0664-B1

Reporting and Assessing the Status of Wildlife Habitats in Canada's Forests

Ed Wiken^[1], Jean Cinq-Mars and Moreno Padilla

Abstract

Nearly 600 000 ha or 60% of Canada is dominated by forested areas. This vast life zone provides seasonal and year-round habitats for two thirds of the nation's estimated 300 000 species, and consists of 12 major ecozones. Within these forest-dominated ecozones, there are 152 distinctive ecoregions that provide broadly different habitat types from temperate to sub-polar regimes, lowland plains to mountainous areas, and from virtually continuous forests through to lake, wetland, grassland and alpine complexes. Based on a unique and recent national wildlife habitat assessment, 25 of these ecoregions are already at moderate to high risk for habitat/ecosystem biodiversity conservation. The risks in these forested habitats have domestic, as well as continental significance, depending on the type and rarity of species and habitats they host. These more threatened habitats are located mainly along the southern and more commercially used areas but stressors such as climate change and wood harvesting are steadily becoming more prevalent in northern forests. Reporting on the status of forest habitats is a crucial step in forest conservation. It serves as a rational basis for resource planning and minimizing current and future risks in the vital forested landscapes of Canada and elsewhere.

Introduction

Why should Torontonians, Londoners or New Yorkers care about Canada's forests? Why should Inuit from the Canadian arctic or Mexican peasants from the Michoacan highlands care about Canadian forests? Why should the fishing, tourism and financial institutions care? By examining the causes of impacts on domestic and migratory wildlife, people and institutions throughout Canada and around the world are increasingly aware of how the care and management of forests affects the quality and quantity of critical habitats, as well as the their basic livelihoods. The reported impacts and the results of applying newer conservation practices show, ever more, how the country's and planet's vast distances have shrunk, and how seemingly unrelated forest habitats in one region of the continent can be closely dependent upon another distant forest habitat. Failing to understand the intimate and inevitable connections that forest habitats in Canada and around the world have is increasingly leading to serious social, economic and environmental consequences.

Forests are life support systems for people and communities as they are for wildlife. Wildlife and people are dependent upon the integrity and health of forests and on the actions that resource managers, conservationists and institutions take to maintain these ecosystems. Monarch butterflies, barren ground caribou, salmon, deer, martin and songbirds are just a few species that rely on forests for a home. These species along with trees and other vegetation types are assets that sustain lifestyles, lifecycles, industries and traditional ways of life, both near and far from Canada. When the forested habitats degrade and diminish so do the opportunities for sustaining critical life support systems for wildlife as well as people.

A Unique Approach: The Status of Wildlife Habitats in Canada's Forests

Wildlife Habitat Canada's program on the status of wildlife habitats in Canada's forested landscapes is unique. It examined and reported on various conditions, stressors and responses.

Many considerations guided this status assessment:

• What were some of the principles and considerations involved? They included multiple: interest groups, stakeholders and views; perspectives regionally, nationally, internationally; stages of urgency and opportunity; and jurisdictions and polices and legislation.

• What were some of the barriers? They covered: outdated and irrelevant data; governance by individual resources; lack of inter-disciplinary planning forums; and poor levels of habitat science and monitoring activities.

• What were the key or core issues? They involved: considerations of jobs, economy and conservation; hidden and under valued assets and services; and short-term policies and actions vs. long-term aspirations.

These types of questions illustrate the diversity of habitat issues and the degree to which they affect the health and well being of wildlife as well as people. Wildlife Habitat Canada's (WHC, 2001) national report and research on the state of forested habitats was devoted to addressing the questions of national concerns or major regional questions that have national significance:

• What is the status of forested habitats?

• Are the changes and conditions of significance?

• Why are these changes happening?

• What is being done to correct problems? and

• What will be the outcome and the status in the future?

Wildlife Habitat Issues in Canada's Forests are Life Issues

The forests of Canada, their diversity of wildlife, their soil and water resources, their vegetation community types, and even forest management questions and forest information all share a similar trait. They are all seemingly immense. Forest habitats reach from one coast to another, go from the Canada-USA border northwards to the poleward tree line, and from the lake strewn Canadian Shield areas over to the mountainous terrain of the Rockies. These life zones encompass more than 4 million square kilometers covering parts of 14 major jurisdictional authorities, 12 macro ecozones and over 152 distinctive ecoregions (Table 1). Each ecoregion constitutes a particular type of wildlife habitat (Wiken et al, 1996) that serves as a year round or seasonal habitats for wildlife species.

Table 1: Forest area by ecozone

*These ecozones are not considered to be forest-dominated ecosystems.
**Areas differ due to the method used to measure forest cover.

Questions and strategies about managing these habitats for wood products and broader forest habitat and ecosystem services are almost endless. Slogans like 'the health of today's forested ecosystems' and 'forests of the future' or 'endangered and remnant forest habitats' tend to evolve in tandem and express apprehensions about the current conditions of forests as well as what current day trends may mean regarding future conditions. More than 250 pieces of legislation have in some form, implications on habitat management (WHC, 2001). The questions raised are positive in that they reflect the wide range of interest groups and stakeholders that exist across Canada and elsewhere. Over the years, commitments to initiatives like the World Convention on Biological Diversity, the Strategies for Sustainable Development (IUCN, 1991) as well as the domestic National Forest Accord and Strategy (CCFM, 1998) have drawn more attention to how forests serve critical roles as living spaces for wildlife and people. However, our collective desire to manage habitats sustainably and for multiple uses has often exceeded our capacity to be as prescriptive and orderly as we would like to be. Our expectations and goals about forests have commonly leaped ahead of our science, technology, information and means of governance (Cinq-Mars and Wiken, 2002).

Like others, Canadians are increasingly concerned about the current state of the forests and habitats as a strategic platform from which to make decisions now, and to use this status information as a baseline to both propose additional conservation actions and serve as a means to test and adapt strategies in the future.

How are the Forested Wildlife Habitats Changing and Why?

Natural and human-induced influences are changing Canada's forested habitats. Human-induced effects include forest management for commercial goods and services, and clearing forests for settlement and agricultural purposes. Natural effects include fires, insect infestations, and diseases. However, even these natural effects are, in many instances, mediated or enhanced by human influences. For example, fires are controlled by suppression to the extent that they no longer have nearly the impact on forests that they formerly did, and the effects of insects are repressed by pesticide applications. The effects of some factors, such as shifts in forest management practices, are evident now. The effects of others, such as climate change, are not so obvious yet, but evidence and scientific concern suggest they will have significant effects.

Factors affecting habitats in forested landscapes vary geographically and reflect the large size and diversity of these landscapes. Many of the most influential factors are now primarily associated with the southern forests where most of the more traditional commercial species and productive lands exist.

Changes in Habitat Quantity

• Land Conversion: In areas of the country with high population densities, very productive soils, and climate regimes suitable for agriculture, most of the original forested habitats have been lost.

• Harvesting and Regeneration Practices: New harvesting and regeneration practices are among the management practices with the highest potential to change forested habitats.

• Intensive Forest Management: Increased demands for forest products have led to more intensive harvesting. As timber becomes more valuable, Canada is witnessing increased use of planting stock from trees that are selected as being commercially desirable.

• Forest Harvesting Moving North: The forest products industry continues to seek opportunities to expand. Extending forest operations farther north raises a number of concerns, primarily because the ecology of these forested habitats is likely to differ.

• Changes in Forest Management: Changes in forested habitats can result from overall attitudes and accepted forms of management. Under the sustainable forest management umbrella: the emulation of natural disturbances approach and the "ecosystem management" approach are used.

• Certification: This is another management tool. Current world trends in demand may have both positive and negative effects on Canadian forested habitats.

• Forest Fires: Forest fires are the most dramatic of forest habitat disturbances. Although some forest types, such as the hardwood forests of southern Ontario, Quebec, and parts of the Maritimes, naturally burn less frequently than boreal forests, fire suppression in recent decades has been so effective as to significantly alter natural patterns.

• Climate Change: Continued emissions of greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide, are contributing to global warming. This trend is expected to affect the northern latitudes and forest most significantly.

Changes in Habitat Quality

• Habitat Fragmentation: Fragmentation affects the continuity of forested habitats in the country. Concerns about fragmentation are highest where forested habitats exist as scattered woodlots, such as in southern Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. In the Montane Cordillera and Pacific Cordillera ecozones, several habitat types and ecosystems are more than 90% fragmented by roads, as well as urban and rural development.

• Introduction of Foreign Wildlife Species: The forested habitats in some parts of Canada are greatly affected by exotic or non-native species that have been introduced either purposefully or accidentally.

• Pesticide and Herbicide Use: The application of pesticides and herbicides can affect both the types and numbers of wildlife species that are present in forested landscapes.

Risks to Habitats

Various quantity and quality factors have placed 26 of the 152 forested ecoregions at risk (Figure 1) for biodiversity conservation. About 189 713 sq. kms of habitat are at high risk and 1 043 683 sq kms are at moderate risk.

Figure 1: Risk analysis of forested habitats.

Inadequacy of Information

Like the forested areas in Russia, the forest life zone in Canada is sparsely populated in most places and consists of many different habitats and ecosystems. The immense size and diversity are primary factors in making information collection a dauntless task. Existing information is typically spread among many specialized agencies. The country's strengths in specializations (i.e. wildlife, waters, soils, atmosphere,) from international to local levels are in part a mirror image of some of the nation's overall weaknesses. When much of the information is compiled from so many sources and time periods, habitat data is typically incomplete, outdated and of indirect relevance.

The underpinnings of Canada's habitat information and means to collect, share and integrate it are often weak. Understanding and solving today's problems requires a greater degree of habitat and ecological knowledge and an improved integrated system of monitoring than ever. Industries, governments and individuals need a more comprehensive approach to better predict the effects and directions of ongoing activities to guide what actions should be taken.

Responses to Enhance Conservation For Multiple Uses and Across Multiple Landscapes

Forest management and planning concerns need to be guided by a habitat-oriented ethic. This is not for abstract reasons but for practical ones. Our cultural and socio-economic systems are parts and subsets of the more overarching habitats and ecosystems in which we and other species live. Inappropriate management of the forest habitats can jeopardize inherent, as well as human perceived values. People's fundamental partnership with forests must be acknowledged and used in a mutually beneficial way.

Over the past two decades, government institutions and agencies, industry, First Nations, and non-government organizations have been working more cooperatively. This is very apparent in the evolution of the National Forest Accord and the National Forest Strategy (CCFM, 2001). The wildlife community and resource managers need to further assist each other in delivering on commitments to forest programs while these opportunities still exist. What types of groups help?

• Private Forest Companies: There are about 100 companies with forest management responsibility in Canada, ranging from large multinationals with tenure responsibilities over millions of hectares, to small companies with management responsibilities over relatively small tracts of land. Industrial holdings account for a relatively small portion of the country's forested habitats (less than 1% in total).

• Individual Landowners: There are approximately 425 000 individual Canadians who own land with forested habitats (Canadian Forest Service 1998), amounting to between 5 - 6% of Canada's total forested area.

• Government Agencies: The Canadian constitution designates the ownership and management responsibility, including research and monitoring activities, of terrestrial natural resources to the provinces and territories. Canada's forests are largely (i.e. 88%) owned by the provinces and territories. The federal government also plays a role in the management of Canada's forested habitats, although it is jurisdictionally limited (i.e. approximately 5% of Canada's total forests).

• Non-Government Organizations: The NGO community provides contributions to habitat conservation that are highly valued. The mandates and scope of work from organizations such as the Canadian Nature Federation, the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas, the World Wildlife Fund, and Ducks Unlimited Canada, are varied. Overall, these organizations play an important role in promoting education and awareness, and establishing conservation areas for wildlife purposes.

• First Nations: First Nations are an important part of land management in most regions of Canada. Reserves, land claims, and the First Nations Land Management Act influence the management of the forested landscapes.

What Programs are Most Likely to be Effective?

There is not one program or even a small number of programs that are, or are likely to be, most effective in managing and conserving forest wildlife habitats. Rather, a suite of programs is required that include: education; stewardship; land acquisition and protected areas; specific habitat objectives and indicators; updated and relevant inventory and monitoring; and forest certification.

Actions and Recommendations

To ensure the conservation of wildlife habitats in forested landscapes, the following actions are recommended:

1) Further develop habitat conservation objectives and indicators beyond more regionally limited regional applications, and apply specific habitat indicators.

2) Produce, with the contribution of interested stakeholders, habitat trends analysis based on the issues affecting each landscape.

3) Underpin sustainable forest management initiatives with scientific programs to inventory, monitor and research wildlife habitats.

4) Establish a regular Habitat Status Program that would better document habitat conditions and trends.

5) Continue to identify more regional wildlife habitat action items especially for the Boreal and Carolinian forests under the auspices of the National Forest Strategy.

6) Ensure an adequate level of resources is available for the long-term management and development of wildlife conservation areas.

7) Establish a focal point for the distribution of habitat information and guidance on habitat and stewardship conservation measures.

8) Develop and implement a communications strategy to inform Canadians and others about successful management practices.

Conclusion

Habitat status reporting in forested landscapes is useful as a rational basis for thinking about, assessing and planning for the future, and for approaching uncertainty while minimizing risks. The concept of conserving habitats and their species is an achievable goal and provides the only possible basis for a viable future for Canadians and others. More profits, jobs and goods will be to no avail if they are gained at the cost of the life support systems that sustain them.

Defining the status and sustainability of forested habitats is an indispensable process for learning how to survive and use forests as a source of life. Achieving these ends is an imperative.

References

Canadian Council of Forest Ministers (CCFM). 1998. National Forest Strategy 1998-2003: Sustainable Forests. A Canadian Commitment. Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E4. 47 pgs

Canadian Forest Service. 1998. The State of Canada's Forests - 1997-1998. Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. K1A 0E4.

Cinq-Mars, J and Ed Wiken. 2002. Using scince, technology and innovation in Support of conserving Canada's Ecosystems and Habitats. The Forestry Chroncile. Vol. 78, No. 1. Pgs 133-136.

IUCN/UNEP/WWF. 1991. Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. The World Conservation Union, United Nations Environment Programme, World Wide Fund for Nature. Gland, Switzerland. 228 pgs.

Wiken, E. B., D. Gauthier, I. Marshall, K. Lawton, and H. Hirvonen. 1996. A Perspective on Canada's Ecosystems. Occasional Paper No. 14, Canadian Council on Ecological Areas.

Ottawa, Ontario K1H 5Y9. 95 pgs.

Wildlife Habitat Canada. 2001. The Status of Wildlife Habitats in Canada. Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4P1. 98 pgs.