Twenty Years of Efforts towards Ecosystem Planning in the Bruce Peninsula National Park , Ontario Canada : 1987 to 2006

Since the establishment of the Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario, Canada various ecosystem planning initiatives have been developed. This paper reviews the twenty year history of these planning efforts within the context of the preparation of an ecosystem conservation plan. This includes research completed by the Heritage Resources Centre at the University of Waterloo which reviewed scientific, policy and other types of studies and conducted meetings and interviews with concerned persons on existing information and knowledge required to develop an ecosystem conservation plan for the national park. To organize and better understand the issues for planning purposes six main categories were developed to summarize the individual issues and the connections that exist between them: communication; recreational technology and activities; transport and communication infrastructure; resource uses; environmental conditions; and land use planning and management. These six categories of issues were in turn organized in terms of stresses, effects and responses. Significant natural features were identified and the relationship between resource and land uses and significant natural features was highlighted by the identification of several areas of concern A range of management, planning and decision-making arrangements and their environmental effects has been identified and analyzed in a general way as a basis for ecosystem conservation planning in Bruce Peninsula National Park.