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Tulita celebrates at the park Plaque commemorates elders at Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve
Kassina Ryder
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 12, 2013
TULITA/FORT NORMAN
Almost a year after it was officially established, Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve received some important hardware last month and elders, youth and government leaders all came out to celebrate.
Last August, Prime Minister Stephen Harper travelled to the park as part of his annual Northern tour to make the official declaration. On July 17, the park received a plaque celebrating the special space.
Rocky Norwegian, president of the Fort Norman Metis Land Corporation and a negotiator for Naats'ihch'oh National Park
Reserve, was one of the representatives who attended the celebration at the park.
Norwegian said he was glad to be a part of establishing the reserve.
"It's something very unique for us," he said. "We have an area that's well protected now and it will always be there for the future."
Elders, youth and territorial and local government representatives visited Naats'ihch'oh to see the plaque unveiled.
Mike Keizer, external relations manager for Parks Canada's South West Northwest Territories field unit, said the plaque was
positioned at a special place within the reserve.
"They went to the bottom of Naats'ihch'oh Mountain and mounted a large brass plaque there," he said. "Many of the elders were there."
The plaque includes the names of local elders who helped establish the reserve and give it its name, Keizer said.
"To me it's a great start to build the relationship between Parks Canada and Tulita
and the Sahtu to manage Naats'ihch'oh National Park Reserve," he said.
Norwegian said work can now begin to establish the reserve as a tourist destination.
A visitor's centre and a Parks Canada office are both being discussed in Tulita, he said.
Approximately 12 permanent jobs will be required to support tourism, including visitor's centre and
office staff as
well as wardens in the park. Norwegian said the area's beauty will be a draw for visitors.
"The scenery alone is just immaculate," he said.
The park is 4,850 square kilometres and is home to grizzly bears, mountain goats, Dall sheep and trumpeter swans, according to Parks Canada.
Norwegian said wildlife are abundant in the area.
He witnessed some of what the park has to offer as his group left the plaque commemoration ceremony in July.
"Flying away from the lake, we spotted five moose," he said.
Seeing the park was a rare treat, Norwegian added.
"I've lived here all my life and I've only been up there a couple times," he said.
The park's boundary borders both the Nahanni National Park Reserve and Yukon. Norwegian said because there is no road to Tulita in the summer months, he expects a majority of visitors will access the
park from Yukon and the Deh Cho region instead.
"You're not going to get so much from Tulita area. It's quite a distance and quite an expensive trip," he said. "I believe a lot of people will
be hiking over from Yukon or coming in from the other end. It's just a matter of how we simplify it for tourists."
He said there is a road that runs through a portion of the park from Fort Liard which would allow visitors to drive through a section of the park.
Norwegian said no matter what part of the park ends up being the most popular, visitors won't be disappointed.
"The scenery is just beautiful," he said.
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