Nahanni expansion proponents push on

A proposal to expand the boundaries of Nahanni National Park in the southwest corner of the Northwest Territorieswasdiscussed at a public information session in Yellowknife on Wednesday.

Parks Canada and the Dehcho First Nations are pushing forexpansion of the 5,000-square- kilometre park. They want it include the entire South Nahanni River watershed, an area about seven times larger than the existing park.

Opponents say an expansion would result in lost resource development opportunities in the area.

"We do know in the area that there are a whole bunch of known mineral deposits and showings, including the tungstenmine,"said Henrick Falck, of the Geological Survey of Canada.

"We know there are deposits at Prairie Creek," said Falck, who is putting together an inventory of the mineral potential so the government can better gauge the potential economic impact of expansion."The Howard's Pass area is also very rich in lead and zinc potential. We know that the area does host mineral deposits of many different types."

Gordon Hamre, Parks Canada's adviser on northern parks,said some things can't be given a dollar value.

"National parks represent regions of Canada and the South Nahanni is one of the best examples of a Canadian landscape," Hamre said.

"We're looking, too, at wildlife, so there's been research done on bull trout, Dall sheep, grizzly bears, mountain caribou —important Canadian species."

Even though Parks Canada supports the expansion, the final decision will be made by the politicians in Ottawa, Hamre said.