Managing Wapusk National Park

Blog Reflection:
1. Can parks meet their dual mandate of access for the public and protection?
2. How can this be achieved in Wapusk?

"Parks Canada is responsible for both protecting the ecosystems of these magnificent natural areas and managing them for visitors to understand, appreciate, and enjoy in a way that doesn't compromise their integrity." (Parks Canada website)

The dual mandate of Parks Canada seems to conflict fundamentally. Protecting and preserving an ecosystem seems best done when humans have as little impact as possible. When humans come to an area they bring cars that pollute, maim and kill animals, throw garbage, light fires, and cause noise disturbances and more. At the same time, we want to encourage people to reconnect with nature, to come to appreciate and love the beauty of nature, and National Parks are a convenient place to do this, as wild spaces are getting fewer and fewer. We need to think of ways to balance the needs of wildlife and humans. The environment shouldn't be exploited solely for human enjoyment, but we should still get to participate, view, and enjoy it.

A great way bring more understanding to our generation is to start with the youngsters. I remember way back in Grade 6 my class did a whole unit on Riding Mountain National Park, learning about the animals and plants. We then took a field trip later in the year and got to see it for ourselves. More emphasis should be put on National Parks in the later years of education however. We didn't learn any more about our parks in the rest of my middle or high school education. Some schools are making this a priority though. I found a poster of Wapusk National Park created by a Grade 9 student from Ontario. I would like to see more education on National Parks put into the curriculum. I feel quite ashamed to say I had never heard of Wapusk until Prof. Hunter spoke about it in class.

Wapusk National Park by Nurin Merchant© Parks Canada

I have some ideas about how to minimize harm to our parks while still allowing people to enjoy them. One is to limit the amount of visitors/year that can come into the park. This would greatly reduce the amount of human disturbance. Similarly, the amount of power boats allowed onto a lake could also be limited to allow a balance between human enjoyment and disruption of the ecosystem. Of course the fines for littering, leaving unattended fires, feeding the animals etc. can always be increased to discourage this type of behaviour. Also we might consider completely isolating large areas of the park solely for wildlife, while leaving smaller areas on the fringes for humans.

As for Wapusk...it definitely needs more public awareness! I asked 5 of my friends if they had ever heard of it, and all said "no." They are all active citizens with university degrees too (a point just to show they aren't hermits who don't interact with the world!). I did see a commercial on TV recently that showed short clips from some National Parks, and Wapusk had a picture of a mama polar bear and her cubs. Although the name "Wapusk National Park" was in tiny font in the corner of the screen, so I don't think it did a very good job. I also searched Wapusk on youtube. I found a very cute video of polar bears again...but it only had 4,157 views! (See it here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUZKoTx5-bQ) This park is a hidden treasure and more people need to know about it! Not only will people want to visit, but they may also donate money to the Park for preservation etc. which I'm sure is always appreciated.

Wapusk is quite far north, and it is just would not be practical for a lot of people to be visiting. It would also have negative impacts on the environment from car/plane pollution. But there are other ways for us to enjoy the beauty of Wapusk. As I mentioned earlier, we could have more educational videos/documentaries available to us put together by scientists or other people who have been there. It definitely wouldn't be as amazing as visiting the area personally, but it's definitely better than nothing at all. I am just happy knowing that a place exists where the polar bears can have their cubs peacefully and undisturbed. I think many people would be content knowing that. We have many parks close by to enjoy, so I don't think any drastic measures need to be taken right now. In the future perhaps some tours could be arranged, so that everyone visiting travels together to minimize pollution, stay safe, and see all there is to see with a professional guide.


Works Cited:

Merchant, Nurin. Wapusk National Park. Available from: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2007/06/page/4/ Jun.13/07. Retrieved on: Feb.25/10.

Parks Canada. National Parks of Canada- Introduction. Available from: http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/intro_e.asp Nov.10/08. Retrieved on: Feb.25/10.