First Nations and governments in Manitoba and Ontario working to protect boreal forest region
Petitioners Call on Premiers to Protect Boreal Forest
60,000 Join in Call to Increase Protection for Breeding Grounds for Billions of Birds
Toronto, May 12, 2009 - With spring bird migration in full swing, Ontario Nature and other environmental groups across Canada will deliver 60,000 petitions today calling for increased protection of Canada's 1.3-billion-acre Boreal Forest. Referred to as the "Bird Nursery of the North," the Canadian boreal is the breeding and nesting grounds for billions of migratory birds. Serious declines of many bird populations have prompted calls for large-scale protection of this critically important habitat. Simultaneous media events are planned in Toronto, Ottawa, and Quebec City, with participation in six other provinces and territories (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Alberta, and British Columbia).
The petitions - to be delivered to Premier Dalton McGuinty, other provincial Premiers, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper - urge Canadian governments to adopt the principles of the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework. Developed with some of the world's leading scientists, the Framework calls for protecting at least 50% of the Boreal Forest and supporting sustainable development practices in the remaining areas. Signatures were collected via the Save Our Boreal Birds website ( www.saveourborealbirds.org), a collaborative effort by more than 20 conservation groups from across Canada, the United States, Central and South America.
"The Boreal Forest is widely regarded as the songbird nursery for the Americas," says Caroline Schultz, Executive Director of Ontario Nature. "Millions of birds migrate there to nest and breed in Ontario alone. We cannot afford to lose any more of this precious habitat than we already have."
In Ontario, logging, mining and other industrial activities have already carved through the southern Boreal Forest, fragmenting the landscape and destroying wildlife habitat. Logging alone can destroy an estimated 45,000 migratory bird nests in a single year in Ontario. The intact northern Boreal is situated north of the line where commercial forestry currently takes place, roughly along the 51st parallel. Last summer, Premier McGuinty made a landmark commitment to protect at least 50% of this region - an announcement lauded in Canada and internationally
There is an urgent need for the Ontario legislature to pass legislation that fulfills the Premier's promise. At present, less than 10% of Ontario's Boreal Forest is protected, and only 5% of the northern Boreal in protected. Many boreal-dependent birds have been in steady decline for decades. Provincially, olive-sided flycatcher numbers have decreased by almost four-fifths over the past 4 decades - with 46% of the decline in the last decade alone. The rusty blackbird has been decreasing by an average of 12% a year over the past three decades.
"The dramatic decline in migratory songbirds warns us that our forests are under siege," says Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biolody at York University. "We urgently need to safeguard what remains for songbirds and ourselves."
"We have grown increasingly alarmed by the drop in boreal bird populations," adds Ms. Schultz. "To reverse this disturbing trend and conserve biodiversity, we are anxious to see strong legislation and funding for protection and sustainable land use planning, with Ontario and First Nations working in partnership to ensure that Premier McGuinty's promise is realized."
Scientists have also called for protection of Canada's Boreal Forest in recognition of its importance as the world's largest carbon storehouse. Carbon equivalent to 27 years' worth of the world's fossil fuel emissions is stored in the lakes, soils, peat lands, and trees of the Boreal Forest, but can be released due to industrial disturbance of these lands.
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Manitoba government injects funds into UNESCO bid
May 11, 2009
The Manitoba government is investing $531,000 in a bid to have an area on the east side of Lake Winnipeg declared a UNESCO world heritage site.
The money will go to pay staff to prepare land use studies and do community consultations in the area, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said.
Four First Nations have been working on the bid for nearly three years. Struthers said the money would help the Pimachiowin Aki Corporation — a partnership of the First Nations and the governments of Manitoba and Ontario — to prepare the nomination document and video.
'These extra resources and funding will help them get a lot of important work completed.'
—Sophia Rabliauskas, Pimachiowin Aki spokesperson
The site the government is seeking to have declared contains 40,000 square kilometres of vast boreal forest, rivers, lakes and wetlands spread across the Canadian shield and straddling the Manitoba-Ontario border.
It provides a habitat for wildlife such as woodland caribou, wolverine and bald eagles, according to the Pimachiowin Aki heritage project website. If the UNESCO bid is successful, the region would join attractions like the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef as World Heritage sites.
The First Nations involved include Poplar River, Little Grand Rapids, Pauingassi, and Pikangikum.
Pimachiowin Aki spokesperson Sophia Rabliauskas noted that while these plans are being developed, the corporation is continuing its work on a variety of studies and community consultations required for the nomination.
Traditional and contemporary methods to be used
The completed nomination will include the final boundaries of the site and will also describe the innovative ways the area will be managed using both traditional Anishinabe and western scientific knowledge.
'We know we have to be very thorough with this document.'
—Stan Struthers, Manitoba conservation minister
"Our UNESCO nomination has to be very detailed, starting with a vision from each of the First Nations partners on how they see the land being used and cared for. Our land-use plan for Poplar River is complete and the focus is now on getting the land-use plans for Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi completed," said Rabliauskas. "These extra resources and funding will help them get a lot of important work completed."
Creating a world heritage site in the area would not change the ownership of the land. Each jurisdiction would be responsible for planning and management in its area and all aboriginal and treaty rights would remain fully protected, Struthers said.
It will still be some time before the UN actually receives all the material and begins the judging process, he added.
"We're looking at 2011 — late 2011 — for our document to be ready and to move on to the UNESCO nomination folks to take a look at," Struthers said. "We know we have to be very thorough with this document."
Government making a mistake: provincial Tories
The Manitoba Conservatives say the government is making a huge mistake by not running Manitoba Hydro transmission lines through the area. Leader Hugh McFadyen supports the UNESCO bid, but said the government should include the transmission lines as a land use in the region, and include them in the document.
But the NDP plans to run the hydro lines on the west side of Lake Winnipeg at substantially greater cost. Struthers said the UNESCO bid would be threatened by building the power lines on the east side.
McFadyen said there is no indication the bid for the UNESCO designation would suffer with a hydro line in the region. The east side of the lake is a more economical route for the hydro line and would give the region an economic shot in the arm, he said.
"What we've been arguing is that there is room for limited development and a UNESCO designation, and a win-win for east-side communities who need the economic development as well as for all Manitobans, " he said.
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