Nahanni National Park now sevens times larger!

This just arrived in my inbox from
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).

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 nearly seven 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.

Nice job PM Harper and proving that conservatives care about the environment too. I haven't made it to Nahanni and the NWT yet. I have spent some time in the Yukon though hiking Kluane National Park, one of the most spectacular places in North America. I imagine Nahanni rivals it.

(photo compliments of CPAWS)