Chapter 8

Land Resources and Uses

 Wapusk National Park
 Just southeast of Churchill MB
 Wild and remote landscape
 One of world’s largest polar
bear maternity denning areas
 Supports wide variety of
wildlife
 Current stressors include
climate change, long-range
transport of contaminants, and
overabundant snow geese
 Land Use
 Terrestrial land base of the Earth is
148,940,000 square kilometers
 Canada’s total land area 9,984,670 square
kilometers (6%)
 11% of land in Canada is owned privately
 89% is crown land (provincial or federal
government)
 Responsibility generally falls under
provincial government
 Agriculture in Canada
 One of the largest producers in the world
 Exports over $24 billion worth of
agricultural products
 Five largest sectors are grains and
oilseeds, livestock, dairy, horticulture,
poultry and eggs
 5% of grain farms are reported as organic
 Principle Types of Agriculture
 Industrialized Agriculture: modern
methods, large input of capital and energy
and less land and labor than traditional
methods
 Subsistence Agriculture: traditional
methods, depend on labor and large
amounts of land
 Industrialized Agriculture
 Modern agricultural methods
 Developed countries
 Inputs
 Capital

 Energy

 Chemicals

 High yields
 Subsistence Agriculture
 Traditional agricultural methods
 Developing countries
 Food for family
 Inputs
 Labor

 Land
 Shifting Cultivation
 Subsistence agriculture
 Grow crops, then leave land alone
 Slash-and-burn agriculture
 Clear forest

 Grow crops

 Soil loses productivity quickly

 Supports small populations

 Nomadic Herding
 Subsistence agriculture
 Land not suitable for crops
 Livestock continually move
 Why?
 Intercropping
 Subsistence agriculture
 Variety of crops in same field
 Polyculture
 Plants mature at different times
 Different crops harvested throughout the
year
 Agricultural Challenges
 Loss of prime farmland
 Loss of domesticated varieties
 Improving yields
 Curbing environmental impacts
 Loss of Agricultural Land
 Land loss to urbanization and suburban
sprawl
 Loss of Domestic Varieties
 Farmers using fewer varieties of plants and
animals
 Modern methods
 Uniformity

 Maximum production

 Loss of genetic diversity

 Save germplasm
 Tissues

 May need later

 Increasing Crop Yields
 Food production has increased
 Green revolution
 Mid-20th century

 Modern methods

 High-yield varieties

 Chemicals
 High-Yield Varieties
 Done with breeding and biotechnology
 Green Revolution
 Benefits
 Mexico increased wheat production

 Indonesia self-sufficient in rice

 Problems
 Developing countries dependent on

chemicals, machinery
 High energy costs

 Too many chemicals

 Increasing Crop Yields
 Demand for grains will increase
 Can’t increase amount of land
 Yields can only increase so much
 Genetic engineering could help
 Developing countries will need better
farming methods
 Increasing Livestock Yields
 Hormones
 Promote faster growth

 European Union limits imports of

hormone-treated beef: why?

 Antibiotics
 Animals grow larger (4 – 5%)

 Resistant bacteria

 WHO wants them eliminated

 U.S. still using

 Environmental Impacts
 Air, water pollution
 Feedlot agriculture is the norm
 Environmental Impacts
 Pesticides
 Resistance

 Farmers use more

 Residues on food

 Land degradation
 Loss of productivity

 Salinization

 Habitat fragmentation
Environmental Impacts
 Looking Towards The Future
 Food requirements have been met
 Environmental problems increasing
 More food will be needed
 Vicious circle???
 Controlling Agricultural Pests
 Pest: interferes with human welfare or
activities
 Pesticides
 Help control pests

 Insecticides

 Herbicides

 Fungicides

 Rodenticides
 Problems With Pesticides
 Genetic resistance
 520 insect species resistant

 84 weed species resistant

 Bioaccumulation
 Biomagnification
 Affect non-target species
 New pests may emerge
 Don’t stay put
Alternatives to Pesticides
 Integrated Pest Management
 Combination of control methods
 Keep crop loss to economically tolerable level
 Sustainable agriculture
 Management vs.
eradication
 Education critical
 On the increase
 Rangelands
 Grasslands not intensively managed
 Livestock grazing
 Grasses, forbs, shrubs
 Rangelands
 Vegetation has fibrous root system
 Grazing
 Can be beneficial

 Carefully manage

 Can increase plant diversity

 Don’t exceed carrying capacity

 Rangeland Degradation
 Desertification
 Progressive degradation

 Result of overgrazing and drought

 On the increase
 Canadian Rangelands
 Only 70 million acres are suitable for livestock
grazing in Canada
 Under increasing pressure: why?
 Conservation easements
 Protect privately owned land from development

 Public rangelands
 Provincial crown land

 Agri-Environmental Services Branch

 Public Canadian Rangelands
 AESB manages 915,000 hectares of
rangelands in Western Canada
 Conduct biodiversity inventories
 Management includes seeding, controlled
burns, fence construction, rotational
grazing, controlling invasive weeds, and
protecting habitats of endangered species
 Public Canadian Rangelands
 Three essential service programs:
 Community Pasture Program

 Cover Crop Protection Program

 Prairie Shelter Belt Program

 Forests
 Less than 1/3 Earth’s area
 What do we use forests for?
 Ecosystem services
 Help regulate
biogeochemical cycles
 “Carbon sinks”

 Release O
2
 Protect watersheds:

how?
 Provide habitat
Forest Regions of Canada
 Forest Management
 Traditional
management
 Tree plantations

 Monocultures

 Support fewer

organisms: why?
 Low-diversity forests
 Forest Management
 Sustainable forestry
 Practices vary

 Environmentally balanced

 Maintain mix of trees

 Long-term conservation

 Wildlife corridors

 Connects areas

 Help some populations

 Harvesting Trees
 2005: 3.5 million cubic
feet of wood harvested
 Some burned

directly
 Charcoal production

 Paper and wood

products
 Some wood
ecologically certified
 Selective Cutting
 Mature trees cut individually or in small clusters
 Forest remains essentially intact
 Shelterwood Cutting
 Removal of all mature trees in an area
over an extended period
 Seed Tree Cutting
 Almost all trees removed from an area
 Some left to provide seeds for regeneration
 Clear-cutting
 All trees in an area are cut
 Area reseeds naturally or planted
 Common and controversial
Clear-cutting
 Deforestation
 Clearing large expanses of forests
 Most serious problem facing forests today

 Why is this occurring?

 Most in Africa and

South America
 Results of Deforestation
 Decreased soil fertility
 Increased soil erosion
 Desertification
 Increased extinction
 Regional and global climate
changes: how?
 Deforestation: Boreal Forests
 Alaska, Canada,
Scandinavia, Northern
Russia
 Extensive by late 1980s
 Used for wood, wood
fiber
 Annual loss = area twice
as large as Brazil’s rain
forests
 Tropical Rain Forests
 Central & South America, Africa, SE Asia
 Deforestation: Tropical Rain
Forests
 Subsistence agriculture
 Farmers follow roads

 Slash-and-burn

 Later used for ranching

 Commercial logging
 Cattle ranching
 Dam building
 Mining
 Deforestation: Tropical Dry
Forests
 India, Kenya,
Zimbabwe, Egypt,
Brazil
 Fuelwood
 Charcoal production
 Very wasteful

 4 tons wood  run

smelter for 5 minutes

 Important Minerals
 Sulfides: contain sulphur
 Oxides: contain oxygen
 Metals
 Malleable, lustrous, conductors

 Iron, aluminum, copper

 Nonmetallic minerals
 Ore
 Rock with valuable mineral
 Economy
 Enabled highly developed nations to become
industrialized
 In 2006:
 Canada’s mineral and mining products

accounted for over 17% the nations total

domestic exports
 $40 billion toward the gross domestic product

 369,000 jobs
 Extracting Minerals
 Locate deposit
 Analyze mineral composition
 Mine for minerals: many different ways
 Process mineral
 Make product
 Surface Mining
 Near the surface
 Less expensive
 Overburden removed
 Open-pit
 Dig quarry

 Iron, copper,

gravel
 Surface Mining
 Strip mining
 Dig trench to extract mineral

 Dig parallel trench

 Cover old trench with new overburden

 Spoil bank
 Subsurface Mining
 Minerals deep in ground
 Less land disturbance
 More expensive
 More hazardous
 Shaft mine
 Direct

vertical shaft
 Coal
 Subsurface Mining
 Slope mine
 Slanting passage

 Ore hauled in cars

 Mining & The Environment
 Disturbs land
 Land prone to erosion  further damage
 Uses a lot of water
 Contaminated streams
 Acid-mine drainage
 Impacts of Refining
 About 80% of mined ore made of
impurities
 Tailings
 Waste left

behind
 Left in piles

 Toxic
 Restoration of Mining Lands
 When mine no longer profitable
 Prevents further degradation
 Filling in and grading the area
 Planting vegetation
 Large community
restoration took place
in Sudbury, Ontario in
the early 1970’s
 Soil: What Is It?
 More than just dirt!
 Uppermost layer of
Earth’s crust
 Mineral and organic
matter
 Living organisms
 We depend on it: how?
 Soil Formation
 Formed from parent material
 Biological, chemical and physical
weathering processes
 Continuous process
 Topography plays a role: how?
 Takes a long time
 Soil Composition
 Four main parts
 Mineral particles
 Main component

 From parent material

 Provides anchorage and minerals

 Organic matter
 Living or formerly living matter

 Humus

 Air
 Water
 Soil Profile
 Look at horizons: layers
 O horizon: surface layer
 A horizon: topsoil
 Deep in grassland soils

 Thinner in forest, tropical soils

 B horizon: subsoil
 C horizon: parent material
 Materials leach through the layers
Soil Profile
Soil Organisms
 Soil Organisms
 Soil is alive!
 Plant roots, insects, earthworms, moles,
etc…
 Bacteria most numerous
 Fungi, algae, protozoa
 Provide ecosystem services: examples?
 Decomposition
 Nutrient cycling
 Pathway of nutrient
minerals or elements
 Sign of balanced
ecosystem
 Soil Problems
 Our activities cause many problems
 Soil erosion

 Mineral depletion

 Soil pollution

 Sustainable soil use

 Wise use of soil resources

 Keep soil productive for the future

 Soil Erosion
 Movement of soil
 Natural process
 Accelerated today
 Water, wind
 Major effects
 Loss of soil fertility

 Soil cannot retain as much water

 Runoff into bodies of water

 Soil Erosion
 Poor soil management
 Agriculture, road
building, logging
 Plant cover limits
erosion
 Soil Pollution
 Physical or chemical change in soil
 Adversely affects health of organisms
 Some from fertilizers, pesticides
 Salinization
 Result of irrigation

 Can render soil

useless
 Parks and Protected Areas
 National parks are managed by Parks
Canada
 Established in 1911
 There were 42 National Parks and Park
Reserves in Canada in 2010
 National Parks cover 225,000 square
kilometers, approximately 2% of total land
mass
 National Marine Conservation Areas
National Parks of Canada
 National Parks
 Primary goal is to protect the natural
landscapes that occur in Canada’s 39
natural regions
 Protected under federal legislation, the
Canada National Parks Act
 Managed primarily to protect and restore
their ecological integrity
 Ecosystem management approach
 National Parks
 1989 the endangered spaces campaign was
launched by Canadian Parks and Wilderness
Society (CPAWS) and World Wildlife Fund of
Canada
 National Marine
Conservation Areas
are managed for
sustainable use.
 Provincial Parks
 Managed by agencies within the
government departments
 Management plan is prepared for each
park
 Face challenges of wildfires, wildlife
imbalances, disease, and human impacts
 Each province has legislation to protect
the provincial parks
 Conservation in Parks
 Maintain ecological integrity
 Preserve historical and commemorative
places
 Promote conservation ethic
 Demonstrate conservation principles
and approaches from United Nations
reports
 The 12 Percent Challenge
 Sustainable Agriculture
 Maintains soil productivity: conservation
techniques
 Healthy ecological balance
 Minimal long-term impacts
 Natural fertilizers
 Sustainable Agriculture
 Less chemicals and antibiotics
 Water and energy conservation
 Diverse crops
 Sustainable Agriculture
 Organic agriculture
 No non-natural chemicals

 No genetic engineering

 View the farm as an agroecosystem

 Second green revolution!
 Genetic Engineering
 Move genes from one species to another
 Could improve agriculture
 Potential Benefits of GM Crops
 Decrease nutritional deficiencies
worldwide: Golden Rice
 Decreased use of pesticides
 Heartier plants
 Feed the world
 More productive farm animals
 Better animal vaccines
 Potential Drawbacks of GM Crops
 Cross-pollination
with native species
 Widespread crop
failure
 Food allergies
 Long-term impacts
unknown
 Conservation Tillage
 Residues from previous
crops left in soil
 Reduces erosion up to
70%
 Soil has more organic
material
 Drawbacks?
 Crop Rotation
 Planting a series crops in the same field
over a period of years
 Decreases insect damage
 Reduces erosion
 Rotated crops depend
on where you farm
 Terracing
 Used on very
steep slopes
 Like stairs
 Very
expensive!
 Other Methods
 Contour plowing
 Farm with the natural contours of the

land
 Strip cropping
 Strips of differing crops
 Soil Reclamation
 Badly eroded land
 Prevent further erosion

 Seed bare ground

 Plant shelterbelts

 Restore soil fertility

 Soil must recover

first
 Restrict farming?
 Soil Conservation Policies
 Canada lagging behind
 In the United States, Food Security Act of 1985
 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)

 Voluntary program

 Take land out of production for 10–15 years

 Receive subsidy

 Reduced soil erosion

 Wildlife habitat
 Eco Canada Career Focus
 Consider a career as a remediation specialist
 Be involved in the planning of removing
contamination from soil, groundwater, and
other natural sites
Case Study: Industrial Ecosystems

 Industrial ecology
 Efficient use of resources

 “Wastes” are potential products

 Mimic natural ecosystems

 Kalundborg, Denmark
 Link different industries
Kalundborg, Denmark
Case Study: Industrial Ecosystems
 Takes many years to develop
 Economy and environment benefit: how?