Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada
Where the mountains meet the sea
Introduction
Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada was created in 1936 to protect an outstanding example of the Maritime Acadian Highlands Natural Region. The Cape Breton Highlands plateau is a part of these Highlands and consists of low, flat-topped mountains cut by deep river canyons. Steep cliffs run to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the western coast, while on the eastern side, the slopes are much gentler. The Cape Breton Highlands are a significant geological feature, covering most of northern Cape Breton.
The Cabot Trail - a scenic highway built in the 1930s - runs along the ocean and through the Highlands of the park. Featuring spectacular mountain and ocean scenery, the park and the Cabot Trail are visited by about 200,000 Canadians and international visitors every year.
The rugged landscape created by the mountains results in many different habitats for plants and animals. Both the climate and the forests change from sea level to the top of the plateau, resulting in three major forest zones within a relatively small area: Acadian, Boreal and Taiga. The Acadian forest (composed of hardwoods, such as maple, mixed with softwoods) is found in warmer, sheltered valleys. The Boreal forest (composed of softwoods such as spruce and balsam fir) covers the top of the plateau, where the winters are colder. At the more exposed locations on the plateau surface, the winter winds and ice are so severe that the trees are stunted. This Taiga zone is made up of extensive rocky barrens and treeless bogs, giving the landscape an arctic-like appearance.
Some of the hardwood forests in the park are more than 350 years old. Old-growth forests provide habitat for certain plants and animals that do not thrive elsewhere; the park has some of the largest remaining protected stands in North America.
Arctic-Alpine plants, left over from the ice age, are also found in northern Cape Breton. It is interesting to find small populations of these plants in Cape Breton because most of their range is in the Arctic or high mountains, far from here.
Wildlife include moose, deer, lynx, bobcat, coyote, marten, bald eagle, Atlantic salmon and woodland birds such as warblers, woodpeckers and chickadees. Cape Breton has only about 75% of the mammal species that are found on mainland Nova Scotia. For example, there are no skunks or porcupines in Cape Breton, although they are common on the mainland. Both the ocean and the mountains are barriers to the natural migration of land mammals as well as most other animals and many plants.
The most popular visitor activity in the park is scenic touring on the Cabot Trail. Many people also hike, camp and learn about wildlife through exhibits and observation. The highlight of a trip is often a whale, eagle or moose sighting.
Northern Cape Breton also has a rich history, which can be explored through exhibits and traces of the past. Mi'kmaq, Acadian and Scottish and other cultures, travelled, fished and settled here.
Park Objectives
- To protect an outstanding part of the Maritime Acadian Highlands Natural Region - the Highlands of Cape Breton. This means protecting the natural processes in the ecosystems as well as all of the natural resources (landforms, plants, animals, rocks, soil and water).
- To allow people to enjoy and learn about the park in ways that do not impair the long-term health of the ecosystem.
Park Issues
Many people think of national parks as tracts of unspoiled wilderness. But the reality is that parks suffer from pollution, global climate change, impacts of use, introduction of non-native species and use outside park boundaries, such as fishing, shipping, mining, forestry, agriculture and settlement. In other words, most threats are from human activities, originating both inside and outside national parks.
The major stressors in Cape Breton Highlands are habitat fragmentation, invasion of non-native species (exotics), pollution, climate change and impacts of the fishery and tourism. The cumulative effect of several stressors has an even greater impact on ecosystems.
- Habitat Fragmentation - Extensive loss of natural habitat through human activities may result in small pockets of specific habitats that are isolated from other similar areas. Small, isolated populations of plants or animals are more suspectible to being wiped out than large ones: the wide separation from others of their species means the area may not be re-populated with replacements. As native species disappear, the ecosystem becomes less complex (i.e. has less natural species diversity) and may become unbalanced.
Acadian forests make up only 23% of the park, occurring in coastal lowlands and river valleys. They are naturally separated, or “fragmented” by the mountains. This natural fragmentation is compounded because most development, both inside and outside the park, occurs here. Fragmentation of hardwood forests in a major ecological concern.
Boreal forests make up most of the interior of the park and are not substantially fragmented within the park. However, in northern Cape Breton as a whole, boreal forests are highly fragmented, so the park provides an important refuge for boreal species.
- Non-native species - Exotic species of plants and animals become a threat to an ecosystem when they displace native species and change the species composition or processes of the ecosystem. Most introduced plants in Cape Breton do not appear to pose a threat but a few - like the purple loosestrife - are so aggressive that native species are crowded out.
Earthworms, white-tailed deer and starlings are examples of non-native animals in Cape Breton. Beech bark and Dutch elm disease are introduced fungal diseases that have dramatically changed the forest composition in the Maritime provinces.
- Absence of native species - The absence of “keystone” species such as large carnivores and herbivores is a stress that can result in ecosystem imbalance.
Caribou, moose and wolf were “extirpated” - made locally extinct - from northern Cape Breton by the beginning of the 1900s due partly to over-hunting and trapping. Although moose were successfully re-introduced in the late 1940s, introductions carry risks such as the import of disease. (Example: white-tailed deer brought the brain worm parasite, which prevented the re-establishment of caribou.)
The absence of the timber wolf, a large, natural predator, may be a factor in the present-day over-population of moose. The effects of moose browsing (feeding) are very noticeable in the forests and may contribute to long-term changes in species composition of the Boreal forest. A study is currently under way to assess park moose populations.
Several plant and animal species are “at risk” of being lost to this area, including Canada lynx, American marten and dozens of plants. Every species lost to this area reduces natural biodiversity and the ecosystem may be said to have less “integrity.”
- Fishery Impacts - Commercial over-fishing, pollution and habitat loss resulted in a dramatic worldwide decline of Atlantic salmon in the 1980s. Park rivers provide salmon spawning habitat, and a “catch-and-release” policy provides further protection. Since salmon spend part of their life at sea, many of the stressors are external to the park.
- Impacts of tourism - The development of visitor facilities both inside and outside of the park, such as campgrounds, golf courses and roads has resulted in habitat loss and fragmentation, primarily of Acadian hardwood forest. Visitor use of the park results in increased garbage and large amounts of vehicle exhaust. This air pollution has caused a reduction in plants near the Cabot Trail such as lichen in old-growth Acadian forests.
The most popular park trails have up to 50,000 hikers on them annually. Overuse of certain trails has resulted in extensive damage of soils and plants as well as wildlife disturbance. Impacts can be reduced by proper trail design.
A major concern that challenges park managers is the carrying capacity - what is the upper limit of visitors that the park ecosystems can handle? How can we reduce the impact of visitor use so that we still have magnificent scenery with all of its native plants and animals for future generations to enjoy?
References
Cape Breton Highlands National Park Atlantic Salmon Management Plan. Resource Conservation, Canadian Parks Service, 1993.
Keith, Todd. Cumulative Effects Study, Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Parks Canada, 1997.
Management Plan Summary for Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Environment Canada, 1987.
Parks Canada Website: www.parkscanada.gc.ca