Government Protects Vast Areas Of Northern Land

The names of these areas in the Northwest Territories won't ring any bells to most -- East Arm and The Ramparts -- but the feds are getting two green thumbs up for taking a pre-emptive strike in the name of conservation before resource exploitation gets a toehold in the region. It's a massive sheltering of wilderness, a move that will declare 10 million hectares off limits to industrial development, an area roughly equal to five Prince Edward Islands or 11 Yellowstone National Parks. ... In consultation with First Nations in the area, the East Arm of Great Slave Lake will be fast-tracked into becoming Canada's largest national park, no longer vulnerable to mining activity as uranium exploration moves along the river valley. The region boasts Christie Bay, which has the deepest water on the continent, and a spectacular array of peninsulas, canyons and waterfalls as the forests give way to northern tundra. It's also home to one of the largest caribou herds in the north. Environmentalists hail the move as a grand finale to 40 years of hem-hawing by a half-dozen governments and praise it as an overdue response to First Nations demands that culturally significant formations be preserved. "This is the really big step to us nature nuts," gushes Harvey Locke, senior adviser to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. "These are decisions in the order of the magnitude of those that created Banff or Jasper national parks. It's on the scale that science says we need to move at to preserve the boreal forest. I can't say anything that isn't good news on this." With public consultation on a 5,400-square-kilometre expansion to the Nahanni River proposal ending later this week, the way is clear for that world heritage site to become a park within months. The Conservatives have also preserved two environmentally significant peninsulas on Great Bear Lake. "Add all these moves together and we're getting into historic set-asides on a North American scale," notes Locke who, it should be noted, has run as a Liberal in Alberta. "There's been a lot of talk, but these guys are delivering. It's super-cool to have them move from possibilities into action." ... http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=e2d14597-911d-409e-9305-4a55713f6bb5&k=22966

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