National Wildlife Areas - Environment Canada

To protect both wildlife, especially migratory wildlife and species at risk, and their habitat, the Canada Wildlife Act was passed in 1973 to authorize the establishment of protected areas known as National Wildlife Areas (NWAs). There are 51 NWAs across Canada protecting a total of over 529 000 hectares. They are regions which include relatively undisturbed ecosystems containing nationally significant aquatic and/or terrestrial habitats necessary for animals or plants to survive.

National Wildlife Areas are created and managed for the purposes of wildlife research, conservation, and interpretation. Regulated hunting is permitted in some locations. Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) uses an ecosystem approach to manage and plan for NWAs. This approach requires the cooperation of public and private institutions to manage landscapes with a common goal of habitat protection.

Source: Environment Canada’s website.

Criteria for Selecting Candidate National Wildlife Areas

Hinterland Who's Who Fact Sheet on Environment Canada's Protected Areas Network

Find National Wildlife Areas by Provinces and Territories

New Brunswick National Wildlife Areas

Nova Scotia National Wildlife Areas

For protected areas in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island:

Canadian Wildlife Service
Environment Canada
P.O. Box 6227
17 Waterfowl Lane
Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1G6
Phone: (506) 364-5044

Marine Wildlife Areas - Environment Canada

To address coastal and offshore conservation issues, the Canada Wildlife Act was amended in 1994 to extend provisions for National Wildlife Areas to be identified as Marine Wildlife Areas (MWAs) beyond the 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit out to the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone limit. At present, there are several candidate sites under study.

Many birds depend on offshore coastal habitats for breeding, feeding, moulting, migratory stopovers, and overwintering. Offshore habitats include:

the waters surrounding islands where birds nest
polynyas (openings enclosed in ice)
upwelling areas, where cold, heavy subsurface water rises toward the surface, especially along the western coasts of continents, displacing the surface water
seamounts (elevations of the sea floor)

Coastal habitats include: