Canadian government and native groups have agreed to build a new national park in the country's far north in a bid to defend local wildlife from the threat of mining there.
The park, to cover 25,000 to 38,000 square km, almost four times the size of Yellowstone Park in the United States, will include the most pristine part of the deepest lake in North America, Great Slave Lake, according to local reports.
Environment Minister Rona Ambrose signed an agreement Friday with the small native band living in the area, namely the Dene, who seeks to call it Thaydene Nene National Park, which means "land of the ancestors." The move will put some limits on the surge of mining claims being staked in northwestern Canada, an area of lore and legendary tales from the great gold rushes of the late 1800s and early 1900s, reports say.
Since diamonds were discovered in the Northwest Territories in 1991, Canada has become the world's third-largest supplier. The prospect of uranium deposits in the north has brought more speculation.
In addition to the area for the new national park, Ambrose committed the government to push ahead to complete a national park system, which advocacy groups expect will include protection of other areas along the MacKenzie River Valley as national wildlife areas or national historic sites.
As the government is pushing to build an 800-mile gas pipeline to bring natural gas from the Arctic Ocean through the MacKenzie River Valley to the United States, environmentalists applauded the park plan hoping that the creation of parks and other reserves will limit the rapid increase of mining, drilling, and development expected to accompany the pipeline.
The deep Great Slave Lake was carved by glaciers and remains frozen eight months a year. The area includes wintering grounds for caribou, and is inhabited by wolves, foxes, bears, mink, moose, and lynx.