VASCULAR PLANTS
P.M. Catling and J. Cayouette
8. PROTECTION STATUS
Numerous government reports contain recommendations that have yet to be fully implemented (e.g. Fowle et al. 1991, Bowman 1993) and various conferences and symposia also allude to protection needs (Bardecki and Patterson 1989, Allen et al. 1990). Many significant natural areas in the Ontario portion have been identified in site district reports. However, these reports summarized current knowledge, but did not include a systematic field survey of the region under consideration. Many of the significant areas identified as Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSIS, Ont. Min. Nat. Res. 1987) largely on the basis of flora, are in private hands. Although some protective zoning may be achieved through the ANSI system, it has proven inadequate in a number of cases and regionally and provincially significant sites should be acquired. Some local approaches to the protection of natural areas have been impressive, including for example the Montréal urban community (Bourdages et al. 1992; Lajeunesse et al. 1995). Nevertheless, protection of biodiversity, including representative and significant flora, within the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone is inadequate for the same reason that it is inadequate across Canada (Stephenson 1994). The important point however, is that within this ecozone, the protection needs are much more urgent.
As far as flora is concerned, the most important opportunities for biodiversity protection in the ecozone include universally rare and threatened habitats such as alvars, prairies, savannas, shorelines of river and lake systems, bogs, fens, and dunes and pannes along the Great Lakes shores. In a number of cases these habitats have been protected but inappropriately managed or manipulated resulting in the decline of biodiversity including significant plant species (e.g. Catling & Larson 1996).
9. SOME OF THE MAJOR NEEDS WITH RESPECT TO BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION Certainly the most urgent needs botanically are of a general nature and include allocation of funds more directly to protection at the expense of bureaucracy and information (one of the biggest current problems), and to the establishment of priorities. Many authoritative reports on the philosophy and methodology of protection are available (eg. Riley & Mohr 1994). The fact is that enough information is currently available to do a much better job of protecting botanical resources than we are doing. Gathering more and more information may make people feel secure and useful, but clever action more than information is the most urgent need. To the extent that information is needed, it should be information that promotes or enables action, for example through - contributing to priorization. Among the areas where botanists can contribute are:
(a) an improved approach to both in situ and ex situ preservation of protection (e.g. Catling 1996, Stephenson 1994).
(b) control of alien vascular plants (see Catling & Porebski 1994, 1995).
(c) current information on the economically important rare species. More rare and threatened native germplasm occurs in this region than in any other part of Canada (Catling & Porebski 1996).
(d) index to all of the available literature including unpublished government reports.
(e) mechanisms for publication and voucher specimen preservation in future inventory work.
(f) botanical inventory aimed at gaps (see above).
(g) detailed descriptive work on plant communities.
(h) periodic revision and update of the Ontario rare plant atlas. This atlas has played an extremely important role in protection of natural resources. An agency with professional plant taxonomists and supporting collections and library needs to be supported by users to maintain and distribute an updated version on a regular basis. This function was previously assumed by the National Museum, and was part of a Canada-wide plan to provide information on Canada's significant flora for which Dr. George Argus received the Canadian Botanical Associations Lawson Medal (Catling 1991).
(i) plant biodiversity in parks needs to be managed including control of aliens, maintenance of successional stages and processes, and management of factors influencing biodiversity including human impacts, deer, etc.
(j) more information on the correlation between occurrences of significant species and parks and reserves (Argus 1992).
(k) coordination and cooperation between various federal, provincial and non-government groups that are accumulating, analyzing and providing plant biodiversity data.