Special Places: Eco-lessons from the National Parks in Atlantic Canada

Park Backgrounder: Terra Nova National Park of Canada

A place where boreal landscapes touch sheltered seas

Introduction

Terra Nova National Park of Canada, located in eastern Newfoundland, was established in 1957. It is 402 km2 and represents the Eastern Newfoundland Atlantic Terrestrial Natural Region, part of the Appalachian Mountain System. It is Canada’s most easterly national park and is situated approximately 250 km west of the capital, St. John’s.

© Parks Canada / Don Pentz

The park has two contrasting faces. The terrestrial face is made up of glaciated (ice-covered), boreal (northern) landscapes laced with black spruce, balsam fir, bogs and fens. The marine face has a rugged coastline with rocky headlands, vertical cliffs, intertidal zones, sheltered coves and cobbled beaches.

The seasons are characterized by late springs, cool summers and moderate winters.

Newfoundland has 14 native terrestrial mammal species and Terra Nova National Park is home to 12 of them. One of the native species is the Newfoundland marten, which is being threatened due to human activities and is listed as an endangered species.

Two hundred bird species are found in the park and surrounding area, 92 of which breed in or near the park. Bald eagles, osprey, loons, woodpeckers and songbirds such as nesting warblers and boreal finches are common.

The tree species most commonly found in the park are black spruce, balsam fir, white spruce, eastern larch, white birch, trembling aspen and red maple.

Terra Nova receives approximately 200,000 visitors annually, as compared to 50,000 at Kejimkujik.

Park Objectives

• To sustain the ecological integrity of the park ecosystem and manage for continued biodiversity and sustainability.
• To manage the park’s resources on the basis of an ecosystem approach. This will help ensure the preservation of significant, representative and rare resources and processes.
• To protect and manage the natural vegetation mosaic and resulting wildlife habitats so as to ensure their continued sustainability and integrity within the natural region.
• To give high priority to the protection of rare, threatened and endangered species of flora and fauna.
• To ensure compatible methodologies and results, ecosystem management planning will be undertaken in co-operation with adjacent federal, provincial and private land-use agencies.
• To minimize the potentially adverse effects of park and peripheral (surrounding area) development, visitor activities and operations upon park resources and processes.

Park Issues

• Invasive species, such as moose, which browse (feed) on young balsam fir, birch and maple saplings, negatively affect the ecological integrity of the park by altering the forest cover.
• Fragmentation of the park by the Trans-Canada Highway has created many barriers for plants and animals.
• Fire suppression (extinguishing) has produced an unnatural forest.

References

Canadian Heritage, Parks Canada. Terra Nova National Park Management Plan – Boreal Landscapes Touching Sheltered Seas, 1997.

Parks Canada Web site: www.parkscanada.gc.ca