The conservation of Black-crowned Night-herons at Tommy Thompson Park

Environmental planning involves making decisions about the natural environment, working landscapes, and public health to create an improved environment. This paper explores how planning can be used to create different options for a healthier environment for wildlife. Black-crowned night-herons (Nycticorax nycticorax; night-herons) will be used as an example, to discuss the relation between environmental planning and wildlife conservation. Night-herons are the most abundant and widespread heron in the world, and one of the largest North American colonies nest at Tommy Thompson Park, in Toronto, Canada. The aim of this paper was to analyze the night-heron population in Ontario and assess whether the trend in colony size at Tommy Thompson Park is doing better or worse than others in the eastern North America (east of Lake Michigan). An analysis of a ten-year night-heron nest success at Tommy Thompson Park, showed repeated and wide-spread nest failures, likely and primarily due to raccoon predation; and a substantial decline in nest numbers over time. Nest counts from one other area in New York also showed declines; and the species has been listed in many jurisdictions. The colony at Tommy Thompson Park was one of the largest, yet now is relatively small. I recommend that the park managers need to consider predator control to ensure the night-heron population at Tommy Thompson Park is maintained.