Government will protect a former NASA tracking station site at Cooper's Island from development after a plan to turn it into a nature reserve received major approval from the public.

This week, Government reiterated it had already submitted a draft Land Use and Management Proposals Plan for Cooper's Island in the House of Assembly this May.

"The public has responded with overwhelming support for the proposal by the Environment Ministry to preserve Cooper's Island as Nature Reserve and National Park," Minister Neletha Butterfield said in a Press release.

Ms Butterfield was responding to recent comments made by Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) CEO Garry Madeiros that the company had been turned down in a proposal take over a power station at the site near Clearwater Beach in St. David's.

Mr. Madeiros made his statements in relation to the imminent unveiling of Belco's next 20-year plan for energy use, which is expected to examine the possibility of building a power plant outside Serpentine Road, before all developable land has disappeared.

Ms Butterfield said the 44 acres of pristine beaches, coastline and woodland which comprise Cooper's Island are ecological and historically important and worthy of protection.

"The vision is to create a nature reserve and parkland area which will provide a green lung in our ever increasingly developed Island," the release said. "It is proposed that much of the area will be restored to its pre-World War II status through a phased woodland restoration programme that will involve clearing of invasive vegetation and extensive replanting of endemic plant species."

A new museum and visitor centre at the former mission control building will be a centre point of the new park.

And an environmental education centre will host school groups and scientists, the Press release said.

Ms Butterfield said Cooper's Island could be an "eco-tourism" destination as it is a world-class spot for whale-watching, bird-spotting, scuba-diving, snorkelling and kayaking.

"Bermuda needs more open spaces in order to sustain its growth and population density," the Press release said.

NASA abandoned the station in September, 2001, hanging the keys over to Government.