Connecting Past and Present

August 5, 2025 By: Logan Forman

Connecting Past and Present

Conservation:

Article: “BC government expanding endangered grasslands park to protect biodiversity” CBC News, June 2024.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/grassland-bird-habitat-1.7217119

Unit three highlights how early conservation movements (like those inspired by Gifford Pinchot) emphasize sustained resource use but still impose restrictions with a top-down mentality. This article highlights how changing this strategy is beneficial to all parties involved. With the BC government expanding the Grasslands Park and taking the initiative to collaborate with local ranchers and Indigenous leaders, this reflects a more inclusive, eco-based approach to conservation movements. Contrary to the models of the early 20^th century, this new hybrid approach reflects shared land stewardship and biodiversity protection. This highlights the change in environmental governance and the realization that older systems were hitting their limits on conservation protection.

Parks:

Article: “Banff National Park planning campground with Stoney Nakoda input” CTV News, April 2024.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/banff-national-park-plan-focuses-on-climate-change-traffic-indigenous-relations/

Readings included in unit three, specifically (Binnema and Niemi), offer insight into Canada’s national parks and how their system is built on the removal and exclusion of Indigenous people. The article highlights the shift and how Parks Canada is now working directly with the Stoney Nakoda Nation to develop campgrounds. The partnership reflects progress in reconciliation efforts and is reflective of modern understanding of Indigenous land stewardship. Cultural knowledge is a cornerstone of sustainable park planning, and this new way of planning is a welcome alternative. This is in direct contrast with the past, as in the past, Indigenous presence was viewed as incompatible with modern wilderness ideas.