Colourful alpine vegetation below the kilometre-high peaks of the Mealy Mountains, Labrador
Press Release
November 5, 2010
Labrador’s Mealy Mountains… Make it Your Virtual Destination
by Cathy Keddy
The Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists’ (MVFN) public lecture series, Biodiversity and Vital Connections for Fauna, Flora, and People, continues November 18 with the third lecture, “Labrador’s Mealy Mountains… Canada’s Next National Park?”. You do not need to be an expert to enjoy these presentations—just bring your curiosity or appreciation for wild nature.
In this upcoming lecture, our coverage of biodiversity will expand to Labrador and the rugged Mealy Mountains, Canada’s latest proposed national park reserve. This vast 10,700 kilometre square wilderness area rises up more than one kilometre above Lake Melville, east of Goose Bay, and encompasses a stunning array of pristine landscapes, vegetation, and wildlife. It transitions dramatically from mountain tundra to a lush forested landscape, which descends gently toward the coast to meet the frigid waters of the Labrador Sea. Here one also finds, the wunderstrand, a spectacular 50-kilometre stretch of unbroken sandy beach recorded in Viking sagas of exploration along the Atlantic Coast.
MVFN is pleased to welcome Doug Harvey, Chief of New Park Proposals, Park Establishment Branch, Parks Canada, as our tour guide for the Mealy Mountains. He will tell us how a national park is born, let us in on where Parks Canada is now working to make new national parks, and also reveal why the Mealy Mountains are so special and what may be in the cards for their future.
Explore the spectacular landscape, flora and fauna of the Mealy Mountains with Doug Harvey in his presentation “Labrador’s Mealy Mountains… Canada’s Next National Park?” Thursday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m., at the Almonte United Church, 106 Elgin St., Almonte. All are welcome ($5 fee for non-members). For further information please contact MVFN’s Program Chair Cathy Keddy at 613-257-3089.
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