Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
456555260
Author
McWilliam, Wendy,1962-
Title
Edge effects within municipal forests : are municipal policies effective in limiting residential encroachment into the edges of suburban wooded parklands?
Publisher
[Ottawa] : Canada Mortgage and Housing Program, 2008.
Description
41 pages :illustrations ;
Notes
"Final report (CMHC external Research Grant)."
Includes bibliographical references (pages 39-41).
Abstract
This research evaluated the extent of encroachment by neighbouring residential landowners into wooded parklands adjacent to their backyards. Field studies were conducted within the edges of 40 selected forests within six municipalities in Southern Ontario: Cambridge, Guelph, Kitchener, Mississauga, Oakville and Waterloo. These studies determined the effectiveness of several different types of edge treatment, such as fencing, municipal boundary marker, and no municipal boundary policies for limiting encroachment activities. In addition a content analysis review of official and secondary plans, and personal interviews with key municipal informants investigated municipal policies on encroachment. The research found high levels of visible encroachment. The unobtrusive measurement of encroachment activities within municipal forest edges indicated that when no boundary demarcation policy was implemented, high mean frequencies and intensities of all types of encroachment occurred, in addition to high mean maximum extents of encroachment. While both municipal fencing and boundary demarcation policies led to lower mean intensities, and in the case of fencing, lower mean maximum extents of encroachment, than sites with no boundary demarcation policy, encroachment intensities and extents were still significant. In general, municipal policies were found to be insufficient to address the edge-resident encroachment issue and the report identifies the deficiencies in both the policies and their implementation. The research concludes with recommendations that address the need for more complex boundary policies, enforcement and monitoring to meet the complexity and scope of the encroachment problem.
Subject
Forest ecology Canada.
City planning Environmental aspects Canada.
Urbanization Environmental aspects Canada.
Urban ecology (Sociology) Canada.
Écologie forestière Canada.
Urbanisation Aspect de l'environnement Canada.
Écologie urbaine Canada.