Designing a system of urban protected areas: an evaluative case study of Peterborough, Ontario.

Abstract

Urban protected areas are becoming increasingly valued as important components of regional conservation efforts. Many municipalities are beginning to initiate their own small-scale systems of urban protected areas. The Peterborough Natural Areas Strategy was an attempt of one municipality to design and to implement an urban system of protected areas. In the present paper, the authors summarize the ten-year process of completing the Peterborough Natural Areas Strategy and provide an initial evaluation of the Strategy. The approach taken to create a system of protected natural areas in Peterborough is summarized as a six-step process: 1) form a steering committee; 2) conduct a natural features inventory of potential protected areas; 3) consult with public/promote public awareness; 4) draft Official Plan policy amendments; 5) seek formal approval of Official Plan amendments; and, 6) form a Natural Areas Advisory Committee. The authors evaluate the Strategy by comparing Peterborough Official Plan policies between 1984 and 2000; by evaluating whether the original eight goals of the Strategy were met; and, by reviewing the recommendations offered by key representatives that were involved in the creation and implementation of the Strategy. The Strategy was successful in some aspects such as securing ecologically important lands protection from development, strengthening policies in the Peterborough Official Plan, and providing linkages between natural areas for recreational opportunities. The process in Peterborough did, however, take ten years to implement and offers other municipalities lessons regarding means of creating other urban protected areas strategies that are more ecologically protective in a more temporally efficient manner.

On considere de plus en plus les zones protegees en milieu urbain comme des elements importants dans les efforts regionaux de conservation. De nombreuses municipalites ont commence mettre sur pied leur propre systeme de protection de ces zones, comme en temoigne la Peterborough Natural Areas Strategy. Les auteures de cet article presentent un resume de cette strategie qui a mis 10 ans etre elaboree et appliquee, et elles en font une premiere evaluation. La creation de zones naturelles protegees s'est faite en six etapes : 1) formation d'un comite directeur; 2) inventaire des caracteristiques naturelles des zones proteger, 3) consultation aupres du public et conscientisation; 4) ebauche des amendements au plan officiel; 5) recherche d'une approbation officielle des amendements; 6) formation d'un comite consultatif sur les zones naturelles. Les auteures evaluent cette strategie en comparant les politiques officielles de Peterborough etablies entre 1984 et 2000, en verifiant si les huit objectifs originaux ont r ealises, et en examinant les recommandations faites par les principaux representants impliques dans sa creation et sa mise en oeuvre. Cette strategie est une reussite sur plusieurs plans : protection de certains terrains importants sur le plan ecologique en y empechant le developpement, renforcement des politiques du plan officiel, et creation de liens entre les zones naturelles et les possibilities recreatives. Ce processus ouvre Ia voie aux autres municipalities en matiere de strategie contemporaine de protection des zones urbaines.

Keywords

Urban protected areas systems, urban wildlife, scale, ecological integrity, urban corridors

Introduction

The protection of global biodiversity depends on effective conservation of habitat on all spatial scales from continental to municipal. One of the recurring messages from protected areas officials is that conservation programs cannot work in isolation; large- and small-scale conservation efforts must be planned to support one another (McNeely 1993; Norris and Camposbasso 1995; McNamee 1997). Given that conservation efforts on all spatial scales contribute to the protection of biodiversity, it follows that urban protected areas are an important, although often disregarded, element of larger-scale conservation efforts.

The term 'urban park' often conjures up images of highly manicured open spaces, relatively devoid of 'wildlife' save a few introduced species. McLach Ian and Simon describe a typical urban park as a "landscape [which] is highly artificial with a most notable absence of the structure, systems and processes that characterize environments of nature" (1997: 78). However, a considerable number of natural areas can be found in most urban centres, and these natural areas, despite their urban surroundings, can help maintain biodiversity (Adams and Dore 1989; Adams and Leedy 1991; Adams 1994; Saunders 1997). Testament to the importance of urban parks is the proposed Downsview National Park, Canada's first National Urban Park, which is projected to be established in Toronto in 2002 (Grewal 2001).

Historically, the primary purpose of many parks in Canada has been to provide opportunities for human recreation (Dearden and Rollins 1993). More recently, however, the emphasis of the role of several parks and protected areas has shifted from providing recreational opportunities to conserving ecological features (Bouffard 1982; Dearden and Rollins 1993; Parks Canada Agency 2000). Accordingly, many municipalities are attempting to increase the ecological functions of their urban park systems by incorporating some of the principles of landscape ecology into the design of urban park systems. Cities in North America that are incorporating ecological design principles into their urban park systems include: Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; Waterloo, Ontario (Gosselin 2000); Portland, Oregon (Houck 1991); as well as San Bruno Mountain, California (Beatley 1994).

While methods for designing large-scale national, state, and provincial protected areas systems are generally well established (Dearden and Rollins 1993; McComb 1997; Smith 1997; Davey 1998), methods for designing smaller-scale protected areas systems are relatively underdeveloped. Hobbs (1998) argues that ecological management activities must match the ecological scale of a target area and must address the barriers specific to an area of such a scale. Urban natural areas are associated with many characteristics which are found to impair the ecological functions of the area; challenges that are different in nature and/or magnitude from those affecting larger, more remote protected areas. Lajeunesse et a!. (1997) identify such challenges in urban protected areas as intensive recreational use, urban development, air and water pollution, an abundance of introduced species and limited area. Hence, one may conclude that simply downsizing conservation models used for large-scale conservation may be an inappropriate approach for establishing a small-scale municipal conservation program. Future attempts to create small-scale urban protected area systems should be facilitated by evaluating the successes and failures of past initiatives that have attempted to develop protected areas strategies designed specifically for urban settings. Such an evaluation should examine the process of how the system of protected areas was created (e.g., who was involved? how long did it take?) as well as the effectiveness of the final product (e.g., size and shape of system; connectivity of system; ecological functions of system).

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this paper is to report on a case study and evaluation of the process of establishing the Natural Areas Strategy, a small-scale system of urban protected areas in Peterborough, Ontario. The following questions are investigated: How was the Peterborough Natural Areas Strategy created and implemented? How do policies differ from those in place prior to the implementation of the Strategy? How effective was the Strategy in accomplishing the initial goals of the Natural Areas Strategy Steering Committee? Could the process have been improved upon? The answers to these questions will be useful in evaluating the process that occurred in Peterborough. More importantly, however, the answers will be useful in guiding other municipalities interested in developing a system of urban protected areas.

Methods

An evaluative case study was completed which allowed for "an exploration of a 'bounded system' or case over time through detailed data collection involving multiple sources of information rich in context" (Creswell 1998: 61). Within the case study approach, a variety of data collection techniques was used to gain an in-depth understanding of the process by which the Natural Areas Strategy was developed and implemented, and to enhance the validity of the research through triangulation (Neuman 1997). First, an historical review of public documents and private correspondence regarding the Peterborough Natural Areas Strategy was completed. Second, informal interviews with key individuals involved in the creation of the Strategy were conducted. Third, several of the natural areas were visited. Fourth, the city council meeting during which the natural areas policies were officially accepted by City Council was attended.