The provincial government is investing $7 million to enhance the protection of ecologically significant lands in southern Manitoba and is expanding both its protected areas network and the Pinawa Dam Provincial Park, Premier Gary Doer announced.
Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) will raise matching funds from other government and private contributors for a potential benefit of $21 million for environmental protection in the province.
“It’s important to remember that our prairies, forests, wetlands and waterways are home to unique species of plants and wildlife that must be protected,” said Doer. “Investing in our natural areas fights climate change and protects our environment for future generations.”
The premier announced four initiatives including:
• investing $7 million in support for the NCC to acquire and preserve lands over the next five years in eight areas in southern Manitoba;
• expanding Manitoba’s protected area network by adding more than 2,200 hectares of privately owned NCC land under an updated memorandum of agreement with the province;
• expanding the Pembina Valley Wildlife Management Area by adding 129 hectares of private land, purchased in partnership with NCC; and
• expanding Pinawa Dam Provincial Park by 168 hectares.
The province is committing $7 million in support for the NCC Natural Areas Conservation Program to acquire and preserve ecologically significant lands in eight areas in southern Manitoba over the next five years.
The targeted areas include the Riding Mountain aspen parkland, tall-grass prairie, West Souris mixed-grass prairie, Oak Lake sandhills and wetlands, Souris River Valley grassland, Turtle Mountain woodland and wetland, Whitemouth River watershed and Interlake parkland.
These areas are home to a wide variety of plant and animal life, such as tall-grass prairie, buffalo grass, fescue prairie, the western prairie fringed orchid, hairy prairie-clover, burrowing owls, great plains toads, prairie skinks and others.
Funding will also be used to support other environmental protection priorities such as the Pembina Valley and Tiger Hills natural area and Delta and Netley-Libau marshes.
More than 2,200 hectares of new NCC-owned lands will be protected under an updated 2004 memorandum of agreement and be included in Manitoba’s network of protected areas.
The lands are located within the endangered tall-grass prairie in southeast Manitoba and will maintain the critical wildlife corridors between the Duck Mountain Provincial Park and the Riding Mountain National Park.
The province is also adding other protected areas to Manitoba’s network by including 129 hectares of private land purchased in partnership with the NCC. These lands will be added to the Pembina Valley Wildlife Management Area in southwest Manitoba.
“This important initiative preserves and protects for all time the natural beauty of the Pembina Valley. Manitoba is home to a wealth of natural treasures and this effort is an example of a caring community coming together to protecting our natural areas,” said James
Richardson, Manitoba region chair of the Nature Conservancy of Canada,a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Canada’s natural heritage.
The province has also partnered with the Friends of Old Pinawa to expand the boundaries of the Pinawa Dam Provincial Park located northwest of the community of Pinawa on the Winnipeg River. The park will incorporate the Pinawa Dam structure and adjacent Crown land.
The heritage park was designated in 1985 to commemorate Manitoba’s first year-round hydro generation plant which operated from 1906 to 1951. Since then, Manitoba’s Parks and Natural Areas Branch has worked with the Friends of Old Pinawa to build an amphitheatre, interpretive signage, walking bridge, nature trail and picnic area.
The park overlooks the Lee River which is home to fish species like walleye, northern pike, catfish, and smallmouth bass. The area is also home to animals including white-tailed deer, black bear, fox and otters.
“Since 1996, the Friends of Old Pinawa have been working toward this day,” said Vivian Thomson, co-chair of the Friends of Old Pinawa.
“Through the expansion of Pinawa Dam Provincial Park, we have achieved our most ambitious goal – to include not only the entire old Pinawa townsite, but the dam structure itself, including its forebay and tail-race. We are delighted to have worked in partnership with Manitoba Conservation to achieve this significant expansion of the park. We feel certain that visitors will benefit from and appreciate both its historic and natural wonders.”
These initiatives build on last month’s announcement that designated the Whitemouth Bog Ecological Reserve, the Whitemouth Bog Wildlife Management Area and a portion of the Observation Point Wildlife Management Area as protected areas. Ecological services provided by wetlands in southern Manitoba have an estimated value of $939 to $1,567 per hectare, per year, according to recent studies by the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Since 1999, approximately 871,000 hectares of land has been permanently protected in parks, wildlife management areas and ecological reserves as work continues to expand Manitoba’s vital network of protected areas. The province has also banned logging in 80 of the province’s 81 parks.
