A proud day for Canada: Nahanni becomes one of world's greatest parks
June 9, 2009Ottawa - The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is celebrating the historic announcement today by Environment Minister Jim Prentice and DehCho First Nations Grand Chief Gerald Antoine of the final boundaries for the greatly expanded Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories.
The world famous park reserve is now six times the size of the original one established in 1972. It will permanently protect over 30,000 km2 of Boreal wilderness - an area the size of Vancouver Island.
"The Nahanni is the jewel of Canada’s Boreal forest, and one of the world’s greatest wilderness treasures. Canada has shown true global leadership by protecting it," says CPAWS National Executive Director Eric Hébert-Daly.
"With this announcement the federal government has created a national park that can take its place alongside Banff and Jasper as one of the world’s great protected areas," says Harvey Locke, CPAWS Senior Advisor for Conservation.
The announcement of final boundaries comes nearly two years after Prime Minister Harper and former Environment Minister John Baird promised a massive expansion of the park, crowning years of collective work by CPAWS, local First Nations and many others to convince the federal government to permanently protect this iconic wilderness area.
"The elders of Nahanni Butte and the leaders of the Dehcho First Nations were determined to see this through," says Lani Cook, Executive Director of CPAWS NWT Chapter. "For the past nine years, we have been honoured to work closely with them to get protection for the Nahanni."
National campaign led to Nahanni’s protection
Today’s announcement caps a 35-year effort by CPAWS to expand Nahanni National Park Reserve. When the CPAWS’ campaign went national six years ago, thousands of Canadians across the country became involved, writing letters and demonstrating their support.
"Nahanni’s popularity and iconic status are well-deserved," adds Locke.
The Nahanni is a spectacular example of intact Boreal wilderness that is also of spiritual importance to local First Nations. The watershed contains Virginia Falls, which is twice the height of Niagara, deep canyons, and unique limestone caves and formations. It is home to woodland caribou, grizzly bears, mountain goats, and Dall’s sheep.
"It’s no exaggeration to say that the Nahanni is an ecological treasure of global significance. Today’s announcement guarantees its future and promises that generations of Dehcho First Nations, northerners, other Canadians, and visitors from around the world will have the chance to experience this unspoiled wilderness," says Hébert-Daly.
"CPAWS is proud to have played an important part in protecting Nahanni forever. We gratefully acknowledge the support of thousands of Canadians in the North and across the country who made this happen," adds Hébert-Daly.
CPAWS thanks its many supporters over the years on this campaign, including the Canadian Boreal Initiative, the Conservation Alliance, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Ecojustice and Nahanni River Adventures, which along with Blackfeather and Nahanni Wilderness Adventures created a special fund to support CPAWS’ efforts to protect Nahanni Forever.
CPAWS will continue to work with the Sahtu Dene and Métis on permanent protection of Nááts’ihch’oh National Park in the Nahanni Headwaters and Sahtu region.
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Also available:
Backgrounder
Photos and B Roll
www.cpaws.org/nahanni
Contact: Ellen Adelberg (613) 569-7226 x 234, cell (613)292-2875
In NWT: Lani Cooke (867) 445-8831
Since 1963, CPAWS has played a leading role in establishing more than two-thirds of Canada’s protected areas. Our vision is that Canada will protect at least half of our wilderness forever.
Comments | Commentaires
Note: Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of CPAWS.Why are you so happy when this new park allows sport hunting??? National parks should not have sport hunting.
Posted by George Norris on June 9, 2009 4:36 PMWell done, and thank you everyone who helped to make this happen, with special appreciation to all at CPAWS.
Good work!
Posted by Andrea Gietz on June 10, 2009 1:11 AMWow! A wonderful day for all world citizens to see such a huge boreal forest region protected for ever!
I hope Nahanni will become a true biosphere reserve, without any intrusive activities being allowed.
Great work everyone who has contributed to making this happen! Congratulations from Sweden!
Posted by Micke on June 10, 2009 9:04 AMI actually feel this is a day we should show some solidarity in our goals to protect the entire watershed of the South Nahanni (as CPAWS has advocated many times), and not merely get all googley eyed over creation of a "new park," no matter what the circumstances. Yes, a new park is great, but the proposal has some major flaws, and provides concessions for two existing mines (one with very major impacts on watershed and wildlife populations), and a possible access road on a long abandoned winter trail. The Dehcho and Sahtu didn't advocate for these concessions, and CPAWS didn't advocate for these things, and I think it is important to remember these things. The Canadian Zinc Corporation, it should be noted, fully supports the park expansion proposal introduced by Prentice yesterday.
Posted by EL on June 10, 2009 10:10 AMThis announcement is a HUGE victory for Canada's wilderness. Nahanni National Park Reserve is now one of the largest parks in Canada and the world. Thank you to the Dehcho First Nations for giving this wonderful gift to Canada. And thanks to the thousands of Canadians who have tirelessly supported protecting Nahanni over the years. Your efforts have paid off! We can now say Nahanni is protected FOREVER!!
Thank you!
Jill Sturdy
National Conservation and Outreach Coordinator, CPAWS
Although I disagree with many of this Government's
policies,this is one area where they shine. It's a huge victory for everyone. What great news!
Congratulations to all of the CPAWS staff and volunteers over the last 30+ years, who have remained focused on this very important goal for nature conservation -- all that hard work has finally paid off!
Posted by Chris on June 11, 2009 8:24 PMProtecting Canada’s wilderness is THE MOST important AGENDA to me. The large animals, the migrating birds and the whole planet applaud your decision to expand Nahanni National Park Reserve to permanently protect this spectacular wilderness ecosystem. Now if we could only draw the line on furthur exploitation of the boreal forest region so that Canada will still have caribou and bears for the future while preserving the lungs of the earth. Surely there are enough replanted tree plantations in Canada to use. There is indeed an end of the vast and amazing diverstiy of life in sight if we do not take action now to stop the exploitation. Thank you. Sincerely, Susan Collacott MA,MFA.
Posted by susan collacott on June 11, 2009 9:32 PM After giving serious consideration to this recent announcement, past and pending, I fully agree with that Posted by “EL” on June 10, 2009 10:10 AM, not-with-standing due respect and agreement with other posted messages to date.
The announcement is a step in the right direction however, the objective of this 36 year exercise is protection of the total watershed. A segment of this watershed is still in limbo and includes the Moose Ponds at the headwaters. The large November 2007 Ottawa meeting indicated public endorsement for nothing less than the total watershed, Plan “A”. In addition, is it not logical to protect all natural components, including minerals, within a designated park? An identified deposit of “non renewable” minerals is like money in the bank. Future generations may require these minerals for survival purposes.
Please, plant trees!!!!! This continent used to be completely covered with trees!!!! We have done so much damage! I have planting trees wherever I go all of my life. We need to, all of us, plant one or more trees, no matter where we are.
No trees = no rain - - - no rain = no life.
We have already cause too much destruction on this Earth of ours - - - - - - this Earth we were made stewards of that we have failed!!!!!
PLANT TREES AS A MOST MAJOR AND MOST IMPORTANT THING TOWARD TRYING TO RESTORE OUR PLANET, AND WE NEED TO LEAVE THE TREES ALONE!!!!!!! WE NEEDTO LEAVE THE TREES AND FORESTS ALONG, EXCEPT TO REPLENISH THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hooray, and great work.
Thanks for the 'Images for download', too, but please fix the link to the first image.
Posted by Darren on June 9, 2009 3:50 PM