Representative Areas
The NWT Protected Areas Strategy (PAS) outlines a community-based process to establish a network of protected areas across the NWT. It recognizes the need to balance conservation and economic development, while respecting Aboriginal rights, third party interests, and land use planning processes.
The goals of the PAS are to identify and protect:
- Special natural and cultural areas in the NWT.
- Core representative areas within each of the 42 ecoregions of the NWT. An ecoregion is a relatively large area with a unique mix of plants, animals, climate, and environment.
The PAS uses representative areas to help northerners protect wildlife, water and habitats. Representative areas contain samples of all landscapes and living things, including those both common and unique. Bogs, small streams and rocky areas are all examples of important habitats. They all contribute to natural processes that keep the land and water in good health – allowing animals to migrate, plants to distribute seeds, and water to flow.
Why should representative areas be protected?
It is important that some representative areas remain free from industrial development as they help to maintain the full diversity or range of life - from large and small mammals, to forest birds, plants, insects, and bacteria in the soil. Some habitats are easier to overlook when protecting the land, and people do not know everything about how the environment works, especially with regard to the impacts of climate change. However, keeping samples of all habitats and landforms, along with their respective plants and animals, free from the potential impacts of industrial development means northern residents and all Canadians can have greater confidence that the land and water in the NWT will be healthy – today and for future generations. This approach, sometimes referred to as ‘ecological representation’, has been used as a land use planning tool in many other places around the world.
Representative areas with no industrial development are needed because:
- They are a critical element in maintaining healthy lands, waters, and wildlife into the future;
- They help some species adapt to climate change;
- They can be used as monitoring areas to help measure the effects of development; and
- They are an ‘insurance policy’ as people learn more about the land and human impacts on it.
There are 42 different ecoregions in the NWT. An ecoregion is a relatively large area defined by similar climate, vegetation, geology and other ecological patterns.
How are representative areas identified?
The best way to build a network of protected areas is to use a combination of traditional, community-based and scientific knowledge. Communities and land use planning boards have already identified many special areas for protection based on natural and cultural values.
Using these areas as the foundation, PAS staff are looking at the entire NWT to ensure that ‘some of everything’ is protected. PAS staff map examples of areas in each ecoregion where all the different features of that ecoregion can be found, such as; plant groups, soil types, land formations and climate. These places are good options for representative areas. The next step is to look at other unique features that people want to protect, like mineral licks and hot springs. I
PAS staff use all of this information to examine questions like:
- Have representative areas been identified in each ecoregion?
- What are the different options available for selecting representative areas?
- If certain areas are already set aside for development, where else can representative areas be identified?
- Are there certain areas that should to be protected because they have habitats that are not found anywhere else?
PAS staff can make custom maps for a particular region or to answer a specific question. These maps are being used by communities, candidate area working groups, and land use planning boards to help decide what areas to protect in the NWT. Areas identified for potential protection need to go through the standard routes of land use planning, the Parks Canada process, or the PAS 8-step process in order to be protected.
