Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve (from the

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

, this Chipewyan name means ''land of our ancestors'') is a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

in the vicinity of the east arm of

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada (after Great Bear Lake), List of lakes by depth, the deepest lake in North America at , and the List of lakes by area, tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It ...

, located on the northern edge of the

boreal forest of Canada Canada's boreal forest is a vast region comprising about one third of the circumpolar boreal forest that rings the Northern Hemisphere, mostly north of the 50th parallel. Other countries with boreal forest include Russia, which contains the majo ...

in the

North Slave Region The North Slave Region or ''Tłicho Region'' is one of five List of regions of the Northwest Territories, administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the most populous of the five regions, with a population of almost 2 ...

of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. It is administered by

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

and is part of the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, which also includes Territorial Protected Area and a Wildlife Conservation Area administered by the Government of the Northwest Territories. The National Park Reserve covers 14,070 km2 of nationally significant boreal forest, tundra, and freshwater ecosystems. The creation of Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve works to protect

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

and pelt animals such as "

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

red fox The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus ...

wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

and

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

". Other mammals inhabiting this park reserve include

Arctic fox The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small species of fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Tundra#Arctic tundra, Arctic tundra biome. I ...

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

muskox The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'') is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, it is noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males during the seasonal rut, from which its name derives. This musky odor ha ...

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horr ...

and

barren-ground caribou The barren-ground caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest ...

. The area features red granite cliffs, as well as "a spectacular array of peninsulas, canyons and waterfalls as the forests give way to northern tundra". Various

migratory bird Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and mortality. Th ...

species also stage and nest in the area, including

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

s and

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5,00 ...

History

Consideration for the creation a national park in the region was withdrawn in 1970 under the ''Territorial Lands Act'', but in 2001 the

Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation The Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation is a First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band is headquartered in the community of Łutselk'e, formerly Snowdrift, on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. LDFN was instrumental in the ...

(previously Snowdrift) re-considered the proposal. Consultations for a feasibility study proceeded from 2002 to 2004, which drew the inclusion of the Métis Nation to the process. By 2005, the Łutselk'e produced a Band Council Resolution "supporting consideration of a national park as part of a broader protection initiative for their traditional territory", in cooperation with other

Akaitcho Akaitcho (variants: Akaicho or Ekeicho; translation: "Big-Foot" or "Big-Feet"; meaning: "like a wolf with big paws, he can travel long distances over snow") (ca. 1786–1838) was a Copper Indian, and Chief of the Yellowknives. His territory incl ...

First Nations. In 2006, the Łutselk'e Dene First Nation and the Minister of Environment and Minister Responsible for Parks Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding which expanded the land withdrawal area for consideration for the national park by an additional and defined a process for working together on matters pertaining to establishing a national park. Originally expected to be designated in 2009, by 2014 the negotiations still had yet to be finalized. By 2014, the government of the Northwest Territories through the ''Northwest Territories Devolution Act'' took administrative control of the park study area, and by the following year initiated a "matrix of protected area designations" that included a scaled-down National Park Reserve of in combination with a range of territorial designations, conserving 75 percent of the area. Public consultations on the smaller proposed boundaries finished in 2016. The federal government's 2016 budget named the Thaidene Nene proposal in its allocation of funds to help the National Park Reserve to realization. On June 10, 2015, Parks Canada and the Northwest Territory Métis Nation negotiators reached an agreement in principle on most elements of an ''Impact and Benefit Agreement''. The agreement is subject to internal review and consultation by both the NWTMN and

. The Government of Canada announced its proposed boundary for a national park reserve in the Thaidene Nene area on July 29, 2015 and launched formal consultations on the boundary. On February 15, 2019, the

Łutselk'e Łutselkʼe (, Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé: ; "place of the ", the cisco, a type of small fish), also spelt ''Łutsël Kʼé'', is a "designated authority" in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is on the south ...

Dene First Nation voted to approve the creation of Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve. On 21 August 2019, an agreement was signed by

, the Government of the Northwest Territories, and three

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

(Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation, Deninu K'ue First Nation, and

Yellowknives The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine (Wíílíídeh dialect: ''Tetsǫ́t'ınę'') are indigenous peoples in Canada, indigenous peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the First Nations in Canada, F ...

Dene First Nation) establishing a protected area consisting of a national park administered by Parks Canada, and a area administered by the territorial government that includes a wildlife conservation area.

References

External links

Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve map

Website for the proposed park, maintained by the community of Lutsel K’e
{{Northwest Territories parks National parks in the Northwest Territories Dene Protected areas established in 2019 Co-managed protected areas North Slave Region Taiga and boreal forests Regions of the Subarctic 2019 establishments in the Northwest Territories

History

See also

References

External links