State-of-the-Wilderness Reporting in Ontario: Models, Tools and Techniques

As in other parts of the world, Ontario’s agricultural and industrial growth has marked the decline of wilderness. Aboriginal peoples used fire to clear land for agricultural purposes. European settlers accelerated the removal of trees, built roads and created communities in the pursuit of timber, farms and better lives. Consequently, population growth, intensive agriculture and an expanding industrial base have significantly reduced the quality and quantity of wilderness. In a mere 300 years, just 15 generations, wilderness in Ontario has been relegated to the more remote and isolated parts of the province. Like many other societies, Ontario values wilderness for different reasons. Some Ontarians view it as a storehouse of natural resources, to be used for social and economic gain. Others see it as a living system, replete with natural wonders and opportunities for discovery, where people live in harmony with nature. Most would agree that wilderness is vast, remote and unspoiled. To many others, however, wilderness can be a small, isolated ravine or a wood lot within a highly developed urban setting. While our opinions vary greatly, Ontarians are passionate about wilderness. Oracle Research reported in 1996 and 1998 that 97% of people polled believed that protecting wilderness areas was very important and 86% believed that as much as 20% of existing publicly owned land should be set aside for wilderness protection. In a another study, Manifest Communications (1996) reported that 81% of people polled agreed that provincial parks were very important to Ontario’s identity and that wilderness is the defining characteristic in people’s sense of what makes Ontario’s parks special and unique. This paper provides a brief history and status report on wilderness protection in Ontario. It outlines a framework for state-of-the-wilderness reporting; describes an ecosystem classification model used to determine the distribution, nature and status of wilderness; describes a model to identify and delineate remaining wilderness; and shows how recent Crown land-use planning has contributed to wilderness protection. The application of Ontario’s Natural Resource Information System (NRVIS) and related ARC/INFO GIS tools to the framework are illustrated. The paper also presents some preliminary ideas on a wilderness quality index designed to allow natural resource managers to measure the quality and quantity of the wilderness condition and experience.

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