The Partnership has developed a sophisticated mapping system to guide our efforts to establish new parks. Essentially, the system looks at a number of factors — from the natural characteristics of an area to how intact or remote it is — to develop a sort of natural-value score for each square kilometre of the Lands for Life region.

This scoring process — which relies on data provided by MNR and others — helps us develop what we call "smudge maps." These maps use a colour-coding system to indicate the value of each area — the darker the colour, the higher the natural value of the square.

Looking at these maps, we then try to pick out the areas that offer the best potential for protected areas — for example, high-scoring areas that are large or close to existing parks or other high-value areas; that can be connected to other existing or potential protected areas by waterways or other corridors; or areas that are
found in regions with little existing protection.

Our goal has been to use a consistent, scientific method to decide where protected areas should be located. We will continue to use this system as we move forward on finishing the protected areas system in the Lands for Life region and as we start work on land-use planning for the Far Northern Boreal Region.

HOW AREAS ARE SCORED
These are the characteristics we looked for when scoring natural areas:

• Roadless Wilderness Areas: Areas that were two to five kilometres away from roads, railways, hydro corridors, pipelines or other unnatural corridors (identified using MNR corridor data).
• Old-growth forests: Areas with high proportions of forest ecosystems more than 90-120 years old (identified using MNR Forest Resource Inventory summary data).
• Wetlands: Areas with more than 32% wetland cover, along with other important wetland areas (identified using MNR Provincial Land Cover mapping).
• Landform heterogeneity (diversity): Areas with a high to moderate number of different landscape types within a 100,000 ha. circle area were identified. This work highlighted areas were multiple landforms or ecological-district types could be represented within a more concentrated area (identified using data from MNR and soil-type data from Environment Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

Points were then added or subtracted based on additional factors, including:

• ecological representation gaps in the existing park and conservation reserve system
• presence of species and communities at-risk
• cutover areas
• old-growth white and red pine stands

These areas were then further refined by considering:

• local conservation and recreational values, based on discussions with local individuals and community groups
• important life and earth science features previously identified by MNR
• other land-use or ecological values such as headwaters, watershed and valley-corridors and Great Lakes shorelines as well as potential areas for remote and semi-remote tourism
• forest productivity
• mineral potential areas (data provided by the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines)

Click here for an example of the progression from smudge map to final park boundaries.