Today, Elvis Loveless, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, and the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, announced the creation of a new Priority Place for Species at Risk: the Limestone Landscapes of the Great Northern Peninsula Priority Place in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Priority Places are areas of high biodiversity value that are seen as a distinct place with a common ecological theme by the people who live and work there. These places have significant biodiversity, concentrations of species at risk, and opportunities to advance conservation efforts. Focusing on these areas allows us to conserve and restore habitat that benefits many species at once.

This is the 12th Priority Place to be identified in Canada and the first one in the province. The new Priority Place encompasses unique ecosystems on the Great Northern Peninsula of the Island of Newfoundland, such as limestone barrens and outcrops, limestone coasts and islands, and limestone highlands, forests and wetlands that support high biodiversity. This area provides habitat for approximately 40 federally and provincially listed species at risk. It is also an important stopover site for many at risk migratory birds.

Priority Places are collaborative initiatives. The Federal and Provincial Governments are working with Indigenous Governments and Organizations, environmental non-governmental organizations, and other partners to support and fund on-the-ground recovery actions, capacity building, and adaptive management within the Limestone Landscapes of the Great Northern Peninsula Priority Place.