ONE Framework

Purpose of the ONE Monitoring Program

The Niagara Escarpment Plan, Canada's first large-scale ecosystem-based land use plan, came into effect in 1985. The Plan implements the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act. The goal of the Act is:

"to provide for the maintenance of the Niagara Escarpment and lands in its vicinity substantially as a continuous natural environment, and to ensure only such development occurs as is compatible with that natural environment."

The Ontario's Niagara Escarpment (ONE) Monitoring Program was developed to determine if the Niagara Escarpment Plan is achieving the goal and objectives of the Act. The Program focuses on the Escarpment as a living, interconnected landscape and examines the linkages between land use change and ecosystem status.

Traditional monitoring approaches often focus on one aspect of the environment (e.g. air, water). The ONE Monitoring Program uses a suite of indicators to monitor a wide range of ecosystem components.

Monitoring Framework

In September, 2006 the Niagara Escarpment Commission adopted a revised Framework for the ONE monitoring program. This current Framework builds on earlier attempts to design and implement a cumulative effects monitoring framework for the Plan area.

A set of basic principles have guided the development of the new Framework. They include:

• keeping the framework “simple” “cost effective” “affordable” and “practical”
• identifying monitoring indicators that can be supported by available data
• ensuring that monitoring results can be “rolled-up” from local units to Plan Area reporting
• ensuring that there is long-term consistency in reporting relating indicators directly to Plan objectives and Plan implementation ensuring that it is useful for all partners
• collecting data, analyzing it, and reporting results over a range of time-scales
• adopting an “adaptive” approach that continuously improves the Framework over time

Structure

The ONE Framework is structured to focus monitoring activity on indicators that provide clear insights into Plan effectiveness and implementation.

• Effectiveness- measurement of specified indicators to assess Plan policies, programs or activities in terms of their progress towards desired outcomes (e.g. Plan goals and objectives). The intent is to detect short and long term trends.
• Implementation – an assessment to determine the extent to which policy direction in the Plan has been met in terms of activities completed, conditions, standards or targets complied with or resources expended.

The framework has been designed to determine the extent to which results have been achieved relative to implementation or specified objectives in the Niagara Escarpment Plan. The selected indicators are designed to detect change in order to assist the NEC and other decision-makers in communicating results, directing changes in plan policies or management practices or maintaining the status quo.

The ONE Framework was developed as follows:

Theme Areas

Forests Wetlands Wildlife habitat Rare or specialized Habitat Natural Areas of Provincial and Regional Significance	Ponds(constructed) Surface Water Fisheries Groundwater	Mineral Resource Extraction Transportation and Utilities Agriculture Forestry Urban Areas Minor Urban/rural Settlements Lot Creation
Wineries Downhill Ski Centres/Resorts Golf Courses Lakeshore Cottage Areas	Bruce Trail Parks and Open Space Public Access	Scenic Quality Landscape Character

The Theme Areas were defined by developing a comprehensive list of objectives stemming from the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act and the Niagara Escarpment Plan (2005).

The Biosphere Reserve Connection

The ONE Monitoring Program supports the Escarpment's designation as a World Biosphere Reserve by implementing research and monitoring and providing education and training to biosphere reserve communities.