A recent visit to Wolverine Bend by a senior Parks Canada official, Nadia Colville, has revived a long-standing debate about turning the surrounding Spruce Highlands into a national park. Wolverine Bend, a small town at the edge of a vast stretch of northern forest, has long been a point of interest for planners in Ottawa. Indeed, this latest proposal marks the third occasion in twenty years on which federal officials have pushed to place the highlands under national protection. With its old-growth stands and hundreds of kilometres of untouched trails, the region would certainly represent a welcome asset. Colville hailed the town as a role model of careful stewardship from which the rest of the country could learn, praise that was warmly received during a whirlwind tour meant to drum up support and draw in outside funding. When asked whether a park was genuinely on the table, the official skirted the issue. She declined to rule it out entirely, yet she offered supporters a glimmer of hope with the tantalizing remark that "no landscape is ever protected until the people who live in it have been won over first."

Regional councillor Hugh Berman, spearheading the latest campaign for the park, believes much of the legwork has already been done. According to Berman, "Wolverine Bend already draws the largest share of backcountry visitors in the province and a good deal of research funding, and a national park would simply let both keep growing." Berman also argues that the highlands could serve as a gateway to the far north for eco-tourism. "A park would be ideal for scientific research from the universities and, above all, for wildfire monitoring across the region," he adds.