Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Land Transformation, Highly Governed Landscapes And Landscape Health: A Case Study Of The Lower Piave Area Of Northeastern Italy, Pietro Bertollo

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the issue of biophysical landscape health. Its primary objective is to produce an interpretation of biophysical landscape health for the highly governed landscapes of the Lower Piave area of northeastern Italy. Highly governed landscapes are considered to be those which are highly controlled by humans to an even greater degree than normal cultural landscapes. An example is reclaimed agricultural landscapes such as those of the northeastern Italian coastal belt, from which the Lower Piave case study is drawn. These landscapes are highly governed because without constant human intervention, they would revert back to their former marsh state. …

Protection Of Wetlands In The Grand River Watershed From Non-Point Source Pollution (Ontario), Marsha Lynn Paley

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this study is to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the municipal official plans to protect provincially evaluated wetlands from activities causing non-point source pollution within the Grand River watershed. An integrated framework for policy analysis involving both an evaluative and normative approach assists in determining the value of wetland protection policies and recommends future actions to guide decision-making on development adjacent to wetlands. Specifically, the objectives include (a) to locate, identify and measure the total wetland area, class and number of wetlands in the Grand River watershed on an upper- and lower-tier municipal basis; (b) to …

An Approach To Defining Greater Park Ecosystems And Its Application To Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland), Karl Keough

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Ecosystem management is an integrative, cooperative, adaptive approach to resource management that has evolved in response to the growing number of environmental and resource problems over the past several decades. One such problem, the threat to the world’s biodiversity, may be attributed to the destruction, degradation, and fragmentation of habitat resulting from the expanding human population, and the inability to set aside in strict nature reserves, sufficient habitat for wide-ranging mammals and fully functioning ecosystems. The Greater Park Ecosystem concept may be seen as the embodiment of ecosystem management in national parks and a response to the threat to biodiversity. …

Stakeholder Attitudes As A Resistance Toward Long-Range Management Of A Threatened Landscape: A Case Study Of Aggregate Use In The Township Of North Dumfries (Ontario), Kim Margaret Horrigan

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Township of North Dumfries is located in the rapidly expanding Municipality of Waterloo. This Township is in close proximity to Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Hamilton, and is halfway between London and Toronto, with the primary east-west Highway 401 running through the Township. It is an unique area in that it is characterized by an abundance of prime agricultural lands, Environmentally Sensitive Policy Areas, and wetlands. In addition, the Township is underlain with a large quantity of good quality glacially derived aggregate materials. Land use conflicts have increased as a result of aggregate developers’ pressures on the resources of this …

Small Mammals Of Point Pelee National Park: Protecting Biodiversity In Small Reserves (Ontario), Julie Ann Spicer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation have been widespread throughout southern Ontario with devastating effects on wetlands. Small reserves are all that in this highly agricultural/urban landscape to protect the biodiversity of Great Lakes Marsh and Carolinian Forest ecosystems. Small reserves are vulnerable to species loss through a host of problems related to size and as a result, the value of small reserves to conservation strategies has often been questioned. Indicator species can be used as a means of studying the conditions of complex ecosystems. In this research, small mammals were sampled in the wetlands of Point Pelee National Park as …

Managing External Threats To National Parks In Canada's Western Mountains (Alberta), George Yap

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

External threats to protected areas exist because the area encompassed by the legal boundaries of many protected areas is less than what is needed to maintain a minimum viable population of various animal species and some types of plant associations. While external stresses to parks are the result of a wide range of human activities, they threaten ecological integrity in two general ways: by contributing to habitat fragmentation, alienation and loss (HFAL), and/or undermining the long-term viability of transboundary animal populations. However, in comparison to internal threats, addressing external threats is considerably more complex since park managers have no legal …

Opportunities For Integration In Institutional Arrangements For Water Management In The Yukon, Patrick James Dooling

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The history of water resources management in the Yukon has been characterized by conflict. This problem is due to the failure to address the interrelationships between water and land resources. Although many parts of the Yukon remain largely undisturbed wilderness areas, development pressures place increasing demands on Territorial water resources. To ensure these stresses do not degrade Yukon waters to the extent common in many Canadian regions, a reevaluation of the legal and administrative arrangements for water management in the Yukon is required. A majority of the legislation pertaining to water management in the Yukon was introduced in the 1970s …

An Ecosystem Approach To Wildlife Management In Wilderness Areas: A Case Study Of The Greater Kluane Region, Lori Katherina Krebs

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the implications of an ecosystem approach to planning and management for sustainable wildlife populations within a wilderness setting. Kluane National Park Reserve and the surrounding region are the focus of the study, providing a relatively unaltered ecosystem in which to explore certain questions regarding ecosystem-based wildlife management. The ever increasing human population and constant surge of development are placing more and more pressure on remaining natural resources. Wilderness areas and wildlife habitat are disappearing rapidly, and the north is receiving unprecedented activity in the search for remaining resources. Management strategies must be created which will be capable …

National And Provincial Park Service Responses To Human-Induced Ecological Change In Ontario, Maria Theresia Kothbauer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study examines the human-induced ecological changes occurring in Point Pelee and Pukaskwa National Parks and Rondeau and Lake Superior Provincial Parks as a result of external threats, as well as the methods used by park managers to prevent these changes. The primary objectives were to: examine the types of external threats and their implications to ecosystems in the selected parks; examine the responses of park managers to prevent changes in ecological integrity; determine whether or not the management techniques of park managers are rehabilitating and/or preventing ecological change induced by external threats: and make an initial comparison of national …

Ontario's Blue Box As An Agent Of Change, Robert Nathaniel Burgess

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Ontario's blue box has elicited strong arguments from observers on both sides of a debate regarding the recycling programme‘s promotion of social change in the province. Both supporters and critics agree on our eventual need to change from a consumer to a conserver society through the 3Rs of waste management (reduce. reuse. recycle). but they disagree on whether the blue box programme ultimately encourages this change. Disagreement also exists regarding the means to achieving change. With supporters of the blue box approach favouring working within the system whereas critics tend to favour a more radical approach. Practical criticisms concern the …

An Assessment And Comparison Of Hazardous Waste Management Hessen, Frg And Ontario, Canada, Elaine F. Collis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Hazardous waste management has recently become an issue of great concern for governments in industrialized countries. In spite of this, no one country has established a successful framework which guarantees the safe handling and disposal of hazardous wastes. The ideal system would generate no hazardous wastes in the first place but this, of course, is wishful thinking for highly industrialized societies. The next best or “preferred” solution is a system which emphasized reduction and recycling of hazardous wastes. The existing waste management systems in the world today, however, almost exclusively emphasize treatment and disposal. This thesis assesses the hazardous waste …

The Incorporation Of Environmental Perception Information Into Wilderness Park Safety Planning, Thomas Craig Waldichuk

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The park safety planning process currently in use limits users’ inputs to accident statistics. It would be better to more accurately anticipate accident-prone locations and to take preventative measures. A planning methodology is proposed which integrates the safety perceptions of park users into the decision-making for locating facilities and services: the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) serves as a systematic planning guide for such decision-making and is compatible with park policy and objectives. Applications to Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia, and statistical and cartographic analyses of 273 questionnaires returned from there, indicate that park users’ perceptions can be advantageously incorporated into …

The Quality Outdoor Recreation Component In Multi-Purpose Conservation Areas: A User Assessment Devised, And Applied To Pinehurst Lake Conservation Area, Gerald Carl Thomas

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Recreational demand for out-of-doors space and facilities continues to increase into the 1980’s. Accordingly, multi-purpose conservation areas, by the nature of their designations, require ongoing assessment of the attributes which determine the quality of the recreational experience they afford.

A problem with the master planning process for these multi-use areas is that in the past, little or no consideration has been given to user-recreationist input in the development stages of the master plans. The purpose of this study is to devise a method of assessing user satisfaction towards the recreational quality available at multi-use conservation areas, and to show how …

Environmental Reconstruction In The Orangeville Moraine, John R. Nephew

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Primary sedimentary structure of topographic features in a selected portion of the Orangeville Moraine is examined for the purpose of deriving paleoenvironmental conditions existent during the formation of that feature. Five different environments could be recognized: 1. Sub-glacial tunnel, 2. Pro-glacial outwash, 3. Lacustrine, 4. Sub-glacial, and 5. Pro-glacial sub-aerial outwash.

Sub-glacial tunnels were represented topographically by discontinuous ridges and sinuous depressions, and sedimentologically by massive matrix-supported gravels. Pro-glacial outwash was represented typographically by elongated hills and ridges, and sedimentologicallyby various sediment complexes that revealed both rapid downstream reductions in flow competency, and a downstream change from fluvial to lacustrine …

Spatial Context And Temporal Aspects Of The Sensitive Area Concept In Ontario, Barbara Elizabeth Anderson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The term “sensitive area” is a product of planning initiatives which have developed within the province of Ontario since the early nineteen seventies. As there are a number of closely related terms utilized the sensitive areas concept generally is defined as the creation of a reserve or the removal of land from unfettered commercial development or intense human use. The concept has been associated with a broad range of environmental concerns such as, the protection of wildlife habitat, maintenance of ecological function, retention of scenic areas and preservation of historic sites. Similar initiatives across North America are surveyed and the …

An Analysis Of Conservation Authority Decision Making As To The Acquisition And Development Of Open Space Resources, James C. Johnston

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.

A Feasibility Study Of Commercial Upland Game Bird Farms In Waterloo County, Ontario, Robert John Mcclure

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

No abstract provided.