The South Nahanni River Watershed is protected by Canada's newest national park/Parks Canada
Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve, a rugged landscape encompassing the South Nahanni River watershed in the Northwest Territories, has become Canada's 44th national park.
The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, called NÃ Ã ts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve one of the finest and most extensive system of protected areas in the world.
Combined with the government's significant expansion in 2009 of Nahanni National Park Reserve, the creation of Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve ensures the protection of habitat for mountain woodland caribou, grizzly bears, Dall's sheep, mountain goats and Trumpeter swans. Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve will serve as a launching point for visitors to explore this northern wilderness. Visitors will have the opportunity to hike, canoe, raft, climb and experience this incredibly beautiful and ecologically important area in the Northwest Territories.
In a release Parks Canada officials said the designation "further cements Canada as an international leader in the area of conservation."
The creation of Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve supports Canada's National Conservation Plan by conserving Canada's lands and waters and helping Canadians connect with these incredible places of ecological and cultural significance. The establishment of Nááts'ihch'oh also fulfills commitments made in the 2013 Speech from the Throne and in Canada's Northern Strategy.
The Nááts'ihch'oh region has long been home to the Dene and Métis and is an area of significant spiritual and cultural importance to them. The Impact and Benefit Plan signed in March 2012 by the Government of Canada, the Sahtu Dene, and the Métis of the Tulita District for the establishment of Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve, ensures the provision of lasting economic, cultural and social benefits to Aboriginal, Métis, and northern communities in the Northwest Territories.
Canoers on the South Nahanni River/Parks Canada
Quick Facts
'¢ Nááts'ihch'oh National Park Reserve, Canada's 44th national park, is the 14th largest national park in Canada at 4,895 square kilometers in size ' an area slightly smaller than the entire province of Prince Edward Island.
'¢ When combined with the adjacent Nahanni National Park Reserve, the size of the two parks totals close to 35,000 square kilometres, making it the third largest protected area in Parks Canada's system. For perspective, this is an area larger than the entire country of Belgium.
'¢ Together, Nááts'ihch'oh and Nahanni national park reserves protect 86 percent of the South Nahanni watershed.
'¢ Travelers on the South Nahanni River, a Canadian Heritage River, can start their journey in the Moose Ponds beside Nááts'ihch'oh (Mount Wilson), the mountain after which the national park reserve is named.
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Comments
This is not a new national park, nor is it the 44th national park in the system, despite language used in the news release. It's a National Park Reserve, the eighth one in the country. There are still 37 national parks, and that number has not changed with this announcement. Nááts’ihch’oh will be administered LIKE a national park under the National Parks Act, but it won't actually be a national park until Native American land claims are settled. Its next-door neighbor, Nahanni, has been a National Park Reserve for 37 years, since it was created in 1978. Clearly things can take their sweet time if all the right players are not in place, and it's not a political priority.
What's concerning is that Parks Canada (and perhaps the Dept. of the Environment) appears to so badly want to count this as a park, that it's doing so right now. The problem is that, if such a landscape is celebrated as if it's a park already, there's little impetus to actually get it to that stage, and it causes confusion in the public mind. The government looks as if it's accomplished something big, even when it's really only gotten to the threshhold of creating a park.
Moreover, in the case of Nááts’ihch’oh, compromises were made in favor of industry. Of three boundary options for the park reserve that came from a working group, the smallest area was selected by the government, while the larger areas were preferred by Natives and local stakeholders. This choice omitted what the Cdn. Parks & Wilderness Society (CPAWS) calls the most critical areas for protection of two herds of woodland caribou (calving and breeding grounds), grizzly bears, Dall’s sheep and mountain goats. It leaves large swaths open to mining and energy extraction, preserving 70 percent of overall mineral potential by leaving it outside the new park reserve. Critics also say this leaves too much of the upper watershed of the South Nahanni River unprotected.
Can anyone provide a phonetic pronounciation of this name?