According to the World Conservation Union, a protected area is one where industrial activities are excluded, especially logging, mining, hydroelectric and oil and gas development. This is also the position of the Partnership for Public Lands. We realize that it is not enough to establish parks and protected areas — we must also act to ensure that these areas remain protected from incompatible uses or from over-use and development. Right now, there are two major issues facing our parks: Sport Hunting in Wilderness-Class Parks At the urging of the Ontario Federation of Hunters and Anglers (OFAH), the provincial government is actively considering opening Ontario's most ecologically important parks to sport hunting. Wilderness-class parks such as Killarney, Quetico and Woodland Caribou, have been strictly off-limits to sport hunting until now. These are very large parks that have been set aside specifically to allow natural systems to evolve without human intervention. In fact, Wilderness Parks are officially defined as "substantial areas where the forces of nature are permitted to function freely and where visitors travel by non-mechanized means and experience expansive solitude, challenge and personal integration with nature."
We have made it clear to Minister of Natural Resources John Snobelen that such a huge change to existing park policy can not be made without broad, province-wide consultation. Any steps to implement such a change without such consultations would clearly violate the letter and spirit of the Ontario Forest Accord and the industry, government and conservation members of the Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board have already written to the minister with their concerns. Help us keep sport hunting out of wilderness parks. Write Minister of Natural Resources John Snobelen and:
Contact Information: Mining in Parks and Reserves Pressure to open parks to mining exploration and mine development continues to come from the powerful mining industry, despite the industry's previous recognition of the need for protected areas in the Whitehorse Mining Initiative. The Partnership believes that Ontario's parks and reserves system poses little threat to the economic potential of Ontario's mining industry and we are urging the government to focus on phasing out any existing overlapping mining claims or tenure agreements. Mines and mineral exploration do not belong in parks. The mining industry has open access to millions of hectares of public land, including 88% of the Lands for Life area. Under current Ontario law, miners can clearcut trees, blast, trench and drill without any prior approval or environmental assessment, all in the name of mineral exploration. Mining, despite industry claims, does not have a small impact — it generates millions of tonnes of acid-leaching waste rock, requires large amounts of water, fossil fuels and electricity, and leads to the building of roads into previously undisturbed areas. Write Northern Development and Mines Minister Tim Hudak and stress that his ministry should focus on updating Ontario's 19th- century open-access mining laws instead of trying to open parks to mineral exploration. Point out that our parks system is an incredibly valuable asset that you don't want to see traded for mining speculation. Contact Information: |
Now, if the
OFAH has its way, hunters will be able to roam these parks with
high-powered, laser-sighted rifles and cellphones, which will
almost certainly lead to increased pressure of populations of
moose, deer and bear among other species.