New parks, ecological areas added to Manitoba protection list

The Manitoba government hasdesignateda series of new provincial parks and protected areas it says will help preserve native ecosystems and the creatures that inhabit them.

"Protected areas are a reliable and economical way to protect wildlife populations and safeguard
pristine areas,"Tom Nevakshonoff,Conservation and Water Stewardship minister, said in a statement Tuesday.

"Manitoba is known as a model jurisdiction for its protection standards, and our goal of protecting an additional six per cent of the province by 2020 goes beyond many other jurisdictions' commitments."

2 new parks

The province has created two new provincial parks and expanded two others.

The newSturgeon Bay Provincial Park spans almost 14,500 hectares of land, some of which fronts onto Sturgeon Bay on Lake Winnipeg, about 230 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The fresh water ecosystem in and around its shorelinehas been deemed important spawning habitat for fish, the province said.Moose call its bogs andmixed-wood forests home, too.

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Kinwow Bay Provincial Park, another new addition, takes up about 8,400 hectaresof land.

Expanded areas

Two existing parks have also grown in size. Moose Lake Provincial Park in the southeast of the province has been expanded from 956 hectaresto 1,049 hectares.

Pembina Valley Provincial Park near the U.S. border has gone from 182 hectaresto 672 hectaresin part, to protect birds of prey, the province said in a statement.Forested hillsides and areas along the Pembina River serve as an important stop-over for raptors migrating north and south in the spring and fall.

The province added that the new space isn't intended for development, but will remain open for hunting.

Protected habitats

Six new habitats were also designated as "ecological reserves."

Like the PembinaValley park, the130-hectarePelican Islands Ecological Reserve on Lake Winnipeg isimportant bird habitat. American white pelicans, herring and ring-billed gulls, common terns, double-crested cormorants and the endangered piping plover all set up shop alonga strip of six islands in the areaduring the summer breeding season.

Cedar Bog Ecological Reserve is 105 hectaresin size andcontains the last existing patch of Cedar bog habitat in Manitoba, the province said. Five of Manitoba's six shrew species call the place home, as do13 species of orchid native to the province.

What are "ecological reserves"?

Ecological reserves are createdin orderto protect unique and rare species of plants, animals and geological features throughout the province. The sites are not designed for recreational or resource use; rather they are intended for research,education and preservation purposes.

With the expanded list, the total protected reserve areawill grow by 15 per cent, andthere isnow30 such areas in the provincecoveringover 800 square kilometresofnatural habitat. In comparison, there is just over 35 thousand squarekilometresofprovincial parks and 4,000 square kilometresof wildlife reserves in Manitoba.

Nestled along the border in the southeast is the 780 hectarePiney Ecological Reserve. The area is home to different kinds of wetlands anda rare butterfly species.Clusters of tamarack trees attract great grey owls to the area, too.

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Of all the new parks and reserves,Ste. Anne Bogis the closestto Winnipeg. It takes up415 hectaresandcontainsprime habitat for rare grasses and sedges.Birds like the American bittern, LeConte's Sparrow, as well as the elusive and (typically) nocturnal yellow rail which lets out a series of Morse-code-like "ticks" at night are also found in the area.

The 515-hectareWoodridge Ecological Reserve is located in eastern Manitoba. It was formed as a way ofprotecting mature cedar trees and a forested spruce bog by the Sand River, the province said. Seventeen species of orchid andlots of dragonfly and bird species are found in the area.

Finally,the Lewis Bog Ecological Reserve,was expanded to protect bogs, swamps and orchid species in the area. The bog, located about 15 kilometres northwest of Hadashville has beenincreased in size from 570 hectares to 5,240 hectaresthe province said.

The bog is the last place in the province known to have theragged fringed orchid.

"Commercial peat harvesting and agricultural activities near Lewis Bog Ecological Reserve have the potential to impact the ecological integrity of the ecological reserve. The expansion will help mitigate the risk to the area and the rare species it supports by affording increased protection to the larger wetland complex," the province said in a statement.