Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today. I will make opening remarks and we will both be available for questions.
The protected areas establishment and conservation branch oversees important national programs, including the establishment of new national parks and reserves, ecological integrity monitoring, species-at-risk recovery, ecological restoration and fire management.
Parks Canada's mandate is to protect and present nationally significant examples of Canada's natural and cultural heritage and to foster public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative integrity for future and present generations.
The area of land currently protected in Canada's 46 national parks and reserves stands at about 328,000 square kilometres, covering representative samples of the wide variety of natural landscapes that characterize Canada, including many types of forests.
Parks Canada's priority in managing national parks is clearly stated in the Canada National Parks Act, as follows:
Maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes, shall be the first priority...when considering all aspects of the management of parks.
Forest ecosystem management in national parks aims to maintain ecological services and processes while mitigating major risks from natural catastrophes, such as wildfire, to park visitors, staff, infrastructure and surrounding communities. For instance, many parks use prescribed burns to reduce fuel load and promote forest diversity.
Forest pests, both native and exotic to Canada, are occurring in national parks and reserves throughout the country. Native pests include the mountain pine beetle and the eastern spruce budworm, while exotic pests include the emerald ash borer and the white pine blister rust. Forest health and pests are monitored in national parks by partnering with the Canadian Forest Service, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and provincial agencies. The Canadian Forest Service has the national lead for providing expertise in forest pests.
Our agency's general approach to native forest pests is premised on the fact that native insect outbreaks are part of the natural cycle of forests and contribute to forest renewal and diversity, especially in boreal regions. By managing to maintain a forest cover made of various species and age classes, we think parks will be resilient to insect outbreaks and slow their speed. Parks Canada's approach to native forest pests in national parks and reserves is guided by three policies contained in our guiding principles and operating policies.
The first states:
National park ecosystems will be managed with minimal interference to natural processes. However, active management may be allowed when the structure or function of an ecosystem has been seriously altered and manipulation is the only possible alternative to restore ecological integrity.
The second states:
Provided that park ecosystems will not be impaired, the manipulation of naturally occurring processes such as fire, insects and disease may take place when no reasonable alternative exists and when monitoring has demonstrated, that without limited intervention: i) there will be serious adverse effects on neighbouring lands; or ii) major park facilities, public health or safety will be threatened; or iii) the objectives of a park management plan prescribing how certain natural features or cultural resources are to be maintained cannot be achieved.
The third policy statement says:
Where manipulation is necessary it will be based on scientific research, use techniques that duplicate natural processes as closely as possible, and be carefully monitored.
Speaking specifically about the mountain pine beetle, it's a naturally occurring forest insect in western Canada that attacks mainly lodgepole pine. The outbreak has spread to the Banff, Kootenay and Yoho national parks, where the beetle population is now stabilized, and to Jasper National Park, where the population is still growing.
Parks Canada has worked with governmental and industry partners to slow the spread of the insect and mitigate its impacts on parklands and beyond. In Jasper National Park—1.1 million hectares—the outbreak is part of the beetle migration into northwest Alberta from British Columbia that began in 2006. The infestation migrated across the Rocky Mountains, reaching into the Grande Prairie-Peace River area in 2005, north of Jasper, and made its way east and south. About 93,000 hectares of the park's 200,000-hectare pine forests are affected.
The beetle infestation has continued to move on and is now into forests near Hinton, Edson and the Lac La Biche area of northern Alberta. It is a regional challenge, and Jasper National Park is just one of the many jurisdictions impacted by it.
The presence of a large number of dead and dying trees is thought to increase the risk of wildfire in the national park and surrounding area, and this has been partially supported by the observation that in 2017 in British Columbia about one-third of the forest fires were occurring in the dead stands. A mountain pine beetle working group was formed in 2015 by Parks Canada, NRCan, the Canadian Forest Service and the Government of Alberta, through Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, to work together on surveillance and action planning.
With help from the Canadian Forest Service and Alberta, Parks Canada completed and approved a mountain pine beetle management plan for Jasper National Park in 2016. The plan outlines goals and measures to be taken to maintain the park's ecological integrity; slow or limit the spread of the mountain pine beetle, both through the park and into adjacent lands; ensure the safety of visitors and residents of Jasper; and educate visitors on mountain pine beetle occurrence and issues related to national park conservation.
Implementing the plan involves prescribed burns, single and multi-tree removal, and patch removal using mechanical harvesting equipment, which then supports prescribed burns in the community for protection.
Parks Canada has been managing wildfires in Jasper for more than 100 years, and continually improves and refines its approach. For the last 30 years it's been working to put fire back on the landscape to improve ecological integrity and to help manage the frequency and severity of wildfire.
For the past 15 years, Jasper National Park has been a leader in the application of fire-smart practices and fuel reduction around townsites and other high-use areas. It's also mitigating the impact of mountain pine beetle on whitebark pine, an endangered species. In that case we're using pheromones to protect individual trees from the beetle, prescribed fire and thinning are done to reduce competition and wildfire risk, and many thousands of seedlings have been planted or successfully established since 2013.
In terms of other forest pests, outbreaks are also affecting national parks elsewhere in the country. For instance, eastern spruce budworm outbreaks occur regularly in the boreal, Great Lakes and Acadian forests of Canada. A natural disturbance, they're an integral part of the forest ecosystem.
Since 2006, the populations of spruce budworm in Quebec have increased steadily, reaching about seven million hectares in 2017. The outbreak in the lower St. Lawrence in Quebec spread to nearby northern New Brunswick in 2016 through massive moth migration events, and reached the Miramichi in 2017. We believe it's just a matter of time before the outbreak reaches Kouchibouguac National Park and possibly Fundy National Park.
The Government of New Brunswick is using early-control strategies consisting of a spray program combining insecticide, insect growth regulators and sex pheromones for mating disruption, and a representative of the New Brunswick Department of Energy and Resources consulted with the park on manners related to Kouchibouguac. The spruce budworm population will be monitored in the park, and management options will be examined if it becomes a source of infestation.
Many national parks are also confronted with non-native, exotic forest pests such as the emerald ash borer. This wood-boring beetle, native to Asia, feeds on and kills all emerald ash species native to Canada. Infestations now exist in much of southern Quebec and southern Ontario. The beetles have also reached Winnipeg to the west and Edmundston to the east.
The current area of the emerald ash borer infestation includes national parks in Ontario, as well as national historic sites and canals and waterways in Ontario and Quebec. In those cases, individual parks are working with partners to slow the spread and manage its impact through education, outreach and monitoring, as well as by treating individual trees with systemic insecticides and removing hazard trees.
In conclusion, Parks Canada's approach will be guided by our mandate policies and procedures, and we'll continue to work with all other relevant jurisdictions in our management of forest pests in national parks.
Thank you.