GIS concepts and capabilities needed to support Kluane National Park Reserve management planning: The Alsek River valley pilot study.

• Main Author: Wilson, Philip James.
• Other Authors: Duguay, Claude
• Format: Others
• Published: University of Ottawa (Canada) 2009
• Subjects: Geography.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/9516; http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-16360

Parks Canada uses park management planning to put into practice the dual mandate of protecting environmentally significant areas and providing for recreational activities within those areas. A park management plan lays out the objectives and strategies to indicate how each national park will protect and represent its natural and cultural heritages. A geographic information system (GIS) can support park management planning by providing the concepts of a data base management system and the capabilities of transforming spatial data into information through data integration, analysis-synthesis, and communication. Park management planning of a section of the Alsek River valley of Kluane National Park Reserve in the Yukon Territory requires the use of specific GIS concepts and capabilities. A three-phase GIS framework focusing on the pre-conditions to GIS application, the GIS application, and the GIS application evaluation is used to define the necessary concepts. The capabilities include acting as an inventory, analysis-synthesis or management tool to contribute to mapping, monitoring, and modelling the valley's resources and visitor activities.