Parks Canada

Wapusk National Park protects a vast landscape of coastal salt marshes, countless ponds, and a diversity of boreal-tundra interface habitats, and serves as staging areas for migrating birds, including the Lesser Snow Goose (LSGO). Over the last few decades LSGO populations have increased...

Elk (Cervus canadensis) are generally considered a keystone species across a variety of landscapes. Elk (C. canandenis nelsoni) in Jasper National Park is one of four extant subspecies of elk occurring in North America. They are an important wildlife component in the Park regarding the management...

Elk (Cervus canadensis) are generally considered a keystone species across a variety of landscapes. Elk (C. canandenis nelsoni) in Jasper National Park is one of four extant subspecies of elk occurring in North America. They are an important wildlife component in the Park regarding the management...

Elk are by far the dominant ungulate in Waterton Lakes Naitonal Park, with a population large enough to influence park ecosystems, particularly in the montane and aspen parkland ecoregions. As important grazers, they help to maintain grassland health by preventing woody plant encroachment, but...

Forest canopy or over-story species composition provides useful information on forest tree species present at the stand and landscape level. Much of PEI National Park’s forest areas were cleared for settlement and agriculture prior to park establishment and have regenerated with early...

Seasonal flooding and water retention within low lying areas or areas associated with water drainage pathways creates unique and productive habitat within the landscape. The area of wetlands that are regularly flooded and contain substantial amounts of emergent and submerged vegetation is called...

The removal and restoration of outdated infrastructure has been an ongoing since 2009, with formal tracking and monitoring for forest and coastal ecosystems starting in 2014. The natural function of an ecosystem is highly degraded by above and below ground infrastructure. A five step scale was...

Coastal erosion is the process that removes shoreline material, causing the coastline to retreat inland. The coastal landscape of Prince Edward Island is identified as a region sensitive to sea-level rise. Systematic measurements for coastal erosion were carried out between 2007-2010 using...

In PEI National Park tree health and growth are monitored in 20 long-term permanent forest monitoring plots. These plots were established in 2006 in mature white spruce forests under the Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) program. The measure reports on tree species dominance,...

This measure tracks changes of the lake water level in the coastal ecosystem of GBINP. This is significant in driving ecological processes as well as acting as a stressor in the the park’s costal wetland ecosystem - as it is hydrologically connected to the lake water body, both at the surface and...

Dune systems are key features in protecting assets, land, and ecosystems behind them from the effects of storm surges, wave action, salt spray, as well as preventing salt water intrusion into coastal waterways and aquifers. The dune integrity measure is comprised of two sub-measures: (1) dune...

GBI monitors water quality in coastal wetlands to report on nutrient loads resulting from human use of day-use areas. The park uses Water Quality Index to assess this measure - which is also a part of the Great Lakes Shoreline monitoring network.

Information regarding human-wildlife interactions in Jasper National Park is important to manage both human (eg. town residents, visitors) and wildlife needs (eg. area closures). Achieving this balance depends on data related, in part, on where animals have died or have been injured (eg highway,...

These fish-eating colonial waterbirds breed and nest in colonies on islands in and around Fathom Five National Marine Park. Five species of colonial waterbird are monitored. These birds and their eggs are effective measures of environmental contamination and aquatic ecosystem health.

Dataset in support of Bayesian removal models to estimate the change in efficiency of various hunting methods with deer density based on a power function. Hunting methods assessed included bait station hunting, boat hunting, aerial hunting and dog-based ground hunting and were adaptively combined...

The Harlequin duck is a species at risk that occurs in the Torngat Mountains National Park. Fast-flowing rivers and streams constitute its breeding habitat but it is known to forgo breeding when abundance of aquatic insects is low. A helicopter survey is conducted every five years in late- July...

Changes to tundra vegetation communities may affect local ecological processes such as nutrient cycling and quality and quantity of animal forage. In Quttinirpaaq National Park, the composition and relative abundance of plant functional groups are monitored using a point frame and the pin-drop...

Gwaii Haanas has partnered with ECCC to monitor a set of permanent plots mapping colony structure and burrow occupancy rate by excavating samples of burrows of Ancient Murrelet and Cassin’s Auklet. The data are used to determine if the breeding population areas are changing at specific key...