Whiteshell Provincial Park has been expanded but the head of Park System Planning and Ecology for the province says it won't open up any new cottage or recreational areas.

Jessica Elliott says the Whiteshell is being enlarged by close to 3,000 hectares in an area south of Dorothy Lake and west of Heart Lake which connects the park to the Whitemouth Bog. She notes the area has limited accessibility.

"The expansion is a wetlands so in the summer it's hard to go down. You can paddle the Rennie River with a canoe. In the winter, the area would be available for winter hiking and snowshoeing and those types of activities that people like to do in the wilderness. But there will be no recreation trails or anything like that developed in the expanded area."

The province has also expanded the protected area in the Whiteshell by over 20,000 hectares. It says the expansion of the park will also help protect the shores of Big Whiteshell Lake, the Winnipeg River, White Lake and the rivers and streams that feed them. Elliott says the purpose of provincial parks is both to provide recreation and protect habitat.

"The two most important things for provincial parks are recreation for people but also the conservation of Manitoba's landscapes and the conservation of those habitats and the wildlife that people come to see and to recreate in."