Geoindicators for Monitoring Canada's National Parks

Book excerpt: Parks Canada has adopted an ecological integrity monitoring framework to guide its biennial assessment of the parks system. This paper focusses on the search for indicators of geological, geomorphological, and soil features, processes, & stresses for that framework. The paper describes indicators developed by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the Canadian Environmental Monitoring & Assessment Network, and the author that have been combined into one list, and assesses each indicator for three criteria: management relevance, linkage with other indicators, and practicality for monitoring. A short list of selected indicators is proposed for further consideration for national park system monitoring. The author also selects indicators that seem best matched to the local environment in five national parks in order to show the variation in indicators among local situations.