Week 4 - Parks Conservation & Management at Gatineau Park

As the weather was looking up we ventured over the bridge to Gatineau Park.

I now wonder if this building was LEED certified...

Mitten weather!

 Louis from the park gave us a presentation on the history as well as management problems they face, such as :

• User/ user conflicts
• ex. Climbers vs. bikers
• User/ Residents (wildlife)
• Habitat degradation

He asked our opinion on whether the natural ecology of the park was salvageable and I was/am not optimistic. People "need" access roads, roads fragment habitat affecting species in many negative ways such as construction pollutants, species segregation and increased human traffic.

To protect nature we must limit human interaction. 

In a paper by Thurston and Reader the affect of recreational activities (hiking and biking) on forest vegetation was studied and both activities were found to have devastating effects on the vegetation but once discontinued, the forest had a full recovery (2001). 

I think that these findings point towards the discontinuation of activities but in Gatineau Park they are  alternating trails to allow for periodic restoration. 

Something I noticed when speaking with the protection/ conservation people was the approach they took to getting "users" involved. Instead of saying, it's nature's park, treat it with respect (take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints), they take the approach to park "ownership". It's your park to keep clean.. etc.

I did not agree with that approach and think that it should be rethought. 

After the presentation we all reverted to our 7-year old selfs and played around in the welcome center.

A peculiar looking bear

Interactive learning!

Blanding's replica

 We roll out of the welcome center in search of a backdrop for Connor's talk and look what we find...

Perfect! and freezing!

Before his mustache took over, Connor informed the group all about the importance of beavers to the colonization of Canada, their ecosystem engineering abilities and how in the hopes to start a fur trade they became European invasive species. 

Giant grass.

Steve looks mad but he's just enthusiastic about this particular beaver dam stopper!

People live in Gatineau Park which is something I couldn't wrap my head around. How could it be a nature reserve and a residential area?? The need for power and services cannot be ignored.   

The lake we are standing on the shore of has homes along the left. 

As snow falls magically around her, Tiana informs the class about coyotes. She focussed on their range expansion into city centers and what is being done about it. 

SNOW!

http://we.got.net/~landauer/mtb/Guelph_MTB_study.pdf

http://www.mun.ca/biology/ywiersma/BIOC4041.pdf