Parks Canada Research Articles

Three critical factors affecting automated image species recognition performance for camera traps.

Ecological camera traps are increasingly used by wildlife biologists to unobtrusively monitor an ecosystems animal population. However, manual inspection of the images produced is expensive, laborious, and time‐consuming. The success of deep learning systems using camera trap images has been previously explored in preliminary stages. These studies, however, are lacking in their practicality. They are primarily focused on extremely large datasets, often millions of images, and there is little to no focus on performance when tasked with species identification in new locations not seen during training. Our goal was to test the capabilities of deep learning systems trained on camera trap images using modestly sized training data, compare performance when considering unseen background locations, and quantify the gradient of lower bound performance to provide a guideline of data requirements in correspondence to performance expectations. We use a dataset provided by Parks Canada containing 47,279 images collected from 36 unique geographic locations across multiple environments. Images represent 55 animal species and human activity with high‐class imbalance. We trained, tested, and compared the capabilities of six deep learning computer vision networks using transfer learning and image augmentation: DenseNet201, Inception‐ResNet‐V3, InceptionV3, NASNetMobile, MobileNetV2, and Xception. We compare overall performance on “trained” locations where DenseNet201 performed best with 95.6% top‐1 accuracy showing promise for deep learning methods for smaller scale research efforts. Using trained locations, classifications with <500 images had low and highly variable recall of 0.750 ± 0.329, while classifications with over 1,000 images had a high and stable recall of 0.971 ± 0.0137. Models tasked with classifying species from untrained locations were less accurate, with DenseNet201 performing best with 68.7% top‐1 accuracy. Finally, we provide an open repository where ecologists can insert their image data to train and test custom species detection models for their desired ecological domain.

Parks Canada’s adaptation framework and workshop approach: Lessons learned across a diverse series of adaptation workshops

In 2017, the Canadian Parks Council Climate Change Working Group, a team of federal, provincial, and territorial representatives, developed a Climate Change Adaptation Framework for Parks and Protected Areas, guiding practitioners through a simple, effective five-step adaptation process. This framework was adapted by Parks Canada into a two-day adaptation workshop approach, with 11 workshops subsequently held from September 2017 to May 2019 at Parks Canada sites in the Yukon, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Newfoundland, and Ontario. Lessons learned from each workshop have been integrated into the approach, with the development of tools and guidance for each phase of the process, and a shareable, visual “placemat” that describes each step of the framework, acting as a map for those navigating the process.

Stitching the Wound: Land-based Gestures of Healing and Resistance in the Work of Postcommodity and Maureen Gruben

Through dismantling the territorial integrity of the modern nation-state, Indigenous sovereignty threatens state imposed hegemonic systems. While these systems exist at the threshold spatially—borders and boundaries—they are the ideological epicenter for controlling human and non-human life, rendering them manageable by the state. These borders are also perpetually liminal spaces, and it is in this liminality that artists intervene through poetics, confronting state rhetorics and exercising sovereignty to address colonial wounds. In 2015 and 2017, two land-based ephemeral art projects were created to challenge the terms by which territory is instrumentalized in order to justify the commodification of both land and humans. In 2015, the artist collective, Post-commodity, set up a land-based art installation, Repellent Fence, intersecting the US/Mexico border in an effort to “stitch” the Americas together again. The gesture of stitching is also employed in Maureen Gruben's Stitching My Landscape from 2017 in which Gruben stitched a segment of ocean ice with vibrant red broad cloth near her home in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories alongside the Ibyuk Pingo, a national landmark administered by Parks Canada. Both of these projects provide entry points into the various methods by which land is abstracted into an oppressive and singular form. They push back against the rigidity of prescribed borders, instead investigating more fluid entanglements with land.

Do You See Ice? Inuit and Americans at Home and Away by Karen Routledge

Reviewed by: Do You See Ice? Inuit and Americans at Home and Away by Karen Routledge Ashley Allen Do You See Ice? Inuit and Americans at Home and Away. Karen Routledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018. Pp. xxviii+223, photographs, maps, notes. $50.00, hardcover. ISBN 978-0-226-58013-5. In Do You See Ice? Inuit and Americans at Home and Away, Parks Canada historian Karen Routledge examines the complexities and nuances of home. To the Inuit of Cumberland Sound, on Baffin Island, home is what Americans have long considered to be inhospitable, barren, and impossibly cold. Conversely, the home these Americans longed for proved itself to be equally foreboding to the Inuit. This book considers the stories of Inuit and Americans from the 1850s through the early 1920s and their views on the Arctic, as well as the tensions caused by their differences. Notably, Routledge does not discuss the Americans in the context of exploration or heroic endurance. Colonialism, the reason they were on Baffin Island, and its impacts on the region are first mentioned early in the prologue and felt throughout the book, especially in the Americans' mischaracterizations of the Arctic as bleak and unwelcoming. Across four chapters, Routledge considers the different worldviews of Inuit and Qallunaat (non-Indigenous outsiders) and how these worldviews framed their encounters with, and relationships to, their respective "homes" during the time period. In her consideration of home, Routledge focuses on the distinct geographic locations of Cumberland Sound and the northeastern United States as sites of migratory exchange. The first chapter focuses on American whalers in Cumberland Sound, leaving home in hopes of economic security and a better future. The second reflects on the stories of Hannah and Ipiirvik, an Inuit couple traveling the United States with American explorer Charles Francis Hall and encountering peculiar situations at his request, including a stint as human exhibits at P. T. Barnum's American Museum. The third examines Americans and Inuit together, using the Lady Franklin Bay expedition (1881–84) as a case study in discomfort and unfamiliarity far from home and dissecting how a disaster and the following sensationalism situated the Arctic as a dangerous and decidedly unhomelike place. Chapter 4 focuses on the Inuit who remained on Cumberland Sound, and the memories of their encounters with Qallunaat. It is here where the book shines brightest, focusing on the home that outsiders continuously [End Page 178] classify as "foreign" as just that: a home. This home just became intertwined with economic processes, international shipping companies, a physical landscape that required more perseverance and flexibility than most, and the stories that were told long aft er all of that was gone. Throughout the book, Routledge encourages the reader to reflect on questions of authenticity, home, and what it feels like to be an outsider. She makes sure to avoid placing either the Inuit or the Americans in the background of these histories, instead taking care to consider each place on its own terms within the worldview of her subjects, many times highlighting the vast differences between how each group viewed their home. The concept of home as a complex, intangible ideal is understood with equal complexity. Inuit homelands were built on ideas of mobility, and the stories she highlights display the importance of memory, experience, and an understanding of the physical landscape. This ability to adapt is highlighted in Hannah and Ipiirvik's story, where they eventually made a home in Groton, Connecticut, while missing the integral parts of their spiritual world that could only be found on Cumberland Sound. The American whalers' stories are treated with equal care, as Routledge discusses their yearning for familiarity once winter came upon the Sound and finding it in material objects like books and games, as well as in their camaraderie with one another and the local people they came to rely on. This story also does not ignore conflict. In many instances Inuit and Americans differ on their understanding of the Arctic, particularly regarding the colonial histories at play during the time frame covered within the text. Still, Routledge encourages the reader to practice empathy while reading, asking questions about the feelings of these subjects, their...

Co-management of Traditional Foods: Opportunities and Limitations for Food Security in Northern First Nation Communities

Traditional foods that First Nations peoples harvest or gather from the land remain critically important for achieving and sustaining food security for many communities. In Canada’s North, land claim agreements include provisions for First Nations to participate in the governance of their traditional territories, including the co-management of important traditional (wild-harvested) food species. Because such agreements only specify the broad contours of co-management governance, their actual functioning evolves out of a complex interplay among the co-managing organizations over the course of time. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of how First Nations communities can enhance food security as participants in co-management. Our study connects research on food security with research on co-management and is the first to analyze how First Nations can improve their food security by influencing decision-making that affects traditional foods through co-management arrangements. Following a succinct review of the Indigenous food security and co-management literatures, we analyze the experiences of Kluane First Nation in enhancing community food security through the co-management of its traditional territory with Yukon Government and Parks Canada, interpreting the data in light of the theories and evidences offered by research on co-management. The analysis of data collected from semi-structured interviews and from First Nations and government resources shows that, while the co-management system is imperfect, it does offer a mechanism through which First Nations can exert influence on decisions that affect their food security. The three key themes emerging from the excerpts confirm the importance of co-management as an evolutionary and long-term process, in which trust- and relationship-building are ongoing activities that are fundamental to beneficial collaboration involving the sharing of information and power. The analysis also highlights the role of context, or situational factors, in facilitating or hindering collaboration.

Impact of land use land cover change on a sand dune ecosystem in Northwest Beach, Point Pelee National Park, Canada

This paper analyses Land use land cover (LULC) change in the Northwest (NW) Beach, Point Pelee National Park (PPNP) to understand its effect on sediment transport dynamics for sand dune restoration. Due to development of infrastructure, beginning in the 1960s, sand dunes were completely removed from parts of NW beach. Spatial-temporal changes for LULC were assessed using aerial photos and images for 1959, 1977, 2006 and 2015. Based on the Ecological Land Classification System (Southern Ontario), object based image analysis and feature extraction methods were used to generate classified maps. The photos were the highest quality available in the Parks Canada, PPNP archive. LULC classes included Shoreline Vegetation, Deciduous Thicket, Sand Barren and Dune Type, and Infrastructure. Aerial photographs of LULC change for 1959–1977 and South Western Ontario Orthoimagery Project (SWOOP) images for 2006–2015 were analysed. A large gap exists between 1977 and 2006 as no images were available for that time period. Results indicated a significant increase in the Deciduous Thicket in 2015, acting as a barrier for sand movement to the parking lots. Decrease in the Shoreline Vegetation Type along with an increase in the lake level indicate a decrease in beach width and supply area for sediment transport. Based on the analysis, active management through the removal of cottonwood trees, and policy changes are recommended for dune restoration in Point Pelee. Accuracy assessment of the 2015 classification using an error matrix resulted in an overall accuracy for the LULC classification of 88%.

Multiple environmentalities and post-politicization in a Canadian Mountain Park

This research explores the centrality of multiple environmentalities at multiple scales in the post-politicization of conservation governance in Jasper National Park, Canada. Austerity politics in Canada contributed to the post-politicization of conservation as the interests of Parks Canada and private developers were brought into alignment in terms of increasing visitation and the revenue imperative. The Parks Canada Agency, under structural pressure, employed several post-political strategies to suture the space for dissensus and debate and orchestrate the appearance of consent for the private development and management of park services. Central to these strategies were multiple (sovereign, disciplinary, and neoliberal) environmentalities constructed at multiple scales by multiple actors (the federal government, the local parks department, and private sector interests) aimed at producing environmental subjects who understand and acquiesce to the idea that ‘there is no alternative’ to a privatized conservation practice. In response, opponents attempted to mobilize an alternative environmentality, combining a social democratic critique of neoliberalism with a Romantic vision of wilderness conservation. Although opponents enrolled a sizeable number of allies, they fell short of stabilizing a liberation environmentality as several underlying points of ‘agreement’ contributed to the stabilization of post-political discourse and practice, foreclosing alternative political economies of conservation.

Guest Introduction: More-than-human contact zones

Mary Louise Pratt used the term “contact zones” to describe those spaces where “cultures, meet, clash and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today”. Building on three sessions at the 2017 American Association of Geographers’ Annual Meeting, this special section features articles which apply Pratt’s concepts to environmental research. We argue that these articles demonstrate a “more-than-human ‘contact’ approach” to (1) better account for nonhuman agency by multiplying perspectives, (2) intervene in cases of violence and injustice, and (3) decolonize knowledge/production. Included are empirical case studies which describe encounters with the nonhuman; these include a postcolonial reading of the BBC’s Blue Planet II, a feminist science study of migratory shorebird conservation on New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore, and political ecologies of prescribed forest burns by Parks Canada and tidal energy production in the Bay of Fundy. These articles broaden the definitions of “contact” and “justice” as they direct critical attention to the politics of environmental knowledge production, technoscientific means of understanding and managing the living environment, and forms of resistance to the exclusive governance of “wild” spaces. They present sites of environmental management and exploration as places of transformation, co-presence, unpredictability, and often intimate violence. The section demonstrates how political ecologies and more-than-human geographies expand Pratt’s “contact” perspective. An afterword is provided by Mary Louise Pratt.

Encountering the burn: Prescribed burns as contact zones

Encounters with fire and landscapes that burn have the potential to be both disastrous and life-giving events. In Canadian national parks, where a century of fire suppression has ruled human encounters with fire adapted landscapes, fire managers and ecologists are eagerly returning fire to diverse ecosystems in the hopes of building healthier ecosystems and reducing the risk of larger wildfire events. Ongoing changes to park policy have made new relationships with fire possible on these federal lands. Prescribed burns, whereby fire is applied to the landscape by park managers, is one such emerging encounter made possible by these policy changes. By reconceptualizing the burn as a process constituted by encounters, in what Mary Louise Pratt would call a contact zone, we gain insight into how thinking and working with fire requires an attention to how humans and more-than-humans encounter one another and the institutional settings which narrate and often constrain these encounters. In the case of Parks Canada’s fire program, this tool of active management, and an alternative to full-suppression, illustrates how thinking and working with fire consists of a set of encounters which take place at both an institutional and embodied scale.

Late Pleistocene vegetation and sedimentary charcoal at Kilgii Gwaay archaeological site in coastal British Columbia, Canada, with possible proxy evidence for human presence by 13,000 cal bp

RWM and TL gratefully acknowledge Discovery Grant funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grants A3835 and 342003). We thank Parks Canada and the Gwaii Haanas Archipelago Management Board for permission to conduct research on Ellen Island and field assistance.

Impacts of past and future coastal changes on the Yukon coast — threats for cultural sites, infrastructure, and travel routes

Yukon’s Beaufort coast, Canada, is a highly dynamic landscape. Cultural sites, infrastructure, and travel routes used by the local population are particularly vulnerable to coastal erosion. To assess threats to these phenomena, rates of shoreline change for a 210 km length of the coast were analyzed and combined with socioeconomic and cultural information. Rates of shoreline change were derived from aerial and satellite imagery from the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2011. Using these data, conservative (S1) and dynamic (S2) shoreline projections were constructed to predict shoreline positions for the year 2100. The locations of cultural features in the archives of a Parks Canada database, the Yukon Archaeological Program, and as reported in other literature were combined with projected shoreline position changes. Between 2011 and 2100, approximately 850 ha (S1) and 2660 ha (S2) may erode, resulting in a loss of 45% (S1) to 61% (S2) of all cultural features by 2100. The last large, actively used camp area and two nearshore landing strips will likely be threatened by future coastal processes. Future coastal erosion and sedimentation processes are expected to increasingly threaten cultural sites and influence travelling and living along the Yukon coast.

Temporal road closures improve habitat quality for wildlife

Increasing levels of human activity threaten wildlife populations through direct mortality, habitat degradation, and habitat fragmentation. Area closures can improve habitat quality for wildlife, but may be difficult to achieve where tourism or other economic drivers are a priority. Temporal closures that limit human use during specific times of day have potential to increase habitat quality for wildlife, while continuing to provide opportunities for human use. However, the effectiveness of daily temporal closures has not been tested. We assessed how implementation of a temporal road closure affected wildlife movements in Banff National Park. Parks Canada closed a popular 17 km stretch of road between 2000 and 0800 hours to improve habitat quality for wildlife. We assessed the effectiveness of the closure on nine mammal species using three sets of data: remote cameras, road surveys, and grizzly bear (Ursus arctos) GPS data. In all three analyses, wildlife detection rates on the road doubled during the closure while remaining unchanged in reference areas. Our strong and consistent results suggest temporal closures are an important conservation tool that can increase habitat quality for wildlife while minimizing effects on people.

Indigenous involvement in the Canadian species at risk recovery process

Many countries, including Canada, are beginning to recognize the important roles of Indigenous Peoples in threatened species recovery. To determine whether official recognition is translating into actual involvement of Indigenous Peoples in species recovery planning in Canada, we examined recovery documents for species under the Canadian Species at Risk Act (SARA). We scored each document for the level of involvement with Indigenous Peoples on a scale of 0–5. We analyzed the data using permutation-based ANOVAs and post hoc pairwise permutation tests to determine the impact of region, taxonomic group, and responsible agency on scores. Fifty two percent of documents suggested no Indigenous involvement, despite a legal requirement to consult Indigenous Peoples to the extent possible. Documents for species in central Canada and Quebec indicated significantly lower involvement than in other regions. Documents for taxonomic categories such as mosses indicated lower involvement than those containing iconic and economically valuable taxa, such as fish and mammals. Documents coordinated by Environment and Climate Change Canada indicated significantly lower involvement than those coordinated by Parks Canada or Fisheries and Oceans Canada. These regional and taxonomic discrepancies, along with differences among agencies suggest short-term priorities for improving Indigenous Peoples’ involvement in species at risk recovery planning in Canada.

COASTAL HYDRODYNAMIC MODELING TO SUPPORT THE RECONSTRUCTION OF BREAKWATERS AT CAP-DES-ROSIERS

The fishing harbor of Cap-des-Rosiers is located at the northeast end of the Gaspé Peninsula and is owned by Parks Canada. It is located within the Forillon National Park, at the mouth of the Whalen River. Two jetties, composed of Berlin walls, delineate the inner channel of the harbor and act as breakwaters. Despite the presence of these breakwaters, significant problems of agitation have been observed in the past within the harbor during storms.

133 Test of minimum-intervention protocols for optimizing in vitro embryo production in bison

The study was done to determine whether minimal handling protocols for ovarian synchronization and ovarian superstimulation may be used to increase in vitro embryo production in bison. Ultrasound-guided cumulus-oocyte complex (COC) collection was done in a group of bison (n=23; random start) during the anovulatory season to synchronize new follicular wave emergence. The COC were classified morphologically (compact-good and -regular, expanded, denuded, degenerate) but not processed further. At the time of COC collection (Day 0), bison were assigned randomly to 3 groups and given 5mL of saline IM (non-superstimulated controls; n=11), 10 Armour units of pFSH (Antrin R10, Kyoritsu Seiyaku Corp., Tokyo, Japan) in 5mL of saline IM once per day from Day 0 to 2 (regular FSH; n=5), or 30 armour units of a sustained-release form of pFSH (Antrin R10Al, Kyoritsu Seiyaku Corp.) in 5mL of saline SC on Day 0 (long-acting FSH; n=7). On Day 4, a second COC collection was performed. Only compact COC were processed. The COC were matured in vitro for 25 to 28h at 38.8°C, fertilized (2×106 sperm mL−1) and co-incubated at 38.8°C in 5% CO2 for 18h. Presumptive zygotes were denuded and cultured at 38.8°C in 5% O2, 5% CO2 and 90% N2. Nominal data were compared by t-test and analysis of variance. Binomial data were compared among groups by chi-squared. There was no difference between the first (random) COC collection (n=23) and second collection (n=11 non-superstimulated controls) in the total number of follicles detected, but the distribution among size categories (3-4, 4-8, and &amp;gt;8mm) differed, i.e. fewer in the 3 to 4mm category at the time of the second COC collection (12.2±1.0v. 8.1±1.4; P&amp;lt;0.05). In the nonstimulated control group, there were no differences between the first and second COC collections in the number of follicles aspirated (12.7±1.0v. 10.4±1.5), number of COC collected (7.7±0.9v. 5.3±1.3), or in the categorical distribution of COC. At the second COC collection, the number of follicles in the &amp;gt;8mm category was greater in the regular FSH group than in the control or long-acting FSH groups (2.8±0.5v. 1.1±0.3, and 1.9±0.4, respectively; P&amp;lt;0.05), but no differences were detected in the number of follicles aspirated, COC collected, or in the categorical distribution of COC. The cleavage rate (of total oocytes submitted to in vitro maturation), recorded 2 days after IVF, was higher in the control group than in either the regular FSH or long-acting FSH groups [25/35 (71.4%), 7/28 (25.0%), 8/35 (22.8%); P&amp;lt;0.0001]. The freezable embryo production rate, recorded 7 days after IVF, was greater in the control group than in the regular FSH or long-acting FSH groups [19/35 (54.3%), 5/28 (17.9%), 5/35 (14.3%); P&amp;lt;0.01]. In conclusion, minimal-handling interventions used in the present study to increase embryo production in bison were not effective, likely as a result of the timing, frequency, and duration of superstimulation. A random start resulted in greater COC collection than collection 4 days after ovarian synchronization, and embryo production rates were greater in non-superstimulated bison. This work was supported by Parks Canada and Saskatchewan ADF. Antrin products donated by Kyoritsu Seiyaku Corp., Japan.

Reflection, Acknowledgement, and Justice: A Framework for Indigenous-Protected Area Reconciliation

Protected areas have been both tools and beneficiaries of settler colonialism in places such as Canada, Australia, and the United States, to the detriment of Indigenous nations. While some agencies, such as Parks Canada, increasingly partner with Indigenous nations through co-management agreements or on Indigenous knowledge use in protected area management, I believe such efforts fall short of reconciliation. For protected areas to reconcile with Indigenous Peoples, they must not incorporate Indigeneity into existing settler-colonial structures. Instead, agencies must commit to an Indigenous-centered project of truth telling, acknowledging harm, and providing for justice. I begin this article by outlining what is meant by reconciliation. I then argue for protected area-Indigenous reconciliation. I conclude with a framework for Indigenous–settler reconciliation within protected areas.

Habits, Beaches, Dogs and Leashes: Non-Compliance with Park Regulations

This research was supported in part by the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust, Protected Area and Poverty Reduction program, and Parks Canada.

Empirical test of the ClimateWNA model for local accuracy in the Kluane Lake area of the southern Yukon, Canada

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 75:111-115 (2018) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01511 NOTE Empirical test of the ClimateWNA model for local accuracy in the Kluane Lake area of the southern Yukon, Canada Charles J. Krebs1,*, J. David Henry2, Alice J. Kenney1, Elizabeth J. Hofer1 1Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Blvd., Vancouver BC V6T 1Z4, Canada 2Kluane National Park and Reserve, Parks Canada, Haines Junction YT Y0B 1L0, Canada *Corresponding author: krebs@zoology.ubc.ca ABSTRACT: Ecological studies related to climate typically require data on temperature and rainfall. If local climate data are not available, the only recourse is to rely on data from the closest meteorological station or interpolated data from regional models of climate. In the southwestern Yukon, we have for the past 25 yr gathered ecological information such as counts of cones on white spruce trees and attempted to relate these biological variables to weather variables, thus requiring accurate climate information. From 2001 to 2014, we measured local summer temperature and rainfall during the growing season at 7 local sites along 250 km of the Alaska Highway and tested the accuracy of the ClimateWNA model estimates for these 7 sites as well as for the Haines Junction Environment Canada meteorological station. Monthly summer temperatures were reasonably well correlated with the predicted ClimateWNA values (r = 0.90, n = 299 mo), but summer rainfall was not (r = 0.37, n = 218 mo). We repeated this analysis with the Daymet climate model and got similar results. We caution the use of ClimateWNA or Daymet rainfall estimates for local areas in this part of the southwestern Yukon for the prediction of ecological measurements. KEY WORDS: ClimateWNA · Daymet · Temperature · Rainfall · Kluane · Yukon · Accuracy Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Krebs CJ, Henry JD, Kenney AJ, Hofer EJ (2018) Empirical test of the ClimateWNA model for local accuracy in the Kluane Lake area of the southern Yukon, Canada. Clim Res 75:111-115. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01511 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 75, No. 2. Online publication date: May 17, 2018 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2018 Inter-Research.

20. The Description to Look Down on All Opposition”: The Remains of HMS St. Lawrence

In one of the most ignominious wars in history, a combined force of British and Canadian soldiers, sailors and civilians constructed the largest wooden warship ever built in the western hemisphere. Engaged with the Americans in a desperate game of cat-and-mouse upon Lake Ontario, the massive warship HMS St. Lawrence swung the balance of power firmly in favour of the British and thereby hastened the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, bringing the War of 1812 to a sputtering halt.This colossal warship, over 200 feet long, crewed by 700 and carrying 112 cannon, was completed at Kingston, Ontario in little over 9 months. Patrolling Lake Ontario, HMS St. Lawrence immediately caused the Americans to flee to their harbour. Astoundingly, and in a very Canadian fashion, she never fired a shot in combat.After the war ended, years of disrepair and dereliction left HMS St. Lawrence as a hulk of her former self. Sold to a local entrepreneur for a measly £25, she found herself towed to a location near Queen’s University. Mysteriously, she then disappeared from history. After the consideration of several theories, the hope is that this presentation, based upon the research conducted in a joint investigation by Parks Canada, the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes and Queen’s University, will help determine the fate of this “nuclear bomb of her age.”This presentation will outline the fascinating origins of HMS St. Lawrence, how she was archaeological documented, what the investigation tells us, and why investigating naval heritage is a worthy undertaking.

Mapping a Diverse Community's Engagement in Parks Planning

ABSTRACTAs park agencies become increasingly challenged to ensure not just visitation but also support for parks by a diversity of constituents, heterogeneous community engagement has come into greater focus as a research priority for the parks tourism field (Eagles, 2014). To date, however, most studies of immigrants' participation in outdoor recreation have researched “recreational patterns, motivations and constraints” (Kloek, Buijs, Boersema, & Schouten, 2015, p. 48). This article adopts a process approach to map and analyze Parks Canada's community engagement during its work to establish Canada's first national urban park, whereby residents and stakeholders of a highly diverse community were given a platform to express their opinions. Qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews reveals six themes capturing park planners' assumptions and actions to enhance community outreach and provides rich descriptions of stakeholder-agency relationships using stakeholder theory. Results suggest that to effect change, planning must shift from an equality-based process to an equity-based one.