Tintamarre National Wildlife Area Management Plan: chapter 4

4 Goals and objectives

4.1 Vision

The long-term vision for Tintamarre National Wildlife Area (NWA) is conservation: to maintain and enhance habitat for native wildlife, with a priority given to waterfowl, wetland birds and species at risk.

4.2 Goals and objectives

Tintamarre NWA was originally selected as a protected area to preserve an important diversity of wetland habitats for waterfowl. Conservation priorities have shifted over time, but the maintenance and management of habitats for wetland birds as well as rare and unique species continues to be the first priority. The NWA is classified under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria for protected areas as a Category IV protected area, to be managed “mainly for conservation of habitat and species through management intervention”. Although the NWA is not currently promoted as a tourism destination or for on-site public education, public visitation is not restricted, and some renewable and traditional land uses are allowed.

The goals and objectives for Tintamarre NWA seek to create conditions that support or enhance those that would occur under natural ecological processes. These are goals to which Environment and Climate Change Canada aspires and, if achieved, would produce tangible benefits for habitat and wildlife, particularly migratory birds and species at risk, over the long term.

Specific goals and objectives are as follows:

Goal 1: Wetland habitats within controlled water-level impoundments will be managed to mimic an ecosystem driven by shallow but stable water levels, so that populations of migratory birds and resident flora and fauna including species at risk are sustained, and habitats and residences are created, restored or maintained through active management.

1. Objective: Manage water levels to achieve a diversity of wetland vegetation with open water and vegetation maintained at a 50:50 ratio over the long term.

Goal 2: Old-field and homestead habitats will be managed to provide the early stages of plant succession to benefit edge and open grassland migratory birds.

1. Objective: Maintain 5 ha of open field habitat in early succession through periodic mowing.
2. Objective: Maintain wildlife food availability through the periodic thinning and pruning (once every five years) of 200 apple trees associated with abandoned homesteads within the NWA.

Goal 3: Upland habitats will be managed to maintain native and historic upland vegetation diversity so that populations of migratory birds and species at risk are sustained.

1. Objective: To enhance forest diversity, plant 5 ha of Acadian forest (tolerant hardwood species that have been lost) within existing older-growth Yellow Birch forests over the next five years.

Goal 4: Fish passage will be maintained and enhanced for fish, especially for migratory (diadromous) species in the waterways of the NWA.

1. Objective: Replace existing fishway at Front Lake with one that allows for the passage of Gaspereau within three years.

Goal 5: Control invasive and alien plant species so that the size and number of habitat patches known to be dominated by alien and invasive species will decrease over time.

1. Objective: Habitat and vegetation will be actively managed to eliminate (where possible) or reduce the extent and density of alien and exotic plant species.

Goal 6: Human activities within the NWA do not have a negative impact on wildlife populations or their habitats.

1. Objective: Document and report the number and nature of incidents of illegal activities such as off-road vehicle use, within Tintamarre NWA to the Wildlife Enforcement Division, therefore reducing or eliminating their occurrence in the NWA.
2. Objective: Promote public recognition and understanding of “cumulative environmental effects” and how repeated and routine activities may be harmful to wildlife and their habitat.

Goal 7: Wildlife populations and habitat within the NWA are not negatively impacted by land use and anthropogenic stressors originating outside of the NWA.

1. Objective: Provide information on the NWA to environmental assessments for areas adjacent to the NWA.
2. Objective: Undertake activities to mitigate negative consequences of climate change such as modifying water management regimes, invasive species control programs.

4.3 Evaluation

Annual monitoring will be performed within the limits imposed by the availability of financial and human resources. The management plan will be reviewed 5 years after its initial approval and reviewed and updated every 10 years thereafter. The evaluation will take the form of an annual review of monitoring data obtained from the monitoring and research projects outlined below. This monitoring will be used to establish priorities for action and to allocate resources.