CPAWS-NWT NewsNorth editorial on Ramparts recommendations: Monday January 30

Dear Editor,

In response to the January 20th News North article –A step closer Recommendations released for proposed Sahtu protected area:

The Northwest Territories Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS-NWT) commends the Yamoga Land Corporation and community of Fort Good Hope for their vision in advancing protection of Ts’ude niline Tu’eyeta (Ramparts River and wetlands) through the NWT Protected Areas Strategy (PAS). Having worked with communities through the PAS process, CPAWS-NWT is familiar with the extensive effort that goes into advancing an area towards protection. It takes a true commitment from a community such as Fort Good Hope to keep a project such as this on track.

In the January 20th article Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya expressed his support for establishing the Ramparts National Wildlife Area (NWA) and mentioned the significant compromise that has been made by the community to revise the study area boundary to 67% of the original size. The ecological, cultural, non-renewable resource, renewable resource and socioeconomic assessments required by the PAS process support that the revised boundary would provide protection for ecological values, wetlands, fish, fur bearing animals and species at risk such as boreal and mountain woodland caribou, while leaving areas of high mineral and oil and gas potential on the outside of the boundary.

CPAWS-NWT respects that communities have to make critical decisions and compromises when considering how land and resources should be managed for future generations. In this case there have been compromises made between development potential and protecting cultural and ecological values. We believe that protecting the recommended boundary as a National Wildlife Area will be a good outcome for the region and urge the territorial and federal governments to support the efforts of the Yamoga Land Corp and community of Fort Good hope to protect the Ramparts as a National Wildlife Area.

Contact Kris Brekke, CPAWS-NWT Executive Director, at 867-873-9893 or kris@cpaws.org.