Congratulations to the Deh Cho First Nation and federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna on their declaration of Edéhzhíe, a 14,250-square-kilometre plateau as an Indigenous Protected Area on October 11.

Located west of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, Edéhzhíe covers an area twice the size of Banff National Park with boreal forests and wetlands, and wildlife that includes caribou, moose, wolves and myriad songbirds. It also contains a portion of Mills Lake, which is a key habitat for various migratory birds, including 12 per cent of Canada’s eastern population of Tundra swans. Edéhzhíe has been a place of cultural and spiritual significance for Indigenous people for generations, and likely for millennia.

Natural resource development will not be allowed in the Indigenous Protected Area, but there will likely be economic opportunities in the form of ecotourism and guardian jobs. Edéhzhíe will be managed through a partnership between the Dehcho and the federal government by a board of directors, a local Indigenous conservation group known as the Dehcho K’ehodi guardians, and the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Edéhzhíe is the first Indigenous Protected Area to be announced since the February 2018 federal budget included $1.3-billion for establishing protected areas and conserving species at risk.  This declaration takes Canada a step closer to meeting our international Aichi Target commitment to protect 17 per cent of all lands and inland waters by 2020. Edéhzhíe would be formally recognized in federal law as a National Wildlife Area under the Canada Wildlife Act.

For more information of this designation, please read the following coverage:

• From Environment and Climate Change Canada, First new Indigenous protected area in Canada: Edéhzhíe Protected Area
• From CBC, Ottawa, Dehcho First Nations sign deal for 1st Indigenous protected wildlife area
• From the Globe and Mail, Vast region of Northwest Territories declared an Indigenous Protected Area
• From NewsWire, Dehcho First Nations and Government of Canada announce first of new Indigenous protected areas in Canada: Edéhzhíe Protected Area
• From CBC, N.W.T. First Nations, federal gov’t team up to protect ‘breadbasket’ of Dehcho region

If you have not yet done so, sign the Thank You Letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada.