Intact Forest Landscapes and Conservation Planning in Canada

Intact Forest Landscapes and Conservation Planning in Canada

Prepared by: Ryan Cheng Global Forest Watch Canada

Outline

GFWC Intact Forest Landscapes reports Atlas of Canada’s Intact Forest Landscapes Nova Scotia’s Intact Forest Landscapes Intact Forest Landscapes and Conservation Values Overview Conservation Values Index Province of Alberta example: Key Ecological Values Key Threats Example of Threats around Protected Areas

Introduction to Global Forest Watch Canada Began mapping IFL in Canada

in ~ 2000, based on earlier work by Global Forest Watch Russia To support the stewardship and conservation of Canada's remaining forests, by providing decision makers and civil society with timely, accurate information on their location, state, and change. In particular, this mission includes monitoring development activities using sophisticated GIS and remote sensing technologies.

National datasets we create: Cumulative Access [Anthropogenic

Disturbance to ~2006] Change Analysis [~1990 – 2000] National Hydropower Reservoirs [2007] Intact Forest Landscapes [up to ~2006] Other datasets: Industrial Tenures (for example: forest tenures/mills) First Nations Lands

GFWC National Intact Forest Landscapes Reports

50 000 ha

10 000 ha

5 000 ha

Large intact forest landscapes Forest landscape fragments Intact forest landscapes

GFWC Intact Forest Landscape Mapping Methodology

How do we map Intact Forest Landscapes? Based on GFW Russia Methodology, binary classification as intact/disturbed. We first assume that all forests are intact. Existing datasets Eliminate existing anthropogenic disturbances based on readily available datasets (for example: roads, reservoirs) Landsat data Eliminate all visible anthropogenic disturbances seen medium resolution satellite imagery (for example: clearcuts, oil well sites) Fire was not included as anthropogenic change Disturbances were buffered by 500m – 1000m

GFWC Regional Intact Forest Landscapes Reports

We map smaller Intact Forest Landscapes to determine where “core” intact forests exists and focus conservation efforts around central Intact Forest Landscapes

Global Forest Watch Key Ecological Values Reports

High conservation values vs. highest threat Examples of conservation values datasets Examples of threats datasets [Alberta]

Process of choosing conservation values

Determining priority areas within IFLs How do we choose values EXPERT PANEL [DELPHI TECHNIQUE] How good is the product? Depends on: What datasets are available The scale/coarseness of the data Who chooses the conservation values Geographical boundaries Political opportunities How the conservation values are ranked [show a comparison of the effects of changing conservation values ranking]

Potential Conservation Values

List of datasets that we have available in Canada: Intact Forest Lanscapes Caribou/ caribou habitat Carbon storage: Terrestrial (Soil Organic Carbon) Assessment of Representation (AoR) Aquatic density Rainforests (Boreal) Free-flowing major rivers Proximity/adjacency to existing Protected Areas Old growth forests (Forest age) Wetlands Carbon sinks (Net Biome Productivity) Tree height Focal species: Grizzly Focal species: Wolverine Species Diversity

Intact Forest Landscapes in Alberta

Example of High Conservation Value: Old Growth Forests

Conservation Values (Intact Forest Landscapes)

Example of Threat: Recent Anthropogenic Disturbance Surrounding

Protected Areas

Example of Threat: Energy Developments (Tar Sands)

Example of Threat: Energy Developments (Petroleum and Natural Gas

Wells )

Example of Threat: Forestry Concessions

Threats Index

Intersection of Ecological Values and Threats

Conservation Values for all Forested Regions of Alberta: Wetlands

Conservation Values for all Forested Regions of Alberta: Shoreline

Conservation Values for all Forested Regions of Alberta: Species

Diversity

Conservation Values for all Forested Regions of Alberta

Key Ecological Value

Number of Categories

Ranking

Relative Weight

Scaled Weight [max = 1]

Soil Organic Carbon

5

1 to 5

1

0.025

Net Biome Productivity

3

1 to 5

1

0.025

Potenitial Old Growth Forests

1

1 to 5

1

0.025

Species Diversity

5

1 to 5

2

0.05

Focal Species

1

1 to 5

1

0.025

Aquatic Density per Watershed

5

1 to 5

1

0.025

Wetlands

5

1 to 5

1

0.025

Conservation Values (Intact Forest Landscapes)

Example of a Regional Study in Alberta: Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

Land use plan for an area of Alberta undergoing extensive development Identify lands which would allow for 20% of the region to be protected

Regional Study in Alberta: Conservation Values

Regional Study in Alberta: Threats Index

Regional Study in Alberta: Conservation Values vs

Threats

Conservation Values and Protected Areas in Canada

Is the allocation of lands and freshwaters to protected areas achieving naturalness, presumably a key conservation objective of protected areas? Definition of naturalness

Conservation Values and Protected Areas in Canada

Anthropogenic access within Canada’s Protected Areas is approximately 31% of that within all of Canada (5.3% versus 17.6%), meaning that Canada’s protected areas are much more “natural” than Canada as a whole. Only 5.3% of Canada’s protected areas are anthropogenically accessed, compared to that of surrounding buffer areas at 48.6%: buffer areas surrounding protected areas are almost 10 times more accessed than the protected areas they surround.

Lessons for GFWC

Intact Forest Landscapes have been, in Canada, a powerful but insufficient , conservation advocacy tool. There has been urgent need to: Map smaller IFLs than 50,000 ha Identify high priority sites for conservation within IFLs Identify both industrial near-future threats to IFLs and political opportunities to conserve IFLs.