Forillon National Park of Canada
Park Management
2010 Forillon National Park of Canada Management Plan
Summary
On the eve of its 40th anniversary, Forillon National Park is getting a new Management Plan! After several months of reflection followed by lively public consultations, the creation of an Advisory Committee and constant collaboration with interested stakeholders in the area, the park is now ready to embark on the next five years with confidence and enthusiasm.
Aware that the public must have a sense of ownership of protected heritage areas in order for these areas to survive, Parks Canada is ensuring that the three components of its mandate are carried out in an integrated way and that special attention is paid to the visitor experience and external relations.
Part of the park’s inheritance has been the issues resulting from the upsetting circumstances surrounding its creation and various unfavourable situations. In this connection, Forillon National Park has experienced, up to now, difficulties in establishing relationships with its natural collaborators, as it might have liked, relationships that meet local expectations. As it happens, several issues, such as attendance at the park and its role as a regional traffic builder, the feared increase in its isolation from the wider Gaspé ecosystem and the acquisition and transfer of knowledge cannot find workable solutions without cooperation between the park and the communities that surround it.
As a result, the 1st key strategy is for the park to open up to the external world, integrating especially with the region to which it belongs and the scientific community. In this way, the park hopes to be in a position to resolve problems whose solution extends beyond its administrative boundaries, play its role in the region, be part in the synergy of these areas and ensure their support. A significant increase in park attendance, the establishment of wildlife corridors and more sharing with the scientific community and the area are part of the expected results.
The evolution of Forillon National Park’s natural environment creates problems that are just as big. The park is suffering the effects of climate change on its shores, particularly in Penouille and all along the Route du Banc, where severe and ongoing erosion threatens ecological integrity and opportunities for visiting and learning experiences. In addition, the gradual transformation of the physical environment affects significant and spectacular natural and cultural landscapes, whose values are in danger of being obliterated, along with the forest ecosystem and its representative character.
The 2nd key strategy can be summarized as the taking concrete measures to adapt to the evolution of the park’s natural environment. This strategy will result in projects combining the three elements of the mandate: maintained access to and the ecological restoration of Penouille; a user-friendly and sustainable link between the village and the harbour of Cap-des-Rosiers in the Route du Banc area; interventions on the composition of the forest cover; active management of the park’s landscapes.
Thirdly, the history of the park territory, profoundly marked by the nature-culture relationship deserves to be better known. The Micmac Nation of Gespeg wants its culture and traditions to be highlighted within the park, in collaboration with the park. In addition, the park is experiencing difficulties in conserving its built and landscape heritage, particularly in the Grande-Grave sector. The current commemoration of the former residents – particularly those whose lands were expropriated – of their history and their contribution to the park’s identity does not meet the community’s expectations. Finally, the local population’s sense of ownership of the park is still finding opposition due to the memory of the expropriation.
In response to these problems, the plan’s 3rd key strategy is to recognize in a tangible way, the very close and age-old relationship between nature and culture on the territory of Forillon National Park, to tell the story of those who wove it, to experience it and to preserve its vestiges. Among the expected results are the research into and enhancement of material on Aboriginal peoples and Mi’kmaq culture. Another example is the implementation of work required to protect the threatened cultural heritage, to reincorporate it into its relationship with nature and to integrate it more fully into the visitor experience. The development of tools for better management of cultural resources is also part of the desired results, as are the enrichment of educational themes and opportunities to experience the multiethnic history and the period preceding the creation of the park. Finally, in view of the 2010 celebrations for the park’s 40th anniversary, a commemorative site will be created in the park especially dedicated to those whose lands were expropriated, and an exhibition dealing with their history and that of the settlement of Forillon will be presented there.
Once this Management Plan is implemented, the park will be in better ecological health, visitors will enjoy it better, as much through what they have experienced as through what they have learned and the park will be better known by visitors from outside the region. These conditions favouring a new harmony between the people, the land and the sea on the territory of Forillon will be such that they will give rise to a sense of ownership for the people of the area and the general public, an attachment that will both justify and ensure the durability of the park.
Forillon National Park of Canada Management Plan, 2010 (PDF Version, 4.5 Mb)
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