Ontario Parks

Last updated

Ontario Parks
Ontario Parks Logo.svg
Agency overview
Formed1893 (1893)
Jurisdiction Government of Ontario
Headquarters300 Water Street, Peterborough, Ontario
Minister responsible
Website www.ontarioparks.com

Ontario Parks is a branch of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in Ontario, Canada, that protects significant natural and cultural resources in a system of parks and protected areas that is sustainable and provides opportunities for inspiration, enjoyment and education. [1] The Ontario Parks system covers over 78,000 square kilometres (30,000 sq mi), which is about 10 per cent of the province's surface area or the equivalent of an area approximately equal to Nova Scotia. It falls under the responsibility and mandate of the province's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. It was formerly under the mandate of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The Ontario Parks system has been used as a model for other[ example needed ] parks systems in North America. This can be attributed to its delicate balance of recreation, preservation and conservation.

Many parks in Ontario also offer a Natural Heritage Education program (also called interpretive services or visitor services). [2]

History

The Ontario Parks system began in 1893 with the creation of Algonquin Park, originally designed to protect loggers' interests from settlement. The management and creation of provincial parks came under the Department of Lands and Forests in 1954 and led to a period of accelerated park creation: a ninefold increase in the number of parks over the next six years. In the 1970s the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) was formed. The MNR expanded to include forestry operations within the province, becoming the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) in approximately 2010, and became more focused on Forestry and species protection and enforcement via Conservation Officers. Ontario Parks is a branch of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks (MECP). Until recently, Ontario Parks as a whole was under the mandate of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF).

The history of Ontario's provincial parks stretches for over 100 years. Here are some of the milestones from the past century plus: [3]

1893 – Algonquin Park is created as a public park and forest reservation, fish and game preserve, health resort and pleasure ground.

1894 – Rondeau becomes Ontario's second provincial park.

1913 – The Parks Act sets aside land not suitable for agriculture or settlement.

1954 – Ontario still has only eight provincial parks: Algonquin, Quetico, Long Point, Rondeau, Presqu'ile, Ipperwash, Lake Superior and Sibley (now known as Sleeping Giant).

A Division of Parks is created within the Department of Lands and Forests. This heralds a new and aggressive program to create more parks, primarily on the Great Lake and northern tourism highways.

1960 – There are now 72 provincial parks in Ontario, hosting over 5 million visitors annually.

1967 – Ontario introduces a new policy that divides parks into specific categories, or classes, with compatible sets of uses.

1970 – Polar Bear, Ontario's largest provincial park at 24,000 square kilometres, is created.

1978 – Ontario Provincial Parks: Planning and Management Policies are approved by Cabinet giving Ontario one of the world's leading parks planning systems.

1983 – The new land use planning system leads to the announcement of 155 new parks to be designated.

1985 – There are now 220 parks in Ontario encompassing over 5.5 million hectares of land.

1993 – Ontario celebrates the centennial of the provincial parks system and Algonquin's 100th anniversary.

1996 – The provincial parks system adopts a new entrepreneurial operating model where revenue generated by parks can be reinvested in the parks system. This is symbolized by a new name, Ontario Parks, and a new visual identity.

1996 – Ontario Parks partners with the Natural Conservancy of Canada to create Legacy 2000, a program to protect significant natural areas. Under this agreement more than 11,000 hectares are secured.

1999 – Ontario's Living Legacy is announced. This land use strategy identifies 378 new protected areas, including 61 new parks and 45 parks additions. Ontario's Living Legacy will protect over 2.4 million hectares of land, including additions to the provincial parks system of over 900,000 hectares.

2001 – Ontario now has a total of 280 provincial parks encompassing 7.1 million hectares or almost nine per cent of the province's area. Over 9 million visitors annually enjoy Ontario Parks.

2007 – Introduction of new legislation: Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act with 329 provincial parks and 292 conservation reserves.

2018 – Ontario Parks changes hands from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to the newly created Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. All employees including Park Wardens are now employed by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks.

2018 – Ontario celebrates 125 years of the provincial parks system and Algonquin's 125th anniversary.

Provincial park classes

Ontario Parks system uses a classification system to divide the provincial parks into the following categories: [4]

Parks system

As of 2008, Ontario Parks system manages 63 recreational class parks (394.8 km2), six Cultural Heritage Class Parks (67.4 km2), 83 natural environment class parks (14,675.3 km2), 113 nature reserve class parks (1,152 km2), 62 waterway class parks (14,446.2 km2), eight wilderness class parks (48,237.5 km2) and five unclassified parks (3494.8 km2).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Abitibi</span> Lake on Ontario / Quebec border, Canada

Lake Abitibi is a shallow lake in northeastern Ontario and western Quebec, Canada. The lake, which lies within the vast Clay Belt, is separated in two distinct portions by a short narrows, making it actually two lakes. Its total area is 931 square kilometres (359 sq mi), and net area 903 square kilometres (349 sq mi). The lake is shallow and studded with islands. Its shores and vicinity are covered with small timber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature reserve</span> Protected area for flora, fauna or features of geological interest

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algonquin Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario, Canada

Algonquin Provincial Park is an Ontario provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canada. Additions since its creation have increased the park to its current size of about 7,653 km2 (2,955 sq mi). The park is contiguous with several smaller, administratively separate provincial parks that protect important rivers in the area, resulting in a larger total protected area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goulais River</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Goulais River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, which rises in the Algoma highlands and empties into Goulais Bay on eastern Lake Superior near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. It is one of the largest tributaries on the eastern lake, draining an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometres (770 sq mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amable du Fond River</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Amable du Fond River is a river in Nipissing District, in Northern Ontario, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chutes Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario, Canada

Chutes Provincial Park is a recreation class provincial park in Sables-Spanish Rivers, Ontario, Canada, near the community of Massey. The park is named after a logging chute that diverted logs around the waterfall on the River aux Sables. The waterfall is considered the main attraction at the park, along with the Seven Sisters Rapids found upstream from the waterfall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protected areas of New Zealand</span>

Protected areas of New Zealand are areas that are in some way protected to preserve their environmental, scientific, scenic, historical, cultural or recreational value. There are about 10,000 protected areas, covering about a third of the country. The method and aims of protection vary according to the importance of the resource and whether it is publicly or privately owned.

Spatsizi Plateau Wilderness Provincial Park is located in the northern portion of British Columbia, Canada, approximately 698, 659 hectares and encompasses the Spatsizi River and Gladys Lake Ecological Reserve. The park is a designated protected area that is intended for the conservation and research on caribou, grizzly bears, fish, and other wildlife species populations. Before the provincial park's establishment in 1975, the area was a historical hunting ground for local Indigenous communities like the Tahltan First Nations.It is the second largest provincial park in British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BC Parks</span> Government agency that manages the British Columbia Parks and Protected Areas System

BC Parks is an agency of the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy that manages all of the, as of 2020, 1,035 provincial parks and other conservation and historical properties of various title designations within the province's Parks oversaw of the British Columbia Parks and Protected Areas System. The Lieutenant Governor-in-Council created the agency on March 1, 1911, through the Strathcona Park Act. The agency is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management, while also making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment.

The Obabika River Provincial Park is a provincial park in Ontario, Canada, straddling across the boundaries of the Sudbury, Nipissing, and Timiskaming Districts. While it is named after and includes the Obabika River, the bulk of the park extends north of Obabika Lake to the eastern boundary of Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Lake Provincial Park (Ontario)</span> Provincial park in Ontario

White Lake Provincial Park is a park in the Thunder Bay District of Northern Ontario, Canada, along Highway 17, north of Lake Superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manitou Islands (Lake Nipissing)</span>

The Manitou Islands are a series of small islands in Lake Nipissing, in Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada. The islands form a circle and lie 10 kilometres (6 mi) southwest of North Bay.

The Temagami River, formerly spelled as Timagami River, is a river in the Nipissing District of Ontario, Canada, in the Temagami region. Its source is Lake Temagami and flows through Cross Lake and Red Cedar Lake. It flows into the Sturgeon River at the community of River Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnt Lands alvar</span>

The Burnt Lands is an alvar between Almonte and Ottawa near Upper Huntley, Ontario, Canada. It probably obtained its name from one of the forest fires that swept the area during early European settlement.

The Little White River is a river in the Unorganized North Part of Algoma District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and is a left tributary of the Mississagi River.

The Makobe River is a river in northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Saint Lawrence River drainage basin, and is a left tributary of the Montreal River.

The national parks of Quebec are provincial parks created by the government of Quebec to protect territories representative of natural regions of the province or sites of exceptional character, while making them accessible to the public for education and/or recreation. As of 2023, there are 28 such parks in Quebec, which protect an area of 42,765.57 kilometres (26,573.29 mi), or about 2.8% of the territory of the province. All but four parks are administered by the Société des établissements de plein air du Québec (Sépaq). Those four are administered by Nunavik Parks. In addition, Sépaq jointly administers a National Marine Conservation Area with Parks Canada as part of the country's national park system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egan Chutes Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario, Canada

Egan Chutes Provincial Park is located 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Bancroft, Ontario, Canada. It was established as a provincial park in 1989 but is a non-operating park. Egan chutes is classified as a nature reserve, protecting a section of the York River.

Solace Provincial Park is a remote provincial park in Sudbury District, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1985 and protects a series of lakes that provide backcountry canoeing opportunities. It is characterized by boreal forest, mostly jack pine conifer forest with mixed forest including white birch. The roadless park, with topography and scenery similar to the adjacent Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park, is considered as "one of the most isolated, wild places in Ontario."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nagagamisis Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario

Nagagamisis Provincial Park is a provincial park in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is located 32 kilometres (20 mi) north of Hornepayne, along Highway 631. It protects a large piece of land surrounding Nagagamisis Lake, as well as long linear sections along the Foch and Nagagami Rivers.

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to Ontario Parks". Ontarioparks.com. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ "A brief history of nature education in provincial parks", Ontario Parks. Killan, Protected Places: A History of Ontario's Provincial Parks System, 1993, p 262 and passim.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to Ontario Parks". Ontarioparks.com. Retrieved January 3, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Park Locator". Ontarioparks.com. Retrieved January 3, 2014.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.