CPS Commentary on the State of the Park Draft Report

The following letter was sent to Prince Albert National Park on February 27, 2005 after CPS board members reviewed the State of the Park Draft Report and discussed it.

Parks Canada Agency replied on April 22, 2005 thanking CPS for the letter and its comments which the Park found "very useful when editing the State of the Park Report." Unfortunately the reply did not address each of the ten numbered comments point-by-point, which would have better demonstrated the Park's position on each aspect of the commentary as the basis for further dialogue. For example comment (7) suggests that the Report be simplified in size and science, so that readers can more readily understand what the current state of Ecological Integrity (EI) is for that measure, and whether or not the Park is moving toward its EI vision and objectives. CPS would like to see the still unwieldy subsequent draft achieve a more direct indication of the state of EI, by separating the summary information from the science, the latter of which can be appended to the report.

On a positive note, the PANP Draft Report representative did however, request a meeting with CPS to discuss other measures that can be used by the Park to determine and monitor the health of the Park's ecosytems, which we will pursue in the near future.