A Unique Resource
Until now, the Beaver Hills have experienced limited development pressure because of their complex terrain and low agricultural potential. As the demand for recreational, urban and country residential and other land use grows, the Beaver Hills have come under increasing development pressure. Sustainable regional management of this area is the goal that gave rise to the Beaver Hills Initiative. The challenge now is to develop suitable management plans, beginning with establishing management goals for the area as a whole.
The Beaver Hills has many ecological, social and economic assets that could be the focus of management. With respect to ecological values, the area performs several critical ecological functions. The wetlands perform a critical role in regional hydrology. They are the key components of a complex system that collects and filters surface water, which in turn supports waterbodies and aquifers that extend beyond the Beaver Hills.
The extensive forests and wetlands scattered across the moraine provide habitat to a diverse group of plants and wildlife, including several rare species. As the largest relatively undeveloped natural area separating the northern boreal forests to the north from the Aspen Parkland in the south, it serves as an important corridor linking the adjacent natural regions. Connectivity and secure habitat with low levels of human activity will be critical for the current diversity of species, including rare species, to persist.
The Beaver Hills already have many of the key building blocks of a well-planned ecological network of conservation areas. Core protected areas are currently surrounded by more developed lands that form successive buffer zones with higher levels of development. Only regional land use guidelines to manage human use of those buffer lands remain to be completed for an effective ecological network plan.
Developing a regional approach to land use planning will require identification of management goals: first for the Beaver Hills as a unit, later, for the buffer lands within that unit. This document provided an overview of the key ecological features of the Beaver Hills, with the aim to support discussion regarding management goals for these resources. Management planning requires a focus in order to be effective. Developing consensus on the resources of the Beaver Hills most valued by land managers, councils and the public will facilitate the next step — developing specific land use policies to sustain those resources effectively.
