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NAHANNI PARK EXPANSION UNDERWAY. But Will it Be Enough?
IN 1970, the South Nahanni River’s 90-me- tre centrepiece Virginia Falls was in danger of being dammed. When Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau canoed the river he was so impressed he oversaw the creation of Na- hanni National Park, putting the river’s 1,500-metre deep whitewater canyons atop most every wilderness canoeist’s to-do list. It was an environmental landmark that the world took notice of; the river became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. It seemed to be a story with a happy end-
ing, but persistent mining threats have mo- tivated a new generation of Canadians to lobby the federal government to expand the 4,765-square-kilometre park so the entire 39,000-square-kilometre watershed is pro- tected. To this end, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has rustled up the support of Justin Trudeau, musician Sarah Harmer and freshwater ecologist Dr. David Schindler to tour the country and get some attention. Currently, the park protects a 25-kilome-
tre-wide swath on either side of the South Nahanni and Flat rivers. Te South Nahan- ni’s headwaters remain unprotected, as do the upper reaches of the Flat River and the entire Little Nahanni River—both of which offer spectacular whitewater canoe tripping. Parks Canada has been negotiating with
the Deh Cho First Nation, whose land com- prises nearly 60 per cent of the watershed, since the federal government promised to expand Nahanni National Park in 2002. Kevin McNamee, director of Parks Canada’s park establishment branch, expects there will be an agreement on new park bound- aries by this autumn. But McNamee says the expansion plans leave 30 per cent of the watershed unaccounted for; half of which belongs to the Sahtu First Nation and half which has been set aside for “suspected mineral deposits.” While Allison Woodley, northern cam-
paigner for CPAWS, is confident that Parks Canada will find common ground with the Deh Cho and Sahtu, it’s the mineral-rich, 14 per cent chunk of the watershed that CPAWS says poses the greatest threat to the South Nahanni. Tere’s a proposal to open Prairie Creek Mine, a lead, zinc and silver operation located on a tributary 32 kilome- tres upstream from existing park boundar- ies. Te site is home to tanks of diesel fuel, PCBs and cyanide that have been moth- balled there since 1982. Plans to open it in- clude the construction of a road that would run through the proposed expanded park. “It’s obvious that to protect a waterway,
you need to protect its drainage basin,” says Woodley. “If there’s any part left un- protected, the entire watershed is at risk.” —Conor Mihell
IT’S WHAT’S UPSTREAM THAT COUNTS 1 2 n C A NOE ROOT S early summer 2006
BILL MASON PRODUCTIONS
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