Ecological Decline and Roadless Habitat Restoration after Two Centuries of Multiple-Use Management in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada

Globally, timber production continues to dominate multiple-use forest management despite evidence from many managed landscapes that ecological integrity and biodiversity are not being sustained under that land-use model. This includes Algonquin Park where two centuries of road building, logging, and aggregate mining have contributed to a ~82% (6,200 km2) reduction of unlogged, roadless (>1km from roads) habitat at a mean decline rate of 32 km2/yr. There are at least ~5,500 km of roads that fragment Algonquin Park into 732 roadless habitats covering 18% of the Park's area. Almost 40,000 ha of these habitats are unprotected from logging. Decline of roadless habitat in Algonquin has contributed to the impairment of ecological integrity and decline of at least 33 species across all trophic levels, including at least 17 species-at-risk. Restoring the natural Algonquin Park landscape would result in job losses, however, data suggest that new recreation-tourism and research-education jobs would help to offset these losses. A new agency could build on existing infrastructure to monitor, research, educate about, maintain, and restore biodiversity and recreational resources in the greater Algonquin Park Region, with the park as the central hub. Restoration could be focussed on roadless areas as an “integrative” indicator of ecological integrity.