Opportunities for large-scale conservation of intact land still exist in the Mackenzie Basin and Mountains area of the NWT. This area is massive, draining 18% of Canada’s landmass. NWT communities lead the processes for protecting natural and cultural values; CPAWS-NWT is playing a pivotal role in ensuring that protected areas will conserve the land, water and wildlife for current and future generations. We work both within and outside of the NWT Protected Areas Strategy, and always collaboratively with communities, all levels of government, and other environmental organizations.
Compared to their southern counterparts, the Mackenzie Basin and Mountains support relatively undisturbed natural systems, wildlife populations, and traditional ways of life. Our work to conserve these valuable areas dovetails with the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Initiative’s aims to protect connected, well-managed and good-quality wildlife habitat throughout the mountainous region from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon. It also fits within the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework’s commitment to conserve at least half of the Boreal Forest in a network of large interconnected protected areas. Globally, the NWT represents the greatest opportunity to conserve intact and interconnected boreal systems where both human and wildlife communities can interact and thrive.
This necessitates that legislated protected areas are designed and managed in concert with regional land use planning processes, and that many levels of government and other land managers work collaboratively to ensure that present and future generations of humans and wildlife can continue to co-exist and prosper.
The opportunities for large-scale conservation in the NWT are great, but they are time-limited. Oil and gas development, the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project, mining exploration and development, and the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway are all examples of pressure on the land and its resources, as well as on cultural values. This pressure has created both political leverage for conservation and challenges to achieving conservation results. We are working with communities, all levels of government, and other environmental organizations to conserve our natural and cultural values before the opportunity to do so is lost.
CPAWS-NWT is committed to creating a network of protected areas in the NWT before further industrial development eliminates our ability to protect the NWT’s natural and cultural values. Our conservation work takes place with communities along the Mackenzie River, and on the shores of the great northern lakes. Highlights of our work to date include:
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