1. Issues and Opportunities in Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas R.J. Payne Lakehead University Environmental Evaluators Network (Canada) Forum Ottawa, Ontario September 30 – October 1, 2010

2. Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas Introduction Natural Resource Management and Evaluation – People's impacts on natural environments – Natural environments' impacts on people – Management's impacts on both Parks and Protected Areas Three Case Studies Sharing Practical Learning

4. Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas Case 1: Implementing the EI Panel's Recommendations EI Panel Report (2000) on ecological integrity in national parks Itself a detailed program evaluation Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (2005) To what extent did Parks Canada implement the EI Panel's recommendations? What do we Learn? Ministerial Involvement Independent review(s) Accountability (of Parks Canada) Science Reporting Scale

5. Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas Case 2: Impact and Benefit Agreements From the mining sector Part of the Nunavut settlement agreement Parks Canada; e.g., Lancaster Sound NMCA Post-agreement independent evaluation of IBAs for Auyuittuq, Quttinirpaaq and Sirmilik National Parks What do we learn? Impacts and benefits Institutional arrangements Accountability (of Parks Canada to Inuit people) Co-operation Methods

6. Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas Case 3: Measuring Visitor Experience Outcomes Parks Canada's three goals: ecological integrity, education and visitor experience Experience: social science staff; identification of experiences available Are visitors satisfied with the experiences? How measured? Visitor Information Program (e.g., Pukaskwa National Park) A marketing “top box” approach What do we Learn? Conceptualization: “satisfaction” “experience” Measurement Segmentation Scale

7. Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas Implications of the Case Studies Accountability to... Independent assessment(s) Conceptualization Methodologies Triangulation Reporting Scale

8. Environmental Evaluation in Parks and Protected Areas