Canada's Nature Reserves: Wildlife Sanctuaries

A nature reserve is a place where environmental protection is of particular importance. Canada is a country that is still largely wild and sparsely populated. There are a large number of protected areas there. These include national parks, migratory bird sanctuaries, national wildlife reserves and marine conservation areas.

National parks

Canada contains 38 national parks and 10 national park reserves. The latter are special territories administered and managed with the aboriginal populations.

Canadian national parks: what you need to know

These areas are protected under the National Parks Act. They belong to the Canadian government and are managed so that the population can benefit from them. Thus, beyond a desire to protect and conserve the environment, they also serve to entertain and educate the public.

The objective of the Canadian national parks system is to demarcate areas representative of the 39 regions of Canada. The government is committed to protecting the ecological integrity of these territories on the one hand and to allowing the public to explore them responsibly on the other.

Several species are the subject of conservation efforts in Canadian national parks. These include, for example, the sea otter, Atlantic salmon, Blanding's turtle, beluga whale, whooping crane, plains bison, white-necked guillemot, and many others.

There are 7 national parks in British Columbia, 6 in the Northwest Territories, 6 in Ontario, 5 in Alberta, 5 in Nunavut, 4 in Newfoundland and Labrador, 3 in Nova Scotia, 3 in Quebec, 3 in Yukon, 2 in Manitoba, 2 in New Brunswick, 2 in Saskatchewan and 1 in Prince Edward Island.

The government agency Parks Canada

Parks Canada is a government agency mandated to protect the environment, natural territories and associated cultures. It manages nearly forty national parks, marine conservation areas and several hundred historic sites on Canadian territory.

The forerunner of this agency is the Dominion Parks Division which managed five national parks in the early 20th century. These are all located in the Canadian Rockies and attract wealthy foreign tourists. Faced with the lack of Canadian visits, the authorities want to create wilderness areas accessible to the general public. Canada then created several national parks over the years, scattered throughout the country. Parks Canada is the first national park service created in the world. In the 1930s, historic sites were included in this agency's protection and conservation policies.

Migratory bird refuges

There are just under a hundred migratory bird sanctuaries (MBS) in Canada. They are established in critical areas for bird conservation. These may be large areas where migratory land or sea birds have their habitat or even seasonal gathering places. An area can also become ROM if the bird populations that transit or live there are vulnerable to threats specific to the territory. Among these threats, we can cite hunting or changes in nesting, moulting, wintering or migratory stopover places. These regulated territories help protect migratory birds, in particular by conserving their habitat and prohibiting hunting. It is also often forbidden to disturb these animals.

The surface area of a MBS can vary from 1 to several million hectares. These ornithological reserves exist in all Canadian provinces, with the exception of Manitoba and the Yukon.

Marine conservation areas (MNCA)

Established in 2002, these are representative areas of Canada's marine regions. They were created to make human activities in these areas viable, in particular to protect their ecological integrity.

There are officially 4 of them, but the Tallurutiup Imanga zone (in Nunavut) is already almost considered as such. The four NMCAs are Fathom Five and the Lake Superior NMCA in Ontario, Gwaii Haanas in British Columbia, and the Saguenay-Saint Lawrence NMCA in Quebec.

Some protected places to discover the fauna and flora in Canada

Canada is a destination of excellence for observing flora and fauna. Discover some species in three key provinces.

In Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Highlands National Park alternates landscapes, with boreal forests, Acadian forests and taiga. There is a biodiversity typical of the region. On the wildlife side, let us cite for example the Canada lynx, the eastern coyote or the moose. Some areas of the park contain several dozen rare vascular plants.

In Alberta

Banff National Park is one of the best-known and most visited parks in Canada. It is home to a very wide variety of animals, including around fifty mammals. This diversity of fauna is due to variations in terms of landscapes, plant families or even atmospheric elevation. The park's iconic animal species include the pika, marmot, elk, moose, mountain goat, grizzly bear and black bear. This park also has a wide variety of wildflowers.

In British Columbia

This biodiverse province is home to Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island. It is a place to observe black-tailed deer, Vancouver Island wolf, black bear, raccoon, cougar, marten, mink, short-tailed weasel or more river otter. We also saw many marine mammals, such as sea lions, seals and whales. Plant species in Pacific Rim include wild fern, sword fern, western hemlock, Sitka spruce and western red cedar.

The Gwaii Haanas site contains many endemic species. This archipelago is home to a national marine conservation area due to the natural richness of its waters. Gwaii Haanas is a highly protected site. You can see 10 species of endemic mammals there, including the black bear, the river otter and the Haida ermine. It is also an important place for several species of birds and marine mammals. Examples include dolphins, sea lions and whales. The sea otter had almost disappeared there due to hunting, but it is starting to make a timid return. In total, more than 6,500 species of fauna and flora are contained in the Gwaii Haanas archipelago.

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