Public Registry - Public Review – Boundary Adjustment to Atikaki Provincial Park

(Latest information was posted 19 March 2009)

Maps

• Proposed Atikaki Park Boundary Adjustment (Rice River Road) (pdf 2,010kb)
• Atikaki Provincial Wilderness Park (pdf 4,199kb)

Public Review Information

With the support of the Bloodvein First Nation and Berens River First Nation, the East Side Road Authority Inc. has applied for an Environment Act Licence to construct an all-season road connecting the communities of Bloodvein and Berens River to replace the existing winter road access.

Atikaki Provincial Park was established in 1986 as a wilderness park.  The purpose of Atikaki Provincial Park is to:

• Preserve physical features and biological communities representative of the Lac Seul Upland portion of the Precambrian Boreal Forest Natural Region.
• Provide opportunities for a range of outdoor recreational experiences from canoeing and whitewater rafting, that depend on a pristine environment, to lodges and outcamps.
• Promote public appreciation and understanding of the park’s natural features and cultural heritage.

The total area of the park is 398,130 hectares, of which over 99 percent or 396,265 hectares have a wilderness land use category.  The remainder is access land use category to provide a point or route of access. 

The proposed route for the new all-season road follows the existing Manitoba Hydro service access corridor that forms the western edge of the Atikaki Provincial Park.  A realignment of the existing corridor is required to cross the Bloodvein River at its narrowest point.  This proposed road alignment requires that the park boundary be adjusted to remove an area from the park since the wilderness land use category of this area of the park does not permit road development.  This boundary adjustment would require a change to the lands designated as provincial park pursuant to section 7(1) of The Provincial Parks Act.  The area to be removed from the park is an irregularly shaped area with a maximum width of 100 metres wide and approximately 2.2 kilometres in length from the western boundary of the park.  In forested parts of the corridor, a 60 metre wide area within the right-of-way would be cleared to allow for proper sight lines.  The total area to be removed from the park is estimated to be 12.1 hectares.

The proposed route for the all-season road was developed in consultation with the Bloodvein First Nation and stakeholders.  The Bloodvein First Nation passed a Band Council Resolution expressing a preference for the proposed route.  Public notice and review of this proposal is being made through the process that is used to obtain a licence under The Environment Act as an equivalent process to that specified in The Provincial Parks Act as provided by section 9(2).  An environmental impact statement will be made available for review at the public registries established under The Environment Act.  The environmental impact statement will also address the implication of construction of the all-season road and bridge on recreational and other uses of the Bloodvein Canadian Heritage River.

Your comments respecting the above proposal are requested by September 30, 2009.  Please do not hesitate to forward additional information on specific uses and values along with your point of view respecting the future of these areas.

Environmental Assessment and Licensing Contact: Bryan Blunt on behalf of Parks Branch