Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Thursday, August 23, 2007

Fort Simpson - Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement that Nahanni National Park Reserve will be expanded, an official with Parks Canada said there's still a lot of work to be done before the expansion will be a reality.

Now that the announcement has been made, a feasibility study, which will include public consultations on boundary options, has to be completed, said Anna Rowe, communications and consultation officer for Parks Canada in Yellowknife.

"We still have quite a ways to go," said Rowe.

The Nahanni National Park Reserve currently protects Virginia Falls, a portion of the South Nahanni River and surrounding land, an area covering 4,766 square kilometres. The park itself was established in 1976.

Under the terms of a 2003 memorandum of agreement between Parks Canada and the Dehcho First Nations, interim protection was provided through a land withdrawal for an additional area covering more than 23,000 square kilometres.

The order-in-council from the federal cabinet that Harper announced on Aug. 8 allows for a new land withdrawal covering approximately 5,400 square kilometres. The order also assures that both withdrawals, equalling approximately 28,800 square kilometres, have been set aside for the explicit purpose of being included in the boundaries of the park.

Now a decision has to be made on where those boundaries will lie.

To help make this decision, public consultations are planned for this fall, said Rowe. Parks Canada has always intended to do a second round of consultations on the expansion and this time a wider area will be canvassed, Rowe said. Previous consultations have been primarily focused on the Deh Cho region.

During the consultations, open houses will be held first in Deh Cho communities and then in Northern communities such as Yellowknife and Whitehorse as well as some southern cities. The mandate of the open houses will be to present boundary options, said Rowe.

The boundary options will only be for the section of the park that falls within the Deh Cho region. A separate process is being followed for the Sahtu.

After all the consultations are finished, the Nahanni National Park expansion working group, which contains representatives from the Dehcho First Nations as well as Parks Canada, will make a boundary suggestion to both parties. The suggestion will factor in the consultations and cultural studies as well as the results of a mineral and energy resource assessment that has yet to be completed.

It will then be up to the Dehcho First Nations and Canada to negotiate an agreement to expand the park, Rowe said.

She was unable to provide a timeline for the process.

"We're just going to keep working through the steps of the process," Rowe said.

While many people welcomed the news of the park expansion, some officials are urging caution because of the number of details that haven't been ironed out.

"It's good news but it's not complete," said Dennis Bevington, MP for the Western Arctic.

Bevington said that while he was excited to see land set aside he wants to see the details on what the land withdrawal entails and how the project will move ahead.

After living beside Wood Buffalo National Park, the largest park in the country, Bevington said he wants to know how the co-management agreement will work in the Nahanni National Park.

The agreement in Wood Buffalo has caused issues, he said.

Bevington said he's also concerned with what opportunities will be created for the local residents in the way of jobs or increased tourism.

"I want to see what's on the table for the Deh Cho people out of that," he said.

Bevington also pointed out that the amount of land being set aside falls short of protecting the entire South Nahanni Watershed, which covers approximately 30,000 square kilometres.

Senator Nick Sibbeston, who has long raised concerns about park expansion, is also urging caution.

If people in the area are in favour of the park, Sibbeston said he won't oppose it but said he wants to make sure the expansion is being done for the right reasons and not just for tourists from the south.

With the expansion of the boundaries, resources that will be needed to support self-government will be put out of reach, he said.

"Once it's made into a park it's gone forever," said Sibbeston.

People don't have a future living beside a park, especially a wilderness park, said Sibbeston.