Evidence of meeting #3 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Right. Well, I'm thinking migratory birds can even carry small fish. Actually the little fish will take shelter in the feathers of the waterfowl and actually can be transported, which I found quite interesting.
Does the United States use the same definition as Canada for invasive alien species?
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
This definition would be common not just in the United States but globally, more generally. Those are the core characteristics of how any country is defining invasive alien species.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
For the purposes of comparison, can you give us an example of some species that might be defined as alien but aren't invasive?
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
I tend to focus more on the invasive. I could follow up by providing you with information on alien species that are not invasive.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
Okay. I just thought that was a curious question.
In terms of the impact on our economy, there are some interesting numbers there. I think you mentioned in respect to our forest industry up to $20 billion in impact, in damages. Are you referring here to the pine beetle and species like that, which of course actually were endemic, I guess, and changed because of temperature changes? What are we referring to in coming up with numbers like that in terms of the impact on our forest industry?
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
Actually, the source for that information is a report from 2006 that we could make available to the committee. It assesses more than just the $20 billion in the forest sector. It also addresses some species harmful to the agriculture sector as well.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
My riding is on Vancouver Island and we have some challenges with invasive species on the island. We've got giant hogweed. In fact French Creek was the epicentre for this particular very obnoxious plant. It causes nasty burns. You run into those critters and they're huge. They have huge heads on them and seed distribution of hundreds of thousands of seeds if these things come to maturity. So we're having programs to begin to manage that.
We have American bullfrog showing up on the island. I guess it has been spreading up into Canada. And these critters—I've had some in my own pond—not only damage other species of amphibians, such as the red-legged frog, which is diminishing significantly in numbers, but we've seen these critters actually pull down ducklings and drown birds. So they're monsters. I'm just wondering if you would comment on the situation and management strategies. I know we're encouraged to kill those suckers if we find them, on the west coast.
I might follow up with another question on Garry oaks and Scotch broom.
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
With respect to the Environment Canada role, we focus on the strategy and a funding program. The direct management is not something we do, and I would be deferring to federal colleagues, and perhaps on something like the giant bullfrog that might be more municipal and local action. So I apologize. I can't answer that question in terms of the most appropriate management actions.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
It would be on a list for you. Of course we're focusing on terrestrial species here. The committee had done something on aquatic species in the past, and I guess with an amphibian we're kind of in between here. It spends a lot of time on land but certainly has an impact in water in a big way.
We're talking about the Garry oaks ecosystem on the west coast—in the Coastal Mountains, Olympic Mountains, and certainly in my area on Vancouver Island. Part of our Mount Arrowsmith biosphere was identified because of the presence of Garry oak ecosystems in some areas in my riding.
Scotch broom has also become a real problem. We have local programs again, cutting broom in bloom, trying to eradicate this. Along open pathways it is displacing other plants that deer like to graze on and so on. There is salal. Maybe that's not correct to say salal, but there are other plants, such as lupin along the roadsides and so on, all being displaced by mile after mile of Scotch broom if we don't take that down. It's amazing how it has spread. And again, you'd be aware of these as species, but management plans are not Environment Canada's concern. That's worked out with cooperation among Canada, the provinces, and municipal and local authorities.
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
That's right. You're actually blessed in your jurisdiction to have a very active invasive species council, which we've worked with. I mentioned the funding program and funding being provided to that provincial entity. I know that they do outreach. I can't speak to the particular species they tackle, either from an outreach or a direct on-the-ground management perspective.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Mark Warawa
Thank you.
Time's up. Thank you, Mr. Lunney.
Mr. Wong, you have a presentation that was handed out. You have up to ten minutes to make that presentation.
Mr. Farr, do you have a presentation too?
Ken Farr Manager, Canadian Forest Service, Science Policy Relations, Science Policy Division , Department of Natural Resources
No, I do not.
Mike Wong Executive Director, Ecological Integrity Branch, Parks Canada Agency
First of all, thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to contribute to this particular study. I will be presenting this powerpoint presentation entitled "Invasive Species in National Parks of Canada".
As my colleague from Environment Canada mentioned, once these invasive alien species arrive within our border, some very quickly expand their distribution, and it probably does not come as a surprise that they end up in one of our 42 national parks.
The second slide, as my colleague mentioned, is basically the definition of what an invasive species is. The two photos highlight some of the species we need to deal with within our national parks system. There's a photo of the zebra mussels that are found in the Great Lakes system, which are continuing their expansion, and one of a fungus called whitebark pine blister rust, which is affecting specific species of pine trees and alpine species in our Rocky Mountains national parks.
How do we manage invasive species? We manage them to meet our mandate, which is to ensure the ecological integrity of our national parks for present and future generations. Invasive alien species will simply be another of the stressors we need to manage to maintain or restore ecological integrity.
Ecological integrity is defined as “a condition that is determined to be characteristic of its natural region and likely to persist, including abiotic components and the composition and abundance of native species and biological communities, rates of change and supporting processes” within that ecosystem. We can certainly see from that definition that there are two areas: the impact on the native species within the national park and the fact that many of these species are not part of that particular ecosystem.
Over 1,000 occurrences of invasive species have been found to occur in national parks. This is not 1,000 species. Rather, through our monitoring system we've detected over 1,000 occurrences of species that have been determined to be exotic or invasive alien species.
We are monitoring some of these species in 26 of our national parks. Our southern national parks are being affected the most, and this is where we're focusing our attention. Many of our national parks in the north, in Canada's Arctic, have not had similar types of impact due to the climatic conditions.
I'm going to walk the committee through some of the examples of what we call problematic invasive species. As my colleague from Environment Canada mentioned, we cannot take action on all of these species. We are focusing on certain ones that are having significant effects on the ecological integrity of our national parks.
The first one is spotted knapweed. It was introduced from Eurasia. It displaces many of our native grasses and native forbs in open areas and is found primarily in western Canada, including in our Rocky Mountains national parks, Riding Mountain National Park, and Grasslands National Park.
We have programs in some of these parks to work with the landowners outside our boundaries to control the expansion, and in some cases to eradicate this particular species from specific areas. A very good program that's ongoing at the moment is out in Waterton Lakes National Park, where we're working with the ranchers, along with neighbouring communities, to try to control the expansion of this weed.
The next example is the white pine blister rust. It's a fungus that was introduced into Canada from Eurasia and it's having a significant impact on our alpine pine species, in particular the whitebark pine. This is again, as I mentioned earlier, found in our Rocky Mountains national parks, and from the photos you can see it can in fact have a very devastating impact on this particular pine species.
We're working right now in close collaboration with our colleagues in the U.S. National Park Service in Glacier National Park, which is just south of Waterton Lakes, to identify particular specimens of white bark pine that in fact appeared to be immune to this particular blister rust. And hopefully in the future we'll be able to develop specific specimens of the species in order to restore the species back into the landscape.
Moving on to the next slide, I'd like to talk a little bit about the Norway brown rat. This is a rodent that originates from Asia, in northern China and Mongolia, and it has arrived in Canada through early trade, fishing vessels and other types of marine travel. It is having a significant impact on our colonial bird species in some of our national parks, in particular in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve in British Columbia. This particular invasive species is really affecting the population of seabirds such as the ancient murrelet, which burrows on the land in some of these coastal islands. We're working with the province, along with other partners, to in fact try to eradicate this species from some of the islands, and with some success.
I was mentioning to colleagues outside the room that when I was visiting one of the projects in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve it appeared that on some of the islands we are having an impact, through baiting, of removing some of the rats from some of the coastal islands. With respect to the national park system, this particular species is found in 19 other Parks Canada sites beyond Gwaii Haanas.
How do these invasive species get into our national parks landscape? It's primarily through activities such as road construction, where new soil or machines are moved from one area to another, bringing along the seeds or the larvae of these particular species. And my colleague mentioned that through the increase in temperature over the last few decades we're seeing the expansion of some of these species.
We do have management tools in place within Parks Canada, and the next slide identifies a series of them, including our park management plan and specific policy on removing invasive species.
The last few slides are really an example of how Parks Canada works with volunteers and works with partners to control some of these invasive species.
The example that we're using is Gulf Islands National Park Reserve in British Columbia, where we are attempting to restore a specific species within the Garry oak ecosystem, and our staff are working with the local communities and volunteers on programs such as Broom Sweep, which is meant to remove Scotch broom from that landscape.
There are continuing challenges, and they're no different from some of the challenges identified by my colleague in the national strategy.
Thank you very much.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Mark Warawa
All three witnesses are available to answer questions.
Our next questioner, for seven minutes, is Mr. Masse.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for appearing here today on an important issue.
I saw this first-hand, that without a plan.... The effects of the ash borer beetle in southern Ontario was well identified as a threat, and by the time action took place and the firewall was created it was already past that firewall and subsequent loss occurred. It's good to see an action plan.
The policy research initiative organized a meeting with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and they identified that this policy should include climate change. Could you identify if climate change is part of your plan and offer some details about that?
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
I think climate change is reflected in the strategy more through what I mentioned earlier, that Canadian ecosystems are going to be a little more receptive to species not currently found in Canada. I think what's really difficult is actually predicting what our ecosystems might look like 50 or 100 years from now. If we were able to provide that prediction it might give us a better sense of where the risks are. That's how I think it's factored into the strategy. There's some uncertainty around what climate change means, but I think it's really clear that a warming climate means we'll have more alien species.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Mr. Wong has identified rising temperatures. Is climate change part of your strategy?
Executive Director, Ecological Integrity Branch, Parks Canada Agency
Yes, it is. I go back to our approach to managing for ecological integrity in our national parks to ensure that the natural processes and native species are maintained or restored, and invasive alien species, climate change, and ecosystem process changes within the national park are part of our overall park management strategy.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Mr. McLean, to follow up, I'm a little surprised that we don't specifically have climate change. What's stopping that from being part of your plan? You're identifying rising temperatures, but at the same time the public, NGOs, a series of other organizations, and provinces have all recognized climate change as an identifiable factor in their plans and operations. Why don't we have that identified with your strategy? I think people need to understand that this issue is becoming more complex with rising temperatures. And it's not just the days of the zebra mussel on the bow of a ship that came in. It's the mobility of species of plants and animals now that's going to be different because of global warming.
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
The mobility of species is at the heart of how I think the strategy addresses the implications of climate change: the activities in the strategy, the focus on prevention, early detection, and rapid response. We have change happening in the Canadian landscape. If we tackle those pathways effectively, such as those wood crates, there might be beetles that couldn't survive in Canada before but because of the warming climate could. If we still are effective at addressing that pathway of introduction, the wood crates, then it's almost as if the strategy anticipates the implications of climate change by putting in place effective approaches at the front end.
I think the challenge with the magnitude of international trade, transport, and travel is simply checking those shipments. If the Canadian Border Services Agency were here they would be saying that of about 12.8 million commercial shipments they're able to look at 2%. Of about 95 million international trips that Canadians take, they are able to inspect about 0.3% of the Canadians who travel. It's those pathways that will be bringing these species, and if we can effectively address those pathways, I think we anticipate the implications of climate change.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
We can, but we do have a significant amount of trade with the United States, and with climate change taking place there is going to be species redeployment in areas that we never saw before. I understand that checking the crates is important, but I still think a specific climate change strategy or part of it would be necessary to have a modern plan.
I want to follow up with a different question at this point. I'm glad you put the numbers out there, because I think it's important. Obviously there are environmental issues here, but economic and social impacts are very real. We look at the Great Lakes, where they have the Asian carp, for example. There's the goby fish and a series of others in there. You have identified $7 billion in terms of costs for economic, environmental, and social impacts. What is your budget right now for the Great Lakes for invasive species?
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
That would be under the auspices of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. I would defer to that department for that particular information.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
So even though you're charged with the invasive species plan, your department has no funding whatsoever for--
Executive Director, Habitat and Ecosystem Conservation, Canadian Wildlife Service, Department of the Environment
Environment Canada has a small office of about two people, to maintain the coordination and be able to be here today to present the overview information, and then a person who implements the funding program. But the regulatory authorities, the capacity to do the inspections, the on-the-ground work, actually lies with my federal government department colleagues.