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Users get say
Park planning team consults with hunters and outfitters in Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet

Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, April 23, 2012

IKPIARJUK/ARCTIC BAY
Users of Sirmilik National Park are actively engaged in crafting a Parks Canada management plan, with the planning team meeting hunters and outfitters in Arctic Bay and Pond Inlet earlier this month.

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Parks Canada is consulting with users of Sirmilik National Park to draft a management plan for the park. - photo courtesy of Bill Pratt/Parks Canada

"We felt it would be helpful to get some ideas from them," said district planner Maryse Mahy. "Outfitters know visitors, so they would have an idea about what they would like to see in the park, and hunters because they would have an interest in protecting the land."

The plan is in its infancy, as capacity issues have delayed compliance with a federal requirement that national parks must have a management plan in place within five years of being created. Sirmilik was created in 2001.

"(The plan) provides some guidance on priority actions that need to be taken to manage the park," Mahy said, "protecting ecosystems and cultural resources, providing opportunities for people visiting the park and educational programs at the park."

All of these things are important to the people of Arctic Bay, economic development officer Clare Kines said.

"The way they have the zones set up, it will protect more areas, so you might not have (passengers of) a cruise ship stomping around a 5,000-year-old site willy-nilly," Kines said. "There might have to be guides on-site to protect the area."

Those attending meetings in the hamlets were told the plan would identify zones requiring higher levels of protection, sites of cultural importance, and areas with significant wildlife populations, among other things. The plan, drafted by two representatives from each of the Government of Canada and the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, will also identify where open areas, vehicle-access points and infrastructure should be established.

"One of the goals for us is to use the park to attract more people, and with better infrastructure within the park that is geared to wilderness hikers, that will help," Kines said. "It's a tough row to hoe here because we're not only competing with the Banffs of the world, but also the Cape Dorsets. You have to make yourself stand out. When people are spending their tourist dollars, they're looking at $2,500 less just to get to the place, so every little bit helps."

More meetings and public consultations are planned, but no deadline for the plan's creation has been set.

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