Wallace Bay National Wildlife Area Management Plan: chapter 3


3 Management challenges and threats

A number of potential issues pertaining to the management of the Wallace Bay National Wildlife Area (NWA) are outlined below. Some stressors are external to the NWA but may have a negative impact on the site’s overall value to wildlife.

3.1 Tourism

The Wallace Bay NWA is a Category VI protected area, set aside to protect habitat and benefit wildlife together with management and sustainable use of its natural resources. Ever-increasing ecotourism, while often providing valuable education opportunities to the public, adds additional pressures to protected areas. The blurring of the lines between ecotourism and adventure tourism adds to the problem of cumulative environmental effects. As local communities and businesses try to attract tourism dollars, public lands and protected areas such as Wallace Bay NWA are sometimes advertised as destinations by external interests, often without a full understanding of the regulations protecting NWAs. Visitors to sites such as Wallace Bay NWA may not always understand the distinctions between a park and an NWA. Invariably, any concession to improving public use and public access, that eventually prove to be to the detriment of wildlife and their habitat, are not easily retracted once made. Although the current level of visitation is not likely causing significant habitat damage, tourism activity during the breeding season could cause a disturbance to nesting birds. It is then important to monitor the number of visitors and verify that, in the event of a steady increase of their number, they still do not pose a threat to the NWA wildlife and habitats. The objective is to manage visitation, allowing Canadians to connect to nature, without jeopardizing the goals of the NWA.

3.2 Adjacent land use

Wallace Bay NWA has few “road front” boundaries and is mainly bordered by private woodlands and farmlands. As the NWA is comparatively small, legitimate land use on these adjacent parcels, depending on the types of crops in production or the extent of forestry operations, may have an indirect impact on the NWA through eutrophication, sedimentation, and potential habitat loss. These threats are monitored annually using aerial photography, and as of 2016 there is no evidence of concern. Forestry operations, particularly clear-cutting, may result in adjacent forest stand loss due to wind damage. Upland farms have associated issues such as potential run-off from pesticide and herbicide applications, and soil erosion from fields and livestock waste management.

3.3 Rural development

Following the establishment of the Fox Harbour Golf Resort and Spa just 8 km northeast of the NWA (an important driving force to the local economy), there has been an increase in coastal development in the Wallace Bay area. This has stimulated the building of more summer cottages and year-round homes on the coast, followed by a subsequent rise in land values, higher property taxes and domestic demands such as waste management and potable water. This development coincides with an increase in public use of the NWA, and raises concerns for the NWA such as illegal off-road vehicle use and small-scale land encroachments. The installation of trail counters will provide the number of people visiting Wallace Bay NWA and will help monitor this increase.

3.4 Coastal erosion and habitat loss

Wallace Bay NWA is generally protected from the most severe storms due to its location at the headwaters of Wallace Harbour. However, predicted sea-level rise could result in erosion of the expansive salt marshes within Wallace Bay. As the uplands rise quickly in elevation around the existing wetlands, loss of salt marsh along the coast is unlikely to be matched by gains at the salt marsh-upland interface.

3.5 Habitat fragmentation

The irregular boundary of the Wallace Bay NWA is detrimental to the administration and ecological integrity of the site. Efforts should be made to acquire key parcels bordering the NWA that provide biological or administrative efficiencies to the site. Where feasible, lands between the existing boundary and definable features, such as roads, should be secured. Such acquisitions would be made only from willing vendors at market value, appraised at highest and best use.

3.6 Dams and water management

Seven water control structures occur in Wallace Bay NWA (Table 3). These structures are intended to control water for the purpose of improving habitat for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. The first of these structures, project name 6144-1, was built in 1972 and enhanced in 1996. Project name 6145-2A was built in 1973, project name 6145-2B in 1996 and project name 6145-2C in 1978. Project name 6152-3A was originally built in 1973 and rebuilt in 2012. Project name 6152-3B was built in 1997. Project name 6190 was built in 1983 and consists of a large steel culvert through a paved government road with a tide gate. Environment and Climate Change Canada staff continues to work with Ducks Unlimited Canada to find resources to manage these structures and carry out repairs when necessary.

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