3.4 Ecological Integrity Statement

Management Plan

3.4 Ecological Integrity Statement

The ecological integrity statement plays a central role in setting out long term management. It does this by:

• identifying the basic values of the ecosystem which the park is mandated to preserve;
• setting targets and minimum conditions for management; and
• identifying anticipated problems in achieving these minimum conditions and general approaches to addressing them.

Three guiding principles for the ecological integrity statement are taken from the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the National Parks Act and the Parks Canada Guiding Principles and Operational Policies (1994) which state, respectively:

"The relevant knowledge and experience of both the Inuvialuit and the scientific communities should be employed in order to achieve conservation."

"...the maintenance of ecological integrity through the protection of natural resources and processes will be the first priority when considering zoning and visitor use."

"National Park ecosystems will be given the highest degree of protection to ensure perpetuation of natural environments essentially unaltered by human activity."

A) Description of the Park Ecosystems

Radiation and temperature

Aulavik National Park receives as much energy from the sun on a summer day as places near the equator. However, in Aulavik the energy is distributed over 24 hours, while in the south it is concentrated into half this time. As a result, temperatures are very even during an Arctic summer day and there is only a slight decrease at night. Plants can grow day and night during the short growing season of less than 60 days, which results in high daily yet low annual rates of plant growth. Mean annual temperatures are about - 12ºC and mean July temperatures 8ºC.

Permafrost

As a result of the low temperatures, the ground is permanently frozen. Only the top layer thaws up to one metre deep during the summer. Every time the water in the soil turns back into ice, it expands. This leads to a number of typically Arctic soil features like the pushing up of small mounds (hummocks and palsas), the formation of large circular patterns (polygons) on the surface, and the slow movement of rocks down slope (frost creep).

Water and snow

One of the most important aspects of the permafrost, however, is the fact that it keeps water from draining away. Meltwater in the spring accumulates in depressions and forms innumerable ponds and bogs of all sizes and shapes. These areas turn into oases of life and stand out with their abundant growth of sedges and grasses. Everywhere else, water is extremely sparse in this ecosystem because the park receives less than 150 mm of precipitation per year.

Most of the precipitation falls as snow. However, over 70% of the water in this snow is lost because it turns into vapour and dissolves in the air before the spring melt. During the winter, the snow is redistributed by frequent high winds. Many areas, particularly on top of ridges, are clear of snow all winter and are important grazing areas for caribou, muskox and Arctic hare. Sedge meadows are usually covered with 10 - 50 cm of hard packed snow. A lot of snow is packed into hard snowdrifts that can be several metres deep. These snowdrifts are preferred wintering habitat for lemmings. These animals are insulated from the cold and protected from predators underneath the hard snow cover. Snow banks are also extremely important as a source of moisture during the spring melt and the growing season. Water trickling from these banks determines to a large extent where vegetation will grow more abundantly.

Plant growth

Besides the patchy distribution of water, plant growth is also limited by the short growing season and the very limited amount of available nutrients, particularly the lack of nitrogen and phosphorus. As a result, the vegetation of the park is dominated by upland barren and rocky barren plant communities. These large areas support just a few dwarf willows, grasses and forbs growing on almost bare soil. Some small spots have an increased supply of nutrients due to bird droppings, animal carcasses or animal burrows. Plants respond with luxuriant growth to the improved conditions and are often two to three times larger than plants on nearby areas.

However, even the most productive plant communities in Aulavik produce less than one-fifth the annual growth of temperate systems like boreal forests. In Aulavik, plant growth varies from 40 - 80 g per m ² above-ground and 60 - 100 g per m ² below-ground per year in the wet sedge meadow stands, to 10 - 40 g per m ² above ground and 5-20 g per m ² below-ground per year in hummock tundra and upland barren stands. Stony and rocky barrens produce less than 1 g per m ² per year. In contrast, a boreal forest may produce 400 g per m ² per year. The slow Arctic rate of growth indicates the sensitivity of this ecosystem to damage.

Any disturbance takes much longer to heal and grow over. For example, it would take from 20 to 40 years for the creeping Arctic willow to regrow 30 cm of branch that had been broken off. This slow healing is the reason why surface scars from aircraft landings can last for centuries.

Much of the growth and plant material in the most productive Arctic plant communities occurs below ground. Plants store ten times more organic matter below the surface (up to 2 kg per m ² ) than above it (0.2 kg per m ² ). Arctic growth forms tend to store nutrients this way to allow a quick start at the beginning of the growing season in spring when the soil is still frozen and the plants use stored nutrients to grow. Because of the low nutrient availability in the soil, most Arctic plants recycle 40 - 90% of the nutrients in their leaves at the end of the growing season. The nutrients are moved to special storage organs below-ground.

Algae are important in wet areas because of their ability to use nitrogen directly from the air. Most other plants are not able to do this and nitrogen limits their growth. Therefore the extra nitrogen fixed by the algae boosts growth, especially around shallow ponds.

Herbivores

Herbivores in this area include mammals, birds and invertebrates (worms and insects). In drier areas, brown and collared lemmings feed on grasses and willows. Many authors refer to the dramatic oscillations in lemming numbers from year to year and to the fact that the breeding success of a whole assemblage of predators is dependent on the lemming cycle. In years when lemmings are scarce, snowy owls, jaegers, short-eared owls, Arctic foxes, rough-legged hawks and ermine produce few young and may fail to breed entirely. It appears that periodic "highs" occur in the Banks Island lemming populations but there is insufficient evidence to postulate a four-year cycle from direct observations. However, Arctic fox fur returns do appear to have a three-to five-year cycle which is probably related to the lemming cycle.

Muskoxen graze in wet sedge meadows almost year round. Only in late winter, when low temperatures harden the snow, is this vegetation inaccessible to them. They move to windblown ridges and slopes during that period. Caribou also use sedge meadows, but for the most part graze on upland vegetation and on hillsides. The Arctic hare prefers slopes and ridges and digs for Arctic willows in areas of shallow snow. Snowgeese often dig for the large underground storage organs of Arctic grasses in sedge meadows in the summer. Ptarmigan prefer seeds and flowers in drier places.

Depending on the area, up to 60% of the available plants are consumed by the large herbivores. In most other ecosystems, no more than 10% of plants are taken. Research has found that the herbivores in the Arctic, particularly muskox, actually fertilize the plants by returning the nutrients back to soil faster than if the plants would just decay. The natural decay of the plants is slowed in the Arctic because of low temperatures and plant eaters help to speed up the process. A symbiotic relationship between plants and animals has established itself over the millennia. Without the help of herbivores, only 10-30% of the plant material breaks down in the first year after the death of a plant. In this case the dead plants accumulate and form thick mats of peat in areas where plants grow well. Most (95-99%) of the nutrients necessary for plant growth are tied up in the peat. Only a small amount (1-5% of all the nutrients in the ecosystem) is available in the soil for plant growth. New nutrients enter the soil slowly through rain, mineralization of soil and nitrogen fixation from the air, but these amounts are extremely small (less than 0.3% of the nutrients in the system). It becomes clear that the slowness of the plant decomposition is a major reason why plants are starved for nutrients. In most areas the densities of herbivores are too small to change this situation.

Smaller plant eaters like worms and insects are barely visible but still important. They mostly feed on roots and dead plants. Because of the low temperatures, they also grow and develop very slowly. Arctic moths, for example, take 10 years or more to complete their life cycle from egg to mature adult.

The number of these small species that cannot maintain a constant body temperature is very low in the Arctic. Unlike in the south, there are no frost-free shelters in the ground that could protect them from freezing in the winter. Only a few species manage to survive the cold temperatures through special adaptations. Some increase the concentration of glycol (antifreeze) in their blood to keep from freezing.

Predators

Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves and long-tailed jaegers are the major predators in Aulavik. Foxes are both hunters and scavengers. Many foxes spend the winter on the sea ice, where they follow polar bears and scavenge. Wolves are the only predator that hunts muskox and caribou, but wolves will also scavenge and hunt for small mammals. Jaegers migrate to the park in the summer to feed on lemmings, bird eggs and young birds. Ermines, rough-legged hawks, peregrine falcons and snowy owls are also present. Among the insect eating birds, Lapland longspurs, snow buntings and sandpipers appear to be most common.

General animal adaptations

Animals have adapted in many ways to the special conditions of Aulavik. Seasonal migrations are very common, particularly in birds and fish. Over 90% of Banks Island birds, for example, are migratory. Some mammals in the park may also migrate, but this has not yet been proven for this ecosystem. What is clear, however, is that some mammals, like muskox and caribou, adapt to the winter by lowering their metabolic rate and reducing forage requirements. Activity cycles are much longer and foraging periods shorter in the winter in many mammals. Physical adaptations such as short ears and tails, thick fur and rounded body shape also help to tolerate low temperatures.

Biodiversity

Arctic ecosystems are often viewed as barren landscapes. However, through special adaptations, an impressive diversity of life has managed to establish itself in Aulavik National Park. The number of recorded species of vascular plants presently stands at 160. Other taxonomic groups include 83 species of lichens, 97 mosses, 17 mammals, 79 birds and eight fish.

Land use history

There is evidence of human use of the park area for much of the past 3,800 years that humans have been known to inhabit the Arctic. People from all the major cultural periods have thus occupied Aulavik at some point. Although occupation was only sporadic, these inhabitants successfully adapted to the severe environment by developing specialised hunting and fishing techniques. Their modern day descendants, the Inuvialuit, continue this subsistence tradition to present times.

A major event from a material culture standpoint occurred in 1853, when the ship HMS Investigator was abandoned at Mercy Bay (see 2.6 - Cultural History). The remains of the ship became an important source of raw material, including metal and wood. The sudden availability of this material had a major impact on the movement, settlement patterns and lifestyle of the local people.

During the early 1900s, lucrative Arctic fox trapping drew the Inuvialuit from the Mackenzie delta, Victoria Island, the Tuktoyaktuk peninsula and Alaska's north slope to Banks Island. In a short period of time, Banks Island became the most productive Arctic fox trapping area in the world.

In the 1950s, a permanent RCMP post was established on the southern shore of Banks Island. This move was in response to the influx of people associated with the fur trade and as part of the federal government effort to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. As government and commercial services were established, trappers moved their families from scattered seasonal camps to the new community of Sachs Harbour on the south-end of the Island, about 200 km from the park. Hunters and trappers from the community probably affected the fox, wolf and caribou populations, particularly in the southern half of the Island.

As was the case throughout much of northern Canada, a wolf poisoning campaign was carried out in the 1960s and 1970s. On Banks Island, the purpose was to reduce wolf predation on Arctic fox in traps and to potentially enhance caribou and muskox populations.

During the 1970s, the greatest human intrusion in the area occurred. This was a period of intensive geological seismic work and oil and gas exploration throughout Banks Island. While the effects of this work on ecological integrity are probably limited, the evidence of the activities is widespread as scars on the land from heavy equipment, test wells and refuse.

Present human activities within Aulavik include subsistence hunting and fishing by the Inuvialuit of Sachs Harbour and canoeing and backpacking by visitors. The park ecosystem may also be affected by industrial activities outside its borders.

Neither the present nor the historic human activities in the park have been extensive. The ecosystem is therefore essentially unchanged by recent human activity and has a very high degree of ecological integrity.

B) Management Goals and Criteria

Goal 1: The structure and function of the park ecosystems will remain unimpaired by stresses induced by human activity and are likely to persist, based on the following criteria:

• The climate in Aulavik maintains the following characteristics: Mean monthly July temperature below 14ºC, mean annual temperature below -10ºC, annual precipitation below 300 mm. Because Aulavik's climate is affected largely at the global scale, management actions at the ecosystem level may not be effective.

• Above ground primary production (plant growth) is no higher than 180 g per m ² in wet sedge meadow stands.

• Permafrost underlies the entire park area. The active layer is nowhere more than 3 m deep.

• The percentage area of the park covered by the following cover classes is as follows: rocky and sandy barrens, 11.7%; dry tundra, 24.5%; dwarf shrub tundra, 12.9%; hummock tundra, 24.8%; mesic meadow, 15.0%; wet sedge meadow, 6.8%; shadows and unclassified, 1.75%; snow and ice, 0.8%; water, 1.61%.

• There is an overall net carbon gain in the system, particularly in wet sedge meadows. This means that there is an accumulation of peat in the long-term. Net peat carbon loss due to higher summer temperatures would mean a major change in the ecosystem.

• The number of species in all taxonomic groups is maintained at the levels outlined in the description of the park.

• The majority of plants recycles 40 - 90% of the nutrients in leaves, rather than relying on taking fresh nutrients up from the soil.

• Less than 5% of all nitrogen and phosphorus in the system is taken up by plants from the soil. The majority of nutrients is inaccessible to plants.

• All non-migratory species occur in viable populations in the greater Banks Island ecosystem with grizzly bears and wolverines being the only exceptions. The latter two occur on Banks Island only occasionally and may maintain viable populations elsewhere.

• The following chemicals do not occur in the water of the Thomsen River and Nangmagvik Lake at significant levels:
  
    -- chlorinated pesticides including toxaphene, chlordanes, lindanes and DDTs;
  
    -- chemically stable volatile industrial compounds including PCB's and tri and tetra chlorinated veratrols;
  
  -- herbicides such as trifluralin and triallate; and chlorinated paraffins.

• The condition, quantity and dispersal patterns of all cultural artifacts are maintained. This includes all historic dwellings, caches, tent rings, tools, etc.

Goal 2: Public support for the principles of park management is critical to successfully achieving the ecological integrity targets. As a result, support by members of the target public audience is a management goal, as measured by the following criteria:

• The target audience for the park is identified.

• The audience is informed about the condition of the park and the major management actions taken by the park managers.

• The audience has an awareness of and appreciates the natural and cultural resources of the park.

• A communication strategy is developed to regularly inform the target audience, especially the community of Sachs Harbour, other Western Arctic communities, schools, co-management bodies and environmental groups.

• The audience has an awareness of the resources in the park and supports management actions taken by the park managers.

• Co-management groups are aware of and support park management programs in Aulavik.

• Co-management groups are actively involved in decision making.

Goal 3: In the development of this ecological integrity statement, it was recognized that Aulavik National Park differs from many national parks since it was established pursuant to a native land claim, the IFA. The IFA recognizes the Inuvialuit as having a special interest in the land and hence provides them with a legislated role in the ministerial decision making process independent of the public consultation process. This role (ensuring that the Inuvialuit are consulted on all matters relating to fish and wildlife and their habitat) is a requirement for management in Aulavik. This process for consultation is known as cooperative management (co-management). Consultation will be achieved by working through the co-management bodies established under the IFA (8.2), in reaching any decision affecting management in Aulavik. Specific details of consultation with the Inuvialuit on management issues will be defined in further work.

• Consultation will be achieved by working through the co-management bodies established under the IFA (see 8.2 - Interagency Cooperation) in reaching any management decision in Aulavik.

• Specific details of consultation with the Inuvialuit on management issues will be defined in further work.

C) Problems

The following is a list of current and anticipated problems for Aulavik. A problem is defined as a stressor that has the potential to negatively affect the ecological integrity of the park. Problems are grouped into the following four categories: A (Critical), B (Important), C (Minimal) and D (Unknown). Further work outlined in section 4.1.2 will provide further direction on how these problems will be addressed.

Loss of traditional knowledge (A)

Through the death of Elders, traditional knowledge of the park area is rapidly disappearing. An extensive oral history project is attempting to capture as much of the existing knowledge as possible.

Global warming (D,A)

Global circulation models predict that the Arctic will experience the most rapid warming in the coming decades. Climate and plant phenology monitoring programs are presently tracing the effect of this change on the park ecosystem. The results will be communicated via national and international networks.

UV -radiation (D,A)

The depletion of the ozone layer leads to an increase in UV -B radiation, particularly in higher latitudes. A UV-sensor on one of the automated weather stations monitors these changes. Results will be presented to a wide audience as part of the monitoring program.

Visitation (B)

Visitors and park staff may affect the ecosystem by scarring the soil surface, leaving waste and possibly removing artifacts. As a measure of protection, aircraft landings by visitors are restricted to designated areas. Frequently used campsites will be monitored in the future. Some vulnerable cultural sites will be monitored as well. All visitors will be informed about ways to minimize negative impacts on the land.

Toxins and pollutants (D,B)

A number of sites within or near the park have been affected by spot pollution. Park staff are cleaning up these sites wherever possible. A water monitoring program traces the effects of long-range transport of pollutants on aquatic resources.

Non-sustainable harvest (C)

There is minimal harvest of fish and wildlife in the park at this time. However, harvest beyond ecologically sustainable levels is identified as a potential problem should it occur. An ongoing harvest study program keeps track of the level of use. Fishing by visitors is monitored by a creel census.

Illegal activities (C)

Park patrols monitor activities within the park infrequently at this point. However, the remoteness and difficult access to the park makes illegal activities fairly unlikely.

Diseases (C)

Wildlife diseases are monitored by park staff and GNWT renewable resource staff on an opportunistic basis. Plant diseases will be monitored regularly.

Exotic species (C)

The occurrence of exotic species will be monitored by fixed plots that trace plant community compositions on a regular basis. Opportunistic observations during park patrols will also help to detect these species.