Supporting Stewardship and Planning – Geospatial products to support Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas

Under the Target 1 initiative (ICE, 2018), the Canadian Federal Government seeks to protect and conserve 30% of Canada’s land and water by the year 2030. Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) play a vital role in this process. The BC Ministry of Land, Water, and Resource Stewardship (MLWRS) seeks to understand the baseline cultural, economic, and ecological values through a geospatial lens. However, the goals and strategies of IPCAs are complex and regionally distinct. In this research paper, the cultural, ecological, and economic values of five IPCAs in British Columbia were interpreted through proposal comparison. Based on these interpretations, a tool is presented to assist in the representation of the geospatial process associated with IPCA value attribution. This report card generation tool was constructed to summarize land cover information within IPCA management areas to help visualize the identified values of IPCAs in British Columbia. To demonstrate the utility of this tool for conservation area planning, five regionally distinct IPCAs were selected for analysis. The IPCA report card generation tool (IPCARGT) shows that forested areas in all IPCAs are increasing at different rates, while snow and ice cover have been decreasing. In addition to these indices, an analysis of burned areas, human disturbances, and trail use was assessed by the tool. The results indicate that the IPCRGT is effective in generating reliable and accurate information to assist decision-makers in land management strategies for IPCAs. The IPCARGT provides a valuable contribution to the conservation efforts of IPCAs and can assist in the development of informed decision-making processes for effective management.