Criteria Used to Select & Design Protected Areas

MNR uses two categories to identify, select, design, and assess candidate protected areas:

Life Science (Ecological) Criteria

1. Representation of terrestrial life science, aquatic life science, and earth science features 
2. Condition, or freedom from anthropogenic modifications
3. Diversity, or heterogeneity of landscape components and species
4. Ecological functions, primarily size, shape, connectivity, hydrological functions, and limiting habitat components for species not at risk
5. Special features such as rare species, specalized habitats, and recognized areas

The first two criteria, representation and condition, are applied at a landscape level. They help identify relatively intact sites that contain features representative of Ontario’s natural diversity. The remaining three criteria, diversity, ecological functions and special features, are assessed at a site level. These criteria help to distinguish the best examples of these intact representative features, and to design functional protected area systems that promote the persistence of biodiversity.

Earth Science (Geological) Criteria

1. Representation is the primary criterion for choosing earth science features. A representative feature is one that best displays its components, or make-up, and its environment(s) of formation. A representative feature of the geological record can generally be thought of as one that is typical, or normal, or one that shows "classical" elements that best display the feature's components.
2. Integrity refers to the wholeness or completeness, or condition, of a geological feature, and the lack of significant external impacts or alteration by natural or man-induced activities on this wholeness. This applies particularly to landforms, where morphological completeness is a requirement for their adequate definition.
3. Diversity addresses the variability of form or features within a candidate site that describes a theme element. A site that incorporates more than one element or feature of the identified geologic unit, or, incorporates an association of features, usually occurs in an area more compact than several separate areas.
4. Special features, where two or more sites have similar earth science values, the presence of special features may determine the selection of a preferred site.
5. Type Sections and related features, Type sections provide standard definitions for representative lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic rock units. Type sections usually represent the sites where rock units were first identified, described and formally named. They are the localities against which all other occurrences of the unit are generally compared. Type sections are generally of the highest scientific value, and may also have historical value as locations where the geology of a region was first described and ranked. In Ontario, type sections are generally only applied to stratified rocks. Related features such as reference sections and type localities represent units for which a type section has yet to be defined.
6. Life Science values, when comparing sites where earth science values are similar, overlapping life science values may be used to choose a site.

The best examples of representative natural features in Ontario are considered to be provincially significant, and many are also nationally or internationally significant. The next best examples are considered to be regionally significant.