What's a National Wildlife Area?

National Wildlife Areas (NWAs) are established and protected under the Canada Wildlife Act. To be considered for designation as a NWA, a site must contain "nationally significant” habitat for migratory birds, support wildlife or ecosystems at risk, or represent rare or unusual wildlife habitat or a biogeographic region.

Some of Canada's best wildlife habitat has been set aside in a network of 51 NWAs and 92 migratory bird sanctuaries that span all provinces and territories. This protected areas network is managed by Environment Canada and is critical to Canada's efforts to conserve biodiversity (from Nature Canada)

The South Shore of Prince Edward County is a significant peninsula of land within the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario major bird migration corridor. This area is significant for migration and is home to at least 22 species at risk, including endangered and threatened. The unique alvar habitat, with 27 km of undeveloped shoreline is becoming increasingly rare.

Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area (1383.790 acre) was established in 1978 because it met the criteria for designation. Currently there are approximately 5000 acres of government owned land within the South Shore which could easily be included in the National Wildlife Area. It would be a natural progression to expand the current NWA to include all government owned land of the South Shore to ensure lifetime protection of the biodiversity in this region for future generations of wildlife and humans.