Participatory planning for the future of accessible nature

ABSTRACT

The health and well-being benefits of nature contact in parks and other forms of protected areas are now well established, but remain beyond the grasp of many due to century-old design legacies and inadequate investment in inclusive visitor services. This paper reports on lessons learned from an interdisciplinary workshop that brought together park agency staff, academics, and individuals representing accessibility organisations. The purpose of this workshop was to develop a shared vision and explore planning and management pathways for advancing accessibility in parks and protected areas. Four interrelated priority action areas were identified: (1) inclusivity through employment; (2) inclusive programming; (3) information sharing; and, (4) partnering in next steps. This paper contributes to an underdeveloped literature on accessibility and nature by identifying parameters around which park agencies can collaborate to empower diverse populations to enhance their health and well-being through nature contact. Findings strongly suggest the need for parks and protected areas planning and management to evolve at all levels of service delivery in order to keep in step with new federal and provincial legislation focused on building a more inclusive Canada.

KEYWORDS:

• Accessibility
• nature
• parks and protected areas
• backcasting
• planning and policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions and creative input of all workshop attendees. Review by the NAME BLINDED FOR PEER REVIEW Academic Institutional Research Ethics Board determined this study did not require ethics approval as it used anonymous secondary data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Declaration of interests

The authors have no conflict of interests to declare.

Notes

1 A TrailRider is an adaptive mobility technology that integrates a single wheel, seating system, and braking device that enables access to narrow trails with the input of a support person or persons (see https://bcmos.org/trailrider/).

2 The recommendation for multi-sensory and other inclusive programming is a critical recommendation that can apply across multiple jurisdictions. It is important to note that programmatically in 2002 British Columbia made the decision to cancel interpretive programming across the system (Auditor General of BC. 2010. Report 3. Conservation of Ecological Integrity in B.C. Parks and Protected Areas). The few remnant programs that do exist are typically provided by commercial park operators or 3rd parties. However, the call for a reinstatement of interpretive programming has come from a number of sectors and for numerous reasons. Accessibility is a further rationale for this call.

3 Globally protected areas organizations have an average of 27 staff/1000 km², while Canadian protected areas have on average 13 staff/1000 km²; and BC Parks has only 3 staff/1000 km². The Canadian Protected Areas Status Report 2006–2011 noted that protected areas organizations spent on average $6.00 per ha (range is $1.00 - $30.00) on terrestrial protected areas down from $22.00 in 2005 – a drop of more than 70% (James et al. 1999; Government of Canada 2017)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Partnership Engage Grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Grant number 892-2018-1077).