INTRODUCTION TO

PROTECTED AREA
MANAGEMENT
What is Management?
 Manipulation of a systems based on decisions
taken by human, in order to overcome a
problem.
 Steps followed in management are,
 Detect a problem
 Find the cause of it
 Decide on solutions/actions to rectify it
 Implementation of the solutions/actions
 See whether the problem is solved - Monitoring
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What is Protected Area Management?
 Same management steps are followed in management
of PAs
 But, here it involves steering of ecosystems or parts of
them.
 This involves managing natural resources in PAs, mainly
the biological resources – fauna & flora.
 Essential ingredients for PAM (McKinnon et al., 1986)
are,
 Knowledge of ecological systems
 Appreciation of ecological processes
 Acceptance of PAM as a special kind of land use
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What is Protected Area Management?
 A manager of an ecosystems OR fauna and flora it
inhabits needs,
 Great responsibility
 Sound technical knowledge
 Comprehensive thinking and correct decision making
 A great deal of organisation
 Because, an inappropriate management decision might
result in the opposite of anticipated outcome.
 The first PA management decision to take would be,
 whether we let nature to take its own course
 OR
 whether to actively manipulate the system.
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Is management necessary???
A case analysis: Uda-walalwe electric fence
 Situation: The Uda-walawe NP which harbors a considerable
population of Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) had the sugarcane
plantations (managed by Sevanagala sugar factory), just merely
separated from the park by Timbolketiya-Thanamalwila road.
 Problem: Elephant started crossing the road and entering
sugarcane plantation due to the easy access to an abundant food
source. Elephants destroyed the plantation and attacked villagers,
while there was a threat to elephants from people as well.
 Implementation of a solution: The Department of Wildlife
Conservation made arrangements to erect an electric fence along
the park boundary facing the sugarcane plantation.
 Monitoring: The action effectively stopped Elephants entering the
sugarcane plantation, and still continued with regular monitoring and
quick maintenance whenever Elephants brake the fence.
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Is management necessary???
 Therefore, in most of the situations management have become
necessary as humans have changed the ecosystem to a level that,
some of today’s species as well as systems will not sustain
themselves, if not for human interventions.
 Especially, in case if we need to maintain a pre-climax stage of
vegetation, in order to protect a species associated with such
vegetation, management become essential to stop the process of
natural succession.
 Even though, at instances where management is necessary, the
manager need to be very cautious, not to make a wrong decision on
actions we carry out on the ecosystem.
 Because – ‘NATURE KNOWS THE BEST’.
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PA Management approaches
 Two major
approaches can be
recognized
 Species management
 Habitat management

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PA Management approaches
 If a problem could be solved by managing a single
species, or if the problem is on a single species,
management action should focus on that particular
species alone.
 Controlling predators, pests or competitors of species to be
conserved.
 Culling or restricting the movements of wildlife considered to be
too numerous, or for reasons of stock health, or to limit damage
by wildlife.
 Introductions, reintroduction’s or translocations (for genetic
exchange) of wildlife.
 Endangered Species Management
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PA Management approaches
 In some other problems, managing the habitat could be
the most effective option.
 Planting of food plants or creations of artificial waterholes,
saltlicks, etc., to encourage selected wildlife species.
 e.g. Yala & Bundala NPs
 Cutting, burning or grazing of vegetation to maintain a certain
vegetation stage.
 e.g. Udawalawe NP
 The habitat management could expand to the level of
managing a whole ecosystem, such as keeping the
balance of different habitats.
 Balance between forests & grasslands in Horton Plains NP
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Protection Objectives of a PA
 In any of above approaches, what level of management is
necessary for a particular species / habitat is determined
by the objectives stipulated for the given PA.

 The primary protection objective/s should be established

through a clear Identification of features for which the area
is designed to protect, based on an evaluation of its
biological and other features.

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Protection Objectives of a PA
 The primary protection objective/s can be further
elaborated based on,
 The degree of manipulative management needed.
 The degree to which manipulative management is
compatible with the objective.
 The degree of ecological tolerance / fragility of the
species or habitat concerned.
 The degree to which different types of utilization of the
area are compatible with the objective
 The level of demand for different types of utilization
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Utilization options available within a PA

 The compatible degree of disturbance from

utilization, will depend on the species and/or
system that the PA is designed to protect.
 Some species / populations / communities /
ecosystems are fragile and can tolerate almost
no disturbance, while others are relatively
adaptable or “robust”.
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Utilization options available within a PA
 Some of the following types of utilization may be compatible
with management objectives for a given PA.
 These activities are listed in approximate order of increasing
disturbance to the ecosystem
 No visitors permitted entry, only vital protective management allowed
 e.g. catching poachers, putting out wild fires.
 Scientific research involving only measurement, counts and
observations
 e.g. behavioral studies, census counts.
 Scientific research involving small-scale manipulative experiments and
collection of specimens for identification.
 Maintaining trials, watchtowers, hides or cleared look out points for
management purposes or controlled visitor use.
 e.g. Horton Plains NP

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Utilization options available within a PA
 Maintaining open feeding areas or clearing trailside vegetation to
render wildlife more visible to visitors.
 e.g. Wilpattu NP
 Public access routes to traverse protected areas.
 Heavy use by visitors but a ban on all activities that threaten or
disturb the natural setting.
 Permitted collection of dead wood for firewood, fruits, honey and
other minor non-timber forest products, only for villagers.
 Permitted collection of eggs, young or breeding stock for wildlife
rearing industries.
 Traditional hunting and fishing practices permitted.
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Utilization options available within a PA
 Visitors allowed fishing in water ways.
 Controlled seasonal hunting / Trophy hunting.
 Habitat management to increase the number of animals for
hunting or fishing.
 Traditional human groups living inside the reserve in close
harmony with their ecosystem.
 Grazing of domestic animals within the PA.
 Limited agriculture within PA.
 Selective logging of timber.
 Clear felling followed by reforestation.
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Basic Steps in PAM
 Three basic steps can be
identified in managing
PAs
 Development of a
management plan
 Implementation of the
management plan
 Monitoring outcomes of
management

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Development of a management plan
 Management Plan for a PA is a document prepared to
guide basic management decisions within the PA, for a
given time period.
 A PA management plan will include
 management of natural resources – fauna, flora and habitats,
 and also development of infrastructure for effective management
and visitor use, etc.
 The management plan organizes the time ahead, based
on an assessment of the present situation, needs and
issues.
 Most often they are five year plans.
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Development of a management plan
 As such, management plan for a given PA has to be
reviewed periodically.
 A PA management plan will never be a rigid one, as it is
prepared based on the present knowledge; the
managers are bound to change the plan as new
knowledge become available.
 Adaptive Management
 Therefore, it is accepted that the plan will guide towards
management objective, may be with a changing course
of actions, which are always knowledge based.

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Development of a management plan
 The development of management plan should involve all
stakeholders
 all the parties that have a bearing on the PA concerned
 Planners, Managers and Users.
 As the primary function management plan will identify time-
bound management steps (with the resources required), to
cater for the management needs of PA.
 In addition, the management plan can have secondary
purposes as,
 an effective backing document for fund raising
 a communication tool to gain understanding and support from relevant
stakeholders and authorities.

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Implementation of the management plan
 The management plan, and the time, money and
other resources spent on its preparation will be
useless unless it is implemented.
 For the successful implementation of a
management plan, the local park manager (The
Park Warden in Sri Lankan National Parks)
should know exactly what is needed to be done
and how best to do it.
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Implementation of the management plan
 The manager has to organize and allocate staff
and resources to carryout actions specified in the
management plan.
 Whenever new knowledge arrives at him/her, and
at unexpected incidents the park manager should
be capable of making his own decisions, changing
the actions mentioned in the plan, but using the
management plan as a guiding document.

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Implementation of the management plan
 During the phase of implementation of management plan, some
of the aspects that the PA manager will have to look into are,
 Staff allocation
 Managing needs of the staff
 Inspection and Supervision
 Fulfilling training needs of staff
 Maintenance of physical structures and infrastructure
 Controlling / regulation of resource utilization
 Ensure regular patrolling
 Law enforcement
 Reporting

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Monitoring outcomes of management
 In order to see whether the management actions are
effective, the PA manger has to monitor the outcomes of
management.
 Otherwise he will end up doing lot of things in the name of
management, but achieving nothing.
 The recognition of monitoring as a phase of management
cycle should come from all the levels of staff.
 The management plan itself should allocate resources for
monitoring.
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Monitoring outcomes of management
 Monitoring and evaluation can be done through different
methods,
 Self evaluation
 Evaluation from head quarters
 Independent assessment by outside experts
 Opinion surveys from visitors to the PA
 In PA management, aspects on which a general
evaluation can be based on are,
 Operation of ecological processes focused in management
 Monitory gains of the PAM programme
 Attitudes and reactions of the local community / visitors towards
the management actions
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Monitoring outcomes of management
 But, the main question is
 Against what are we going to judge the effectiveness of
management?
 This is where we need well defined and measurable
objectives in the management plan.
 Correct evaluation will always allow the programme to
evolve.
 by knowing the rights and wrongs done during implementation, the
future implementation of the programme can be improved
 It can bring the programme into the right track if it has gone off
 It allows manager and the staff to identify their positive aspects
and to correct the negative aspects
 It motivates the staff to give better performance
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Monitoring outcomes of management
 Therefore, monitoring
and periodic
evaluation is
important in
sustaining better
management and
achieving objectives
continuously.

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