OTTAWA, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Canada announced Wednesday it will create two huge conservation areas to protect the boreal forest and tundra in the North.

    Environment Minister John Baird told a news conference in Ottawa that the two protected areas in Northwest Territories will cover 10 million hectares and are among the largest in Canadian history.

    Canada is "withdrawing massive areas from industrial development to protect some of the most impressive ecological and cultural wonders in the North for generations to come," he said.

    According to a government release, one protected area will be a national wildlife park in the Remparts River and Wetlands, a 15,000-square-kilometer area along the Arctic Circle. The government has budgeted 830,000 Canadian dollars (about 846,000 U.S. dollars)over five years to fund the area.

    New studies and negotiations have also started for the creation of a national park in the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. Another 62,000 square kilometers of land adjacent to the proposed park has also been set aside.