Forest Landscape Baseline No. 10
Brief Progress and Summary Reports 1995
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Forest Landscape Baseline No. 10 Brief Progress and Summary Reports 1995 | |
TOWARDS A SUPERIOR-TEMAGAMI CORRIDOR
by P. A. Quinby and B. Henderson
Introduction
Despite increased public awareness about the value of Canada's ancient (pristine) forest landscapes for non-consumptive purposes, these wild places are disappearing at an ever-increasing rate. It is generally accepted by conservation biologists that if we are to stem the tide of biodiversity degradation, it must happen over the next few decades (Wilson 1992, WWFC 1995). This must involve the protection of large expanses of wildlands and will be most successful if local communities are involved.
Definition and Value of Ancient Forest Landscapes
Ancient forest landscapes are more than just forests -- they are the combination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that have developed together and interact within a region. In addition to forests, they include the lakes, streams, wetlands, and non-forested terrestrial ecosystems that make up the entire landscape. Their common characteristic is their natural integrity. Because of natural barriers, ruggedness of the terrain, management choices, or mere fluke, they have not been altered by logging, mining, or hydroelectric development. And, except for the unknown influences of fire suppression and acid deposition, their original species composition and ecosystem processes are maintained.
Ancient forest landscapes are valuable for many reasons. They protect water quality and soils, sustain important wildlife communities, ameliorate global warming through carbon storage, provide outdoor classrooms for studying natural ecological processes, are an ideal setting for wilderness recreation, and can be spiritual refuges. They are perhaps most valuable as a source of baseline information on the functioning of pristine ecosystems and for their restorative influence on people in response to the general malaise of urban living. The knowledge we gain from studying these systems will help us to maintain the integrity of ecosystems and the production of natural resource products and services. In addition, by studying human interaction with such ecosystems we will develop a better understanding of the influence of both the built and natural environment on the human spirit.
To ensure that we have adequate reference sites to evaluate our land management practices, it is essential that we identify and protect unmodified areas that are large enough to encompass the full range of ecological variation and to maximize the influence of natural ecosystem processes. These areas must also provide a sense of the pristine for development of the human imagination (Wilson 1984).
Mapping Pristine Landscapes
World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWFC) has determined that additional wildlands must be protected in the Lake Temagami Site Region (LTSR) located in central Ontario (WWFC 1995). Currently, only six percent of its land area is legally protected, and two of the LTSR's five site districts have little or no representation, one is partially represented and two are moderately represented. To address this problem, Ancient Forest Exploration & Research and the Canadian Nature Federation have jointly produced an atlas of ancient forest landscapes for the LTSR (Quinby et al. 1995).
The LTSR is primarily a forested area which covers more than five million hectares, extending from Michipicoten Bay on Lake Superior in the west to Lake Timiskaming on the Quebec border in the east. This region makes up approximately one-fifth of Ontario's Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region. Its forests are composed of temperate tree species such as sugar maple, eastern white pine, red pine, red maple, red oak, yellow birch, basswood, and eastern white cedar mixed with boreal species such as jack
pine, white spruce, black spruce, balsam fir, poplar, and white birch. The majority of Ontario's remaining old-growth white and red pine forest is located in this region (Quinby and Giroux 1993).
It is intended that the atlas of ancient forest landscapes in the LTSR (Quinby et al. 1995) be used as a resource for decision makers, interest groups and the public to address forest conservation is sues in the region. AFLs greater than 18,000 hectares that are connected by wildlife corridors have the greatest potential to contribute significantly to a reserve network in the LTSR. Using this 18,000 hectare minimum size, 23 AFLs ranging in size from 18,000 to 161,400 hectares (mean of 45,409 hectares) were identified and mapped within the five million hectare LTSR (Fig. 1). The atlas provides a description of each AFL in terms of forest composition, fire history, significant headwaters, protected areas and ecological representation. The atlas results are also discussed in the context of continental, regional and landscape level conservation initiatives.
It is suggested that at least one major effort be focussed on the protection of core reserves and corridors in the Mississagi Site District which includes 290,000 hectares of pristine landscape distributed among seven AFLs. There are many ancient forest landscapes that are smaller than the 20,000 ha minimum used in the atlas that were generated in the original mapping exercise. Field-based, fine-filter surveys are necessary to identify more specific AFL boundaries.
Linking Core Reserve Areas
Due primarily to logging, the landscape within the LTSR continues to be fragmented. There are four ways to improve biodiversity conservation within fragmented landscapes at the regional scale (Meffe and Carroll 1994): (1) increase reserve size, (2) increase the number of reserves, (3) connect reserves and (4) practice better management of the multiple use lands that surround reserves. This paper focusses primarily on the second and third approaches.
Using the Atlas results, existing biodiversity information, and knowledge of key cultural heritage sites and travelways, it is possible to link core AFLs and existing protected areas in the LTSR to form a corridor extending from Lake Superior in the west to Temagami in the east. We use Hay's (1991) definition of a corridor: "a landscape linkage designed to connect open spaces to form protected [areas] that follow natural and man-made features and embrace ecological, cultural and recreational amenities where applicable".
There are two major biodiversity conservation benefits of corridors (Noss and Cooperrider 1994): (1) to provide habitat in order to maintain natural levels of plant and animal populations and (2) to serve as conduits for the movement of plants and animals. Movement relates to daily animal home range activity, seasonal migration of animals, dispersal of animals and plants, and migration due to habitat changes resulting from processes such as global warming. Thus, corridors allow for maximum flow of genes, species, energy and material between core reserves (Meffe and Carroll 1994). In addition, corridors provide for better representation of ecosystem variation across broad regional environmental gradients.
A Superior-Temagami Corridor could also provide many recreational benefits some of which may revolve around features of natural and cultural history present within the corridor. Primary recreational activities may include canoe tripping, backpacking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling. A variety of access points and circular routes can also be identified. In some cases, historic routes will need to be re-opened but for the most part, the travelways are established though not well used or maintained. Promoting these recreational opportunities should facilitate further research and educational initiatives as well as increased wildland use all of which should encourage an ethic of biodiversity conservation. An open and coordinated grassroots effort involving a variety of community groups and regional interests will be required to develop this regional corridor.
References
Hay, K. 1991. Greenways and Biodiversity, In: Landscape Linkages and Biodiversity, Ed. by W. E. Hudson, Island Press, Wash. D.C. pp. 162-175.
Meffe, G. and R. Carroll. 1994. Principles of Conservation Biology. Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Mass. 600 pp.
Noss, R. F. and A. Y. Cooperrider. 1994. Saving Nature's Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Wash. D.C. 416 pp.
Quinby, P. A. and P. A. Giroux. 1993. A Survey of Old-Growth Eastern White Pine Forest in Canada and the United States. Ancient Forest Research Report No. 2, Ancient Forest Exploration & Research, Powassan, Ontario. 12 pp.
Quinby, P. A., T. Lee, C. Schultz and J. Powers. 1995. An Ancient Forest Atlas for the Lake Temagami Site Region (4E). Canadian Nature Federation and Ancient Forest Exploration & Research, Ottawa, Ontario. 93 pp. (with map).
Wilson, E. O. 1984. Biophilia. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 157 pp.
Wilson, E. O. 1992. The Diversity of Life. W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York. 424 pp.
World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWFC). 1995. Endangered Spaces Progress Report 94-95, No. 5, Endangered Spaces Campaign, WWFC, Toronto, Ontario. 54 pp.
Produced by Ancient Forest Exploration & Research, 93 Westmoreland Ave., Toronto, Ontario M6H 2Z8; phone (416) 535-0205; A sum mary report of the "Ancient Forest Atlas for the Lake Temagami Site Region (4E) Project" in association with the Canadian Nature Federation; funding provided by The Richard Ivey Foundation, The Ontario Heritage Foundation, Earthwatch, The Helen McCrea Peacock Foundation, The George Lunan Foundation, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
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