OTTAWA, Nov. 21 — The Canadian government plans to announce today that it will convert 25.5 million acres of northern woodland into a new national park and wildlife protection areas.
The result will be one of North America’s largest conservation areas, about 11.5 times the size of Yellowstone Park, and ease pressure from the mining and energy industries on an area that is important for wildlife, if sparsely populated by humans. …
The lands are within the boreal forest, a band of trees about 1,600 miles wide that sweeps across much of Canada and continues in northern Scotland, Scandinavia and Russia. About 77 percent of Canada’s forest is in the boreal band and its trees, mostly evergreens, are believed to play an important role in offsetting the rise in gases related to global warming created by burning fossil fuels. Large numbers of migratory birds and waterfowl make their summer home with the forest.
Under the plan, 8.5 million acres surrounding the Eastern Arm of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories will become a national park. Another 15.3 million acres between the new park and an existing wildlife refuge will be designated as conservation land under the management of native groups Further to the northwest, near the Mackenzie River valley, 3.7 million acres will turned into a national wildlife area. …
I’ve been up there a couple of times. It’s a vast wilderness with limited hiking potential. You want to be paddling, not walking.
Still, a good move forward. Kudos to the Conservative government. Congratulations Environment Minister John Baird.
source – Lutsel K’e, Northwest Territories, Canada
(via Tennessee Trailhead)
Expect more announcements like this in future. The will of Canadian voters is for for more environmental protection.
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