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Ontario • Protected Areas • Lands and Regulations • Issues & AdvocacyThis data was accurate as of April 2008.
Page Index
Land
description: The land and fresh water area of Ontario is 107,639,500 hectares with the land only area being 91,774,100 hectares. Approximately 87% of land in Ontario is Crown or public with the remaining 13% being private, most of which is in the southern Ontario region. There are 5 National Parks covering a total of 207,100 hectares, with approximately 575 protected area sites including 316 provincial parks, 249 conservation areas and an additional 800ha is in wilderness areas outside provincial parks, covering 9.5 million hectares in which no mineral exploration or mining is permitted. The remaining land use designations such as forest reserves and enhanced management areas permit mineral exploration and mining and wilderness areas outside parks are treated as Crown Land. The Province has 32 diverse natural regions in the Ontario Living Legacy planning area.
Brief History: (prior to initiation of land
use plan and development) In 1992, the Canadian Parks Ministers Council signed A Statement of Commitment to Complete Canada’s Networks of Protected Areas, by the year 2000. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) finalized its Statement of Environmental Values under the Environmental Bill of Rights in 1994. In 1994, the Whitehorse Mining Initiative was signed to provide a strategic vision for a healthy mining industry in the context of maintaining healthy and diverse ecosystems in Canada. Among other things it called for establishing an ecologically based system of protected areas. Representatives of five sectors agreed to participate. They were the mining industry, senior governments, labour unions, Aboriginal peoples, and the environmental community. A report from the Land Access Issue group was released in 1994. Nature’s Best: A Framework and Action Plan was announced in 1996 and laid out a policy framework, planning approaches, tools for protection and broad guidelines for protected area management. In February 1997, Lands for Life (L4L) announced Phase One in which three regional round tables developed land use plans for almost half of Ontario’s Crown land (45% of the province – 39 million ha of Crown land and 6 million ha of private lands, federal lands and Indian reserves). The area covered by L4L was from the Ottawa Valley to approximately 51o North Latitude, and from the Quebec to the Manitoba borders, but excluded lands north of 51 and southern Ontario. Stakeholder conflict over the recommendations combined with a looming provincial election prompted Phase Two: an intense series of private negotiations between the forest industry, environmental groups and the government which led to the Forest Accord and Ontario’s Living Legacy Strategy. The Ontario Forest Accord (OFA) was developed through discussions by representatives of the forest industry, the Partnership for Public Lands (with representation from the World Wildlife Fund Canada, the Federation of Ontario Naturalists and the Wildlands League) and MNR. The accord supports the protection of natural resources in the Living Legacy planning area, addresses the needs of the forest industry for more stability and provides a mechanism for recommending new protected areas in the planning area. Approximately 6.3% of the land was protected in federal & provincial parks before the L4L process started. Provisions of the Accord support the completion of a representative system of parks and protected areas encompassing 12% of the Living Legacy (L4L) planning area, with commitments to increase protected areas beyond 12% and agreement that significant changes in parks and protected area policies, legislation and permitted uses would only occur after public consultation and review. The Ontario Forest Accord Advisory Board (OFAAB) was established, following the March 29, 1999 announcement of the Accord, to help implement the recommendations and joint commitments, monitor ecological representation, resolve disputes and develop methods to update and amend the Accord. OFAAB will also develop a strategy for additions to the parks and protected areas system. The OFA recommendations, along with the proposed protected areas identified by the Forest industry and the PPL formed the final outcome for the Lands for Life process. The Living Legacy Trust is a $30 million fund established by the provincial government to support implementation of the Ontario Forest Accord and to improve natural resource management in northern Ontario. Ontario’s Living Legacy (OLL) land use strategy, approved in 1999, made possible the creation of 378 new and expanded parks and conservation reserves totaling an additional 2.4 million hectares, bringing the OLL planning area to 12% protection. The 12% target was suggested by the 1987 Bruntland Commission, and was adopted as the target for the Ontario’s Living Legacy land use strategy and the Area of the Undertaking (south of 51oN) after the Lands for Life Round Tables submitted their recommendations. It has never been officially adopted for the rest of the province. OLL provides direction for management of 39 million hectares of Crown land, covering 45% of the province (based on the L4L planning area). The strategy has four specific objectives: to complete Ontario’s system of parks and protected areas; recognize the land use needs of the resource-based tourism industry; provide forestry, mining and other resource industries with greater land and resource use certainty; and, enhance angling, hunting and other Crown land recreation opportunities. The Approved Land Use Strategy replaces the Northwest and Northeast Land Use Plans, and the Southern Ontario Coordinated Program Strategy. The planning area includes roughly 50% of Ontario’s boreal forest, and 32 diverse natural regions, from the southern extent of shield to 51˚N latitude. In 1998, the Ontario government announced the Natural Areas Protection Program (NAPP) designed to acquire and protect significant natural areas of southern Ontario (complementary to Ontario’s Living Legacy- ensuring protection of lands across central and northern Ontario), a four year, $20 million initiative administered by MNR.
Process of Development/Consultation Type: Ontario’s Living Legacy land use strategy was announced in July 1999 and the Proposed Land Use Strategy was circulated for public comment. Over 8,200 submissions were received. The OLL involved an extensive planning process, including the broadest public consultation (round table forums that toured the province) in Ontario’s history of land use planning, carried out from February 1997 to May 1999. In 2000, the Northern Boreal Initiative (NBI) was established in response to First Nations interest in commercial forestry north of the OLL 51oN latitude boundary, and was based on the commitment to move ahead from First Nations communities, the 1996 Aboriginal Policy Framework and the 1999 Ontario Forest Accord. NBI is community-based land use planning and the concept document was presented in July 2001. As a part of this initiative, a draft proposal for a land use strategy for the Whitefeather Forest was prepared in 2003. In 2004, Ontario initiated a protected areas legislative review.
PAS Implementation and Candidate PA selection
process: Under the Ontario Forest Accord, proposals for new protected areas would be developed under a process of candidate site selection, candidate list of intensive forest management areas, scientific validation, and socio-economic and environmental impact analysis. The implementation of the Ontario Forest Accord, through the Room to Grow process, requires the agreement of the PPL, the forest industry, the mining industry, and the hydroelectric industry before new protected areas can be established. First Nation consultations must also be carried out. In southern Ontario, the Natural Areas Protection Program (NAPP) properties are chosen through submissions from local conservation authorities. NAPP is a five year, $20 million program, administered by MNR, focused on the acquisition of private land. The regulation process for new protected areas requires community consultations, precise mapping of boundaries, and all the legal approvals.
Results: From 1998-2002, NAPP protected approximately 4,890ha of private land, for total acquisition costs of over $21 million. The Ontario Parks Legacy of 2000 was a partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to acquire $10 million worth of land for provincial parks, throughout the province. More than 10,800ha with a value of over $9.1 million have been acquired. This funding is mostly through charitable donation with a portion from government. The Community Conservancy Program, another partnership with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, protected natural areas with a value of $6 million, by 2000. The provincial Conservation Land Tax Incentive Program provides 100% tax relief to landowners whose properties meet specified natural heritage protection criteria. Lands identified as provincially significant by MNR are eligible for this program. Currently the program encourages protection of 11,800 properties with a total area of 155,800ha. In December 2007, the provincial government returned Ipperwash Provincial Park (109 acres) to the First Nation of the area.
Public Lands: Under OLL, almost 2.4 million hectares in 378 sites were withdrawn from logging, exploration and mining and hydroelectric development, to be set aside as new provincial parks, additions to existing parks or new “conservation reserves”. They cover approximately 12% of the L4L region. By 2000, Ontario had accepted fully or in principle 213 of the 242 Lands for Life recommendations and continued to study a further 25. By late 2001, about 30% of the proposed new parks
had been legislated, and the boundaries of another 50% had been agreed
to by MNR, the PPL, the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines (MNDM),
the forest industry and First Nations. All sites received interim
protection from development, pending legislation Ontario’s Living Legacy calls for the establishment of 1.5 million ha (or 3.9% of the area) as 86 new enhanced management areas. A further 11.1% of the region is designated as 14 “forest reserves”. Forest operations are not allowed in Forest Reserves, however mining exploration and development can continue until the claims and/or leases lapse through normal processes. Ontario has also designated over 1.4 million hectares as Legacy Signature Sites. These are areas considered to have exceptional natural features that warrant special protection and promotion. Of this total area, approximately 623,000ha are in existing provincial parks or conservation reserves, 481,000ha are to be additions to provincial parks and conservation reserves and 332,000ha are in forest reserves and enhanced management areas where access to mineral exploration and mining will be permitted. In 2003 the Kawartha Highlands Signature Site parks Act was established.
Post-completion and On-Going issues:
First Nations Land Claim Settlements: Most First Nation treaties were created and settled in the 1800’s, however, treaty and land rights are currently undergoing further negotiations. Lands for Life (L4L) covered the traditional territories of three First Nations with 48 aboriginal communities. It was a fundamental understanding in the recommendations of the Lands for Life Round Tables and the OLL land use strategy that new protected areas did not supercede First Nations treaty and Aboriginal rights. The First Nations were represented by two people at each table in L4L, however, First Nation political leaders asked the First Nation representatives to withdraw from the discussions since they felt the initiative was not aligned with First Nation perceptions of consultation. Since the OLL recommendations were made, government has been consulting with the First Nations on proposed boundary adjustments to some sites, and other aspects of implementation. Government Departments,
Agencies and Legislation, for further information:
Natural Resources (Parks, Protected Areas) www.mnr.gov.on.ca/mnr/ Ontario’s Living Legacy www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/luep/
Parks www.ontarioparks.com/
Northern Development and Mines www.mndm.gov.on.ca/MNDM/MINES/
Non-governmental organizationss
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