Title
Conservation of Lakeshore Zones in the Northern Boreal Mountains: State of Knowledge, and Principles and Guidelines for Planning and Management. WCS Canada Conservation Report No.14.
Author(s)
Joël Potié; Donald Reid
Published
2021
Publisher
WCS Canada Conservation Reports
Abstract
The lakes and their shores of northwest Canada deserve more planning and management attention to sustain their diverse ecological values and the numerous benefits they provide to people. In this mountainous boreal region, lakes and ponds, and the shore zone ecosystem spanning water and adjacent land, are essential for 8% of mammals, 43% of birds, 72% of fishes, and 100% of amphibians, as well as substantial proportions of insects and plants. Lakes are highly valued by people as sources of fish for food, and water for drinking, industrial production, and irrigation. Along with their shore zones, they are prime places for residential development and recreation. In Yukon and northern British Columbia, growing numbers of people and increasing extraction of natural resources are intensifying threats of water pollution, over-fishing, loss of shorelines to development, and disturbance to wildlife. An overheating climate layers on new threats of warming and more-acidic water plus siltation and loss of shorelines to permafrost melt. In this Report we summarize scientific information about the various types of lakes in this region, how lake and lake shore ecosystems function, and the threats they face. We advocate for more explicit attention for these ecosystems in regional land use planning, as well as in local area planning and environmental impact assessments. We lay out a number of principles for planning and management of lakes and lake shores at regional, and single-lake scales, along with Guidelines for applying those principles. This approach covers issues ranging from protection of a representative selection of different lake and shore zone types, zoning of lake shores with respect to types and intensities of allowable human activities, protecting critical habitats for focal species whose habitat needs are easily impacted by people, and providing guidelines for stewardship of lake shores by private land holders.
Keywords
lake ecology; shore zone ecosystems; fish habitats; wildlife habitats; disturbance; threat
Full Citation
Potié, J. and Reid, D. (2021). Conservation of Lakeshore Zones in the Northern Boreal Mountains: State of Knowledge, and Principles and Guidelines for Planning and Management. Wildlife Conservation Society Canada Conservation Report No. 12. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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