The Effectiveness of Management Planning in Ontario's Provincial Parks:

A Human Dimensions Perspective

Ryan Garnett, Nicholina Youroukos and R.J. Payne, School of Outdoor Recreation, Parks & Tourism,

Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Parks and Protected AreasResearch Forum of Manitoba (PPARFM)

Winnipeg, ManitobaJanuary 20-21, 2011

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Introduction

Ontario's Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act (2006)

Ecological integrity

Ecologically sustainable outdoor recreation

Park Management Planning Manual

Process modeled on timber management planning

18 guidelines to be scrutinized by the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario

To be posted on the Environmental Registry website

Can this process be effective in producing management plans to meet the requirements on the new legislation?

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Management Effectiveness

Process approach

Hockings (2003)

Planning: appropriateness

Inputs: data, information and knowledge

Human Dimensions

People: numbers, expectations, activities, locations, impacts

Planning and managing parks requires data, information and knowledge about people

Our approach

Two aspects of the process, both requiring data, information and knowledge

Values and Zoning

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Values

Values are “... specific attribute[s] or feature[s] (Aboriginal, cultural, ecological or recreational) within a protected area that may require additional/special consideration during the planning process and subsequent management.” (OMNR, 2009)

These are agency values; are they people's (Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal) values?

Personal and cultural values reside with people

Does Ontario Parks have access to such data or information?

Perhaps: Ontario Parks Camper Survey provides data on who, what, why, where

Every three years

Electronic data collection

Large sample size (~35,000 respondents)

Adapt it to understand how and why people use parks

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Zoning

Zoning is meant to reconcile visitor use and protection

Does Ontario Parks have data or information to assist with the human dimensions aspects of zoning?

Perhaps, but analysis required, and geo-referencing to put users in park spaces

How can human dimensions information help: an example using Quetico Provincial Park

Wilderness Perception Mapping (WPM) is a technique to apply wilderness recreationalists' values of features, land usage and management strategies to a geospatial context for park management planning

Wilderness perception depends on visitors' characteristics

Three different views of wilderness zoning in Quetico depending on users

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Perceptual LevelFeature to Buffer Non Purist Neutralist Moderate Purist Purist

Campsites 1 km 2 kmMaintained tracks 1 kmHuts / shelters 1 kmLogging sites / roads 1 km 1 km 2 km 3 kmHydro-development 1 km 2 km 3 kmMining sites 1 km 1 km 2 km 3 km

RemotenessRoads:Sealed 1 km 1 km 2 km 3 km

1 km 2 km 3 km4WD 1 km 2 kmFoot tracks 1 kmAirfields:Aerodromes 1 km 1 km 2 km 3 kmAirstrips 1 km 2 km 2 km

NaturalnessVegetation cover: 1 km 1 km 1 km 2 kmUrban/crop/pasture 1 km 1 km 2 kmExotic scrub 1 km 2 kmExotic forest

SolitudeTracks with unacceptable use 1 km 1 km 1 kmHuts with unacceptable use 1 km 1 km 1 kmCampsites with unacceptable use 1 km 1 km 1 km

Artifactualism

Metaled

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Wilderness Zoning for Wilderness Purist

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Wilderness Zoning for Moderate Purist

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Wilderness Zoning for Non-Purist

Effectiveness of Management Planning

Conclusions

Is Ontario Parks' Management Planning Process effective from a Human Dimensions point of view?

No, it fails to incorporate people's values into the process

This, in spite of reasonable data on visitors, regularly collected

No, it fails to incorporate visitor data and information in zoning

No, the process itself, a timber management planning process, is not appropriate for park management planning

Questions?