User:KristinaBlair/sandbox

Draft Article on National Parks of Canada

I will be providing information on the wiki page National Parks of Canada. My contribution will be mainly for sections 1 & 1.2 (see outline below) regarding the 'creation and development' and 'conservation and back to nature movement' that led to the emergence of National Parks within Canada.

Outline for National Parks of Canada

1. Creation and Development

• 1.1 Tourism and Commercialization
• 1.2 Conservation and Back to Nature Movement

2. Conflicts of the Creations

• 2.1 Indigenous People
• 2.2 Resource Development
• 2.3 Other Conflicts (non-Indigenous)

3. Changing Values

• 3.1 Ecological Integrity

Creation and development

On July 20, 1871, the Crown Colony of British Columbia committed to Confederation with Canada. Under the union’s terms, Canada was to begin construction of a transcontinental railway to connect the Pacific Coast to the eastern provinces. As the Canadian Pacific Railway went underway in 1875 and surveyors began to study the land, location of the country’s natural resources sprouted further interest. Evidence of minerals quickly introduced the construction of mines and resource exploitation in Canada’s previously untouched wilderness. Exploration led to the discovery of hot springs near Banff, Alberta and in November 1885, the Canadian Government made the springs public property, removing them from the possibility of private ownership and exploitation. This event brought about the beginning of Canada's movement towards preserving land and setting it aside for public usage as national parks. By the late 1880s, Thomas White, Canada’s Minister of the Interior, responsible for federal land management, Indian affairs, and natural resources extraction, began establishing a legislative motion towards establishing Canada’s first National Park in Banff.

May 1911 marked one of the most significant events in the administration and development of national parks in Canada as the Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act were granted royal assent. This law saw the creation of the first administrative body, the Dominion Parks Branch, now known as Parks Canada, to administer national parks in Canada. With the Branch in place, the parks system expanded from Banff eastward, combining both use and protection as the foundation to national park management.

The major motives behind the creation of national parks in Canada were profit and preservation. Inspired by the establishment and success of Yellowstone National Park in the United States, Canada blended the conflicting ideas of preservation and commercialism in order to satisfy its natural resource needs, conservationist views of modern management, a growing public interest in the outdoors and the new popularity of getting back to nature. This growing interest to escape the hustle and bustle of the city brought about ideas of conserving Canada's unspoiled wildernesses by creating public parks. As a country dependent on natural resources, Canada’s national parks represent an example of a compromise between the demand for profit from the land’s resources and tourism, with the need for preservation and sustainable development.

While conservationist ideas and a common Canadian movement towards getting back to nature were evident in the early development of National Parks in Canada, a greater role was played by chambers of commerce, local governments, promoters of tourism and recreational groups who advocated for profit-driven commercial development, while incorporating wildlife preservation when possible. Canada’s National Parks allowed the public an avenue into nature, while also integrating ideas of preserving Canada’s scenic landscape and wildlife populations in an era of development and major resource extraction.

Conservation movements

In the late 19th century, Canadians began to change their view of nature and resources from one in which the wilderness was seen as a land of abundance to one where the land became seen as a limited storehouse and opinions started to focus on conservationist ideas.

Created in 1909, the Commission of Conservation became the Canadian forum for conservation issues, acting as an advisory and consultative body used to answer questions related to conservation and better utilization of Canada's natural and human resources. The Commission focused on a concept that maximized future profits through good management in the present. Rather than preserving through non-use, the Commission was concerned with managing resources for long term gain.

Other conservation-minded organizations, like the Alpine Club, had different ideas that focused on the preservation of natural wilderness and opposed any type of development or construction. This movement was successful as the creation of parks solely for preservation purposes, like the bird sanctuary in Point Pelee, began developing. In order to push their views further, this movement, headed by James B. Harkin and Arthur Oliver Wheeler, was forced to argue that divine scenery was itself a source of profit - tourism - in order to push aside what they saw as a far greater avenue of exploitation: resource extraction. By 1930, even the conservation movements within Canada came to understand that the country's National Parks had an entrenched system of profit-based motives.

Comments

This looks really good!

I think that it is important that you focused on the creation and development of Canada's National Parks as this information was significantly lacking form the overall Wikipedia article. I would suggest that we might want to use some of the information for the lead of the Wikipedia article as it highlights most of the themes that we will be addressing.

Your addition of the creation of Parks Canada is probably all that will be needed as you had mentioned that there is another Wikipedia page for that. It clears up any confusion that may arise between Parks Canada and Canada's National Parks.

Right now I would say our word count in at 2,220 words (I have not included your section and I assumed Nick will use 600 words) so if you feel like you have enough research to proceed with the more recent conservation movement then go right ahead. If so, we should consider renaming our subheading for your section under 'Creation and development'. I also think it would be most logical to place the more recent ideas of conservation under 'Changing values'. I think that if you do continue with the more recent conservation movement, it will tie in nicely with what Kazue is writing on and our article will have more flow.

Hopefully these comments were helpful--Wongkat (talk) 19:02, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Kathryn! I'll see what I can find for the other conservation movement that came later. I think I'll wait until our group meeting tomorrow to adjust the other parts! --KristinaBlair (talk) 16:17, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Kathryn said most of it, I'd just add that maybe you could re-word your last sentence about profit motive in a way that has slightly more neutral language? --Sarah.x.g (talk) 05:21, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

Quotes

Hey team 'National', here are a couple quotes/notes I've come across while writing my section that I think would be good to include in other areas of the article.

“In North America, “National Park” defines an area set aside as a public heritage or trust, to preserve forever outstanding examples of a nation’s scenery, wilderness, geology, natural phenomena or native flora and fauna. Instead of forming private preserves, these parks are dedicated to public use and enjoyment by the citizens of the country to which they belong.” (Lothian, 10)