13.2 per cent for Newfoundland.
Another of his criticisms is that Labrador is left out of the plan entirely.
The Wilderness and Ecological Reserves Advisory Council (WERAC) addresses that fact in the plan, called “A Home for Nature”: “Provincial protected area planning for Labrador will follow and will be specific to the unique geography of Labrador. WERAC anticipates that a plan for Labrador will be developed through a collaborative process including all people of Labrador. Labrador is an important region in terms of the future implementation of a network of protected areas for the province.”
Ballam also said the plan “completely fails” when it comes to rare or endangered species. He said the eight special site proposals in the plan (areas with rare or endangered species) were mostly included in the original plan 25 years ago.
“We have more than 300 seabird colonies along our shores, around 300 species of rare plants and more than 50 species that are considered at risk, yet no new areas were designed to capture these most vulnerable components of our ecosystem. … You could capture 80 per cent or more of the island’s rare plants in less than 10 reserves, but this plan has none.”
Despite his criticisms, he said this is better than no plan at all.
PLAN LIKELY TO FAIL
Ballam said he worries that the government’s approach to the plan is dooming it from the start.
“I believe that there’s a better than 50 per cent chance that, due to the way that government set this up, that the plan is going to fail, that government will be able to announce in the fall that there was enough opposition from rural Newfoundland that they’re dropping it.
“We will effectively stop conservation for another generation, just like we did for the last 25 years.”
He said there’s plenty of misinformation and exaggeration about the plan right now, including the idea that the suggested boundaries cannot be altered.
The government’s Engage NL website says the boundaries proposed in the plan are not final, and that there will be two phases of public engagement. The first is ongoing until Oct. 1. The second will be a consultation process for each individual proposed reserve.
Ballam said people should not believe politicians when they say this is WERAC’S plan.
“The release and implementation of this plan is government policy — WERAC just advises. The release of the plan by government was a campaign promise of the current administration and working on the plan was one of the main directives in the ministerial mandate letter.
“The lack of leadership shown by the current administration is appalling and if the plan is shelved for another generation, then the leaders of today will be on the wrong side of history, again.”
Ballam said protected areas are economic drivers in many rural areas, such as Gros Morne National Park and the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.
“These protected areas can form the foundation for a sustainable, rural economy with the appropriate training, planning and marketing. To drop this plan now, and to kill it for another generation, would deprive rural Newfoundland children and grandchildren, our descendants, from an economic opportunity.”