Recreation Values and Climate change Victoria Stevens and Doug Biffard
Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference October 27-29, 2008 Vancouver, BC
Dual Mandate Conservation
Recreation
•Protected Areas system is cornerstone of biodiversity conservation in BC. •People are more likely to want to recreate where the natural world is intact •Recreation should be constrained by the carrying capacity of the natural and the built system •Climate change is affecting both
Four Case Studies • • • •
Rathtrevor Park – coastal ecosystems Tetrahedron Park – old growth forest Churn Creek Protected Area – grassland Mt. Robson Park – alpine ecosystems
Rathtrevor Beach Park •
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Provincial Class 'A' park of 348 ha, consisting of 240 ha of foreshore and 108 ha of upland Located near Parksville on the east coast Vancouver Island Regional economy depends on coastal oriented tourism and retirement living The primary goal is to protect and present an outstanding ocean bathing beach and associated upland.
Rathtrevor Beach Park
Recreation
Conservation
Average 135 thousand visitors per year both camping and day use • Nature Programs feature beach ecology including seagrass meadows and annual herring spawn • Annual Brant Wildlife Festival attracts international tourism to view 20,000 migrating Brant Geese
Mixed sand & gravel beach is critical for: • Spawning Sandlance a keystone fish • Seagrass meadows are both nursery habitat for many marine species and the main food for Brant Geese • Many species of clams • Feeding habitat for shorebirds • Stepping stone for migrating shorebirds
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Rathtrevor Beach Park
Rathtrevor Beach Park Background: • Seawall installed in 1971 to protect beach and improve recreation values • Failed to meet objectives
Rathtrevor Beach Park Future: • Climate change predictions: – Sea level rise 0.5 to 1.4 m this century – Increase storm frequency and intensity • The combined affect of the sea wall, sea level rise and more severe storms will increase erosion and decrease recreation and conservation values.
Rathtrevor Beach Park - options Response
Predicted result
Reconstruct seawall
Maintains current shoreline until an extreme storm causes catastrophic failure
Recontour to natural beach
Allows beach and dune to recover and adapt to current sea level and storms
Plan for an adaptive shoreline -remove infrastructure from the inundation zone -Restore coastal forest landward of future shoreline
Adaptive strategy that will support shoreline process associated ecosystems. Provides the best chances for the conservation and recreation values to be retained.
Rathtrevor Beach Park re e? u t Fu e lin tre
ine l ee r T
e n ? i l ne re ll i l o a e h w s or l a h a e r S u es t r a tu N u F
Tetrahedron Park • 6000 ha of midelevation forest and mountain peaks • Contains the water supply for the Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast Regional District Water Supply •
SCRD has water rights to 2 lakes in Tetrahedron Park – Water rights predate park designation – Small dams control level of water
Issues are outside the park – Logging within the watershed – Access to recreation in the park
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Climate change is already affecting the amount of winter precipitation – Timing of spring flows – Magnitude of summer flows
2000 visitors
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2500
1500 1000 500
Years with less than 500 mm of water
0
1945 1976 19772008
2005
0
2006
6
Years with less than 1000 mm of water ? 2007
2
2008
11
Options for SCRD/Tetrahedron Park • Water consumption is increasing at about 3%/year • More water from 3 options – Raising dams (conservation concern) – Build another reservoir (conservation concern) – Find an additional watershed
• WATER CONSERVATION! • Protect current watersheds by limiting use of access road
Churn Creek Protected Area • • • •
36,747 ha of grasslands and dry forests Working ranch Rare ecosystems and wildlife Regional tourism features horseback riding
Churn Creek Protected Area • Objectives – Conservation Primary – Conserve and restore nationally significant grasslands and wildlife – Provide low impact recreation opportunities (wildlife viewing and hunting, horseback riding, hiking, mountain biking on roads) – First Nations still use area for traditional cultural practices
Churn Creek Protected Area
Climate Change • Current condition includes ingrowth and invasion of grasslands by trees • Anticipated increase in grasslands • Treatments to increase resilience and resistance of grasslands – Tree removal – Prescribed burning – Monitoring for invasive plants
Churn Creek Protected Area
Before 2000 stems/ha No bunch grasses
After 120 stems/ha Pine grasses Bunch grass potential
Mount Robson Park •
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Provincial Class 'A' park that together with 7 other parks forms the 2.3 million hectare Canadian Rocky Mountains World Heritage Site Located adjacent to Jasper National Park along the Yellowhead Highway Road based touring and wilderness adventure recreation diversifies a largely resource based local economy
Mount Robson Park Conservation • Maintain a large undisturbed natural landscape for wilderness conservation Recreation • Provide significant outdoor recreation opportunities for both remote backcountry and readily accessible facility oriented uses, • Support a nationally significant transportation and travel route through the Rocky Mountains.
Mount Robson Park Climate Change predictions: • Overall warmer wetter climate with season considerations • Winter minimum temps will increase the most • Less rainfall in summer • Reduced soil moisture • Loss of glaciers
Mt. Robson Park
Adaptation Strategies • Ecosystem management to assist adaptation and build resiliency • Communicate – show visitors the changes and explain the causes • Support green recreation trends • Respond to increased risk to visitors – Slides, rock fall, avalanche, danger trees, fire, flood
Conclusion • Change WILL happen • Each park has unique management issues related to ecosystem, human use, visitor trends, regional climate changes, economic context • BCParks must tailor management to each set of circumstances • Anticipation and adaptation will improve chances of functioning ecosystems and successful tourism opportunities