On Wednesday Stephen Harper announced that 5,000 square kilometers would be added to the Nahanni National Park Reserve - a spectacular area of the Northwest Territories that, alongside Yellowstone and the Galapagos, was named one the UN's original three World Heritage Sites back in 1978.

"This is arguably the most important act of environmental protection in a generation," the prime minister said Wednesday. The government plans to add 5,400 square kilometres of land within the Greater Nahanni ecosystem, barring it from any kind of further development.

Despite the good news "arguably" is the key word. There has been an ongoing efforts to protect in the Nahanni's entire 38,000 square kilometer watershed by both environmentalists, and local first nations who already have ceded control of 23,000 square kilometers to Parks Canada. However, proposed mining development still threatens the park from upstream sites. Protecting the entire watershed would be a solid a worth effort at protecting the health of ecosystems instead of defending park 'borders'. Two very different aims.

Readers can add their voice of support for protecting the entire Nahanni watershed by sending an email to Canadian officials