4.1 Ecosystem-Based Management

Management Plan

4.1 Ecosystem-Based Management

As directed by the ANPEA , the heritage resource conservation and protection program for Aulavik will be guided by the principles of both the National Parks Act and the IFA . Both these foundations for management recognize the importance of managing the park in the context of the broader ecosystem that extends far beyond the park's boundaries. Ecosystembased management will provide an important management foundation for the park because it:

• recognizes that the ecological integrity of the park is affected by influences beyond the park boundary;
• works at identifying the interrelationships in the ecosystem; and
• provides a basis for multi-jurisdictional and partnership management frameworks.

In more specific terms, an ecosystem-based management approach to Aulavik will mean that:

• the scope of the management plan will look beyond the park boundary; for example, a strategy for keeping Thomsen River water clean must look not only at the river in the park, but its larger watershed and tributaries on Banks Island;
• the connectedness of the ecosystem must be considered when assessing impacts and prescribing management actions; and
• park management will be a cooperative process involving the Inuvialuit and other responsible government resource management agencies (see 8.0 - Regional Integration).

As with all ecosystems, the area of the greater park ecosystem for Aulavik cannot be defined easily. Watersheds are one way of seeing interrelationships in the larger ecosystem. Other connections in the Aulavik ecosystem include wildlife habitats, and even global factors such as climatic change, ocean and air circulation. On this basis, the Aulavik ecosystem can at a minimum, be defined to consist of all of Banks Island and beyond. The park's connections in the bigger picture reinforce the need for cooperation in park management. This cooperation is essential for management. The IFA (14.(2)) states that, "in order to achieve effective protection of the ecosystems in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, there should be an integrated wildlife and land management regime, to be attained through various means including coordination of legislative authorities." (See 4.1.2 - Further work in Ecosystem Management and 8.0 - Regional Integration.)