The Seattle-based Pew Environment Group is praising the governments of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams today after the announcement the the creation of the Mealy Mountains National Park in Labrador. While Harper's government has been roundly and often harshly criticized domestically and internationally for being a laggard when it comes to climate change policy, but his government has won praise from many of those same detractors (sometimes a bit grudgingly) for setting aside millions of square kilometres of land, mostly in Canada's north, for new parks and wildlife reserves.
“Congratulations to Prime Minister Harper and Premier Danny Williams. This is a great leap forward in efforts to complete the Canadian National Park system. Prime Minister Harper’s leadership has been critical to the protection of Canada’s boreal forest—considered by scientists to be a top global conservation priority,” Steve Killick, director of the Pew's International Boreal Conservation Campaign, said in a statement. Killick's colleagues passed along the picture, left, of hikers in the Mealy Mountains.
“These new parks will draw tourists from around the world, conserve lands important to aboriginal Canadians and safeguard the habitat of the Mealy Mountains woodland caribou herd. Bigger than the United States’ Yellowstone and Yosemite parks combined, the scale of this new protected area is remarkable. It will rival the largest protected areas in eastern North America, equal in size to New York’s Adirondack State Park, twice the size of Everglades National Park and six times the size of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”
The Ottawa-based Canadian Boreal Initiative is also pretty chuffed: “We are very pleased to recognize the achievement of the governments, the Aboriginal peoples and local organizations who came together to advance a common vision for the protection of this important region.”
Environment Minister Jim Prentice, the minister responsible for Parks Canada, was in Happy Valley/Goose Bay, Labrador today to make the announcement about the park.
The park reserve will protect roughly 10,700 sq km, which will make it the largest national park in eastern Canada. The provincial government also announced its intent to establish a waterway provincial park to protect the Eagle River, adjacent to the proposed national park reserve. Together these areas will protect over 13,000 sq km.