In 2006, the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006 (PPCRA) came into effect with one of its objectives being to "facilitate scientific research and provide points of reference to support monitoring of ecological change on the broader landscape".
With this emphasis on scientific research as key part of the protected areas mandate, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) conducted the 2010 Ontario Parks Research Needs Survey of its protected area management and staff to identify what scientific research is necessary to fulfill this PPCRA objective.
The results of the survey were also to help guide academicians and non-MNR scientists identify provincial protected area research priorities.
The survey was designed to differentiate between research that was “nice to know” and research that was “needed to know” in order to achieve the commitments made in the PPCRA. It elicited this by carefully leading the respondents through a series of questions beginning with previously identified research needs, followed by detailed questions asking respondents what research was needed to support each of the objectives within the Act, and concluded with the respondents’ description of their top 5 perceived research needs. Most of the questions in the survey were open-ended so the respondent had the latitude to make any comment they felt appropriate.
Since scientific research needs for provincial protected areas could potentially include many different subject areas, the survey sought the opinions of a broad spectrum of persons associated with the Ontario provincial protected area system. These included park superintendents, planners, marketing and natural heritage education specialists, informatics experts and both natural and social scientists.
