Re‐animating Gros Morne's storyless space: From natural heritage to ecological heritage

Abstract

This paper reports on ethnographic research conducted at one of Canada's Natural World Heritage sites: Gros Morne National Park. UNESCO's criteria for the identification of natural heritage sites and its descriptions of the specific qualities of listed sites are informed by a dualist ontology that sharply separates nature and culture. The result of this separation between nature and culture is the construction of natural heritage spaces that seem to exist in a vacuum from social life, abstracted from human relations, largely devoid of human presence, and thus emptied of the many stories that make them meaningful to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents. In contrast, this paper/video combination describes how natures at a Canadian natural heritage site are relationally woven with the lives of their human inhabitants. The narratives we share about Gros Morne are meant to re-animate this site in response to the World Heritage classification, calling to attention the perpetual growth and becoming of its relational environments. We make our case by utilising a short video to recount the stories, experiences, and perspectives of a few residents who have taught us about Gros Morne. We argue that in place of natural heritage we ought to consider the concept of ecological heritage.

Landscape futures: decision-making in uncertain times, a literature review

“…If some studies on rewilding or other nature-driven initiatives have pointed to the desire to attract tourists with a 'perceived naturalness' and an assertion that 'untrammeled' ecological integrity underlies positive experiences of nature, there is also a recognition that natural landscapes have evolved, shaped by human interaction over time (Groulx et al, 2017(Groulx et al, , p. 1016US Wilderness Act, 1964, § 1131McNamara & Prideaux, 2011;Vannini & Vannini, 2020). Some studies have focused on the hybrid ecologies that can emerge in 'unintentional landscapes', where ruderal species take hold and where the character of landscapes is inherently mixed and messy (Höfer & Vicenzotti 2019, p. 506;Jorgensen & Tylecote, 2007;Gandy, 2016;DeSilvey, 2017DeSilvey, , 2020Stoetzer, 2018).…”

Response to the reader

“…There is no “huge straw man lurking behind our paper,” as Berger (, p. 1) writes. However, there is something huge right in the forefront of our paper (Vannini & Vannini, ). It is not a straw man, but an entire international committee of men and women.…”

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, was never “storyless,” despite UNESCO label

“…There seems to be a huge straw man lurking behind this paper. Vannini and Vannini () suggest that because UNESCO in its World Heritage programme classified Gros Morne National Park (GMNP) in western Newfoundland as a natural heritage site, some might consider the Park as “empty of stories” or, if such exist, that they are rendered “irrelevant and silent” (p. 2).…”

“…However, as Vannini and Vannini () point out, the criteria used by UNESCO to classify world heritage sites do separate natural from cultural sites in a way that may appear “rigidly distinct” (p. 1). In their view, the danger is that conceptualising nature and natural heritage sites as devoid of humans and their culture helps to facilitate restrictions on local communities.…”

“…Vannini and Vannini () argue that UNESCO's classification of its world heritage sites is symptomatic of dualistic Western worldviews that regard nature as fixed and separate from society. The notion of a fixed or stable nature contradicts the existence of continual change that affects all landscapes and ecologies on one time‐scale or another.…”