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Establish Heritage Places

Complete or Expand Some Existing National Parks

Acquiring additional land either outside current park boundaries (expansion) or inside an existing national park (completion) can serve to complete the representation of a natural region, enhance the ecological integrity of a national park and provide additional visitor experience opportunities.

Expand Three National Parks By March 2008: In 2006, Parks Canada reduced its expectation of completing three park expansions between March 2003 and March 2008 to two during the period. The third proposal, related to adding parts of the Flathead River Valley in southeast British Columbia to the Waterton Lakes National Park, is no longer part of the target due to lack of provincial support.

This is a good example of a competing land use. The Flathead has been identified as an area rich in confirmed and potential mineral resources and the provincial government has, at the present time, put the priority for this area on resource development.

The two remaining targeted areas are shown in Table 5.

Table 5: National Park Expansion Proposals

Natural Region		National Park/Park Reserve of Canada	Proposal
#	Title
8	Mackenzie Mountains	Nahanni	Parks Canada and the Deh Cho First Nations continued to implement their 2003 MOU. Research projects were completed and work was started to define several boundary options. In the Sahtu Settlement Area, Sahtu, Dene and Métis organizations continue to consider the proposal to add the Sahtu portion of the South Nahanni Watershed to the park.
15	Tundra Hills	Tuktut Nogait • Nunavut sector - W	Public interest remains high but there has been little action on the proposal.
Source: Park Canada National Parks Establishment Branch.

Parks Canada made reasonable progress on expanding Nahanni and limited progress on expanding Tuktut Nogait.

Increase the Targeted Land Holdings in Three Unfinished National Parks: A few national parks have been established before the Government of Canada acquired all the land in the agreed upon park boundary. In these cases, additional land acquisition depends on willing sellers in accordance with signed park establishment agreements. The status of land acquisition in these parks is shown in Table 6. Land acquisition in these parks has been proceeding for some years and will require many years to complete.

Table 6: Status of National Parks to be Completed

Natural Region		National Park/Park Reserve of Canada	As of		Approximate Target Size (Km²)	Hectares of Land Acquired 2006-2007	Km² March 2007	% Complete March 2007
#	Title		March	Size in Km²
2	Strait of Georgia Lowlands	Gulf Islands	2003	33.3*	No target	7.567	36.3	NA
13	Prairie Grasslands	Grasslands	1986	108	904	0	600.7	66
29	St. Lawrence Lowlands	Bruce Peninsula	1988	4.5	154	57.4	51.31	33.0%
Source: Parks Canada National Parks Establishment Branch * Land is spread over 15 islands

There was land acquired in 2006-2007 and added to the Gulf Islands and the Bruce Peninsula National Parks.

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