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Canada Sets Aside Vast Northern Wilderness
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Nov 22, 2007 08:44am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Thursday, November 22, 2007 02:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | 25 Million Acres in Boreal Forest Declared Off-Limits to Development, Mining
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 22, 2007; Page A30
Canada's government yesterday set aside 25 million acres of wilderness -- 11 times the size of Yellowstone National Park -- for conservation, a move that environmentalists called one of North America's most important acts of nature preservation.
The land in Canada's Northwest Territories is in three huge tracts that will be used to create a national park, a national wilderness area and a conservation area administered by native groups under treaty rights.
The areas are wild, scenic and remote. They have been eyed with increasing interest by diamond, uranium, and oil and gas developers, and the action yesterday by Canada's ministries of environment and Indian affairs will prevent mining, drilling and most timber-cutting in the areas.
"We are withdrawing massive areas from industrial development to protect some of the most impressive ecological and cultural wonders in the north for generations to come," Environment Minister John Baird said in an announcement from Ottawa.
Environmentalists hailed the action as adding protection to parts of the sensitive boreal forest, the broad swath of green that circles a northern tier of the globe from Canada to Siberia. The boreal forest is said to be the largest land-based store of carbon on the planet. If released by development, the carbon could exacerbate global warming. The forest also is the summer home to millions of North America's migrating songbirds. |
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