News/Reports

Designing a Long-term Ecological Change Monitoring Program for BC Parks: Ecological Monitoring in British Columbia’s Parks

Posted January 30, 2013 | Categories : Climate change,Ecological Monitoring,Management,Reports,Research |

Abstract:

Global climate changes are affecting the entire landscape and although intended as eco- logical reservoirs and refugia, parks and protected areas are not immune to these changes. Provincially, BC Parks’ staff evaluate stressors and threats in conservation risk assessments and have identified myriad challenges amplified by climate change. The role of monitoring in the management of protected areas, and particularly for climate change, is identified as central to most assessment and adaptation strategies. This article describes our work in the development and implementation of a province-wide, long-term ecological change monitoring program that can be conducted using a hybrid scientific/citizen-science model. The intent is to help understand: (1) the state of ecological integrity in British Columbia’s parks at a provincial scale, and (2) long-term ecological changes, of which climate change is one of the leading causes. Although still in the preliminary stages of implementation, we reflect on some of the lessons we are learning along the way from discussions with field staff, scientists, and managers in the protected areas field.

KEYWORDS: citizen science; ecological integrity; monitoring; park

See the FULL PDF of this document: WrightandStevens

Pamela A. Wright, University of Northern British Columbia, & Tory Stevens, B.C. Ministry of Environment

JEM Vol 13, No 2 JOURNAL OF Ecosystems & Management