Search results for "caribou"

Alberta's Athabasca Heartland - A world class conservation opportunity for caribou and you

You may have read in the news yesterday Woodland caribou under threat in oilsands area, group says. Alberta’s Athabasca Heartland contains most of Alberta’s last unprotected intact wildness which is home to an amazing variety of plants and animals such as woodland caribou, wolverine, old growth forests, and peat lands. It is also the home of the Alberta oil sands , as well as other development such as logging and conventional oil and gas operations.

For the first time in over 10 years, the Alberta government will be identifying and creating new protected areas in the province --starting with the Lower Athabasca Region. What an incredible conservation opportunity! The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) wants the Alberta Government to protect at least 50% of the region by establishing a strong network of protected areas to conserve this valuable wilderness and give species, such as the threatened woodland caribou, a fighting chance for survival.

To learn more about the issues and proposed solutions visit the CPAWS Northern Alberta Chapter’s website or watch this great video prepared by the Chapter and sign the petition to protect Alberta’s last great intact wilderness for caribou and you:

(watch video on YouTube)

Your answers are making a difference

Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the CaribouAndYou website survey. You are helping us make a better resource to protect Canada’s woodland caribou through action, sharing, and education. We appreciate all of your comments and are reviewing them to determine which ones we can implement now and which ones will require more time. We’ll update you as we move along. Your continued support is awesome!

Volunteers needed in Ottawa to help a caribou

Do you want to help protect Canada's wild? Gain some volunteer experience? Channel your inner caribou?

CPAWS is looking for outgoing individuals to get out in the Ottawa community with me and help collect signatures to protect my species - Canada's woodland caribou.

As a member of the Bou Crew, you'll talk to people about protecting Canada's woodland caribou and their boreal forest habitat, help kids build their own antlers, and take photos of it all. CPAWS provides the training and tools. All you have to provide is the enthusiasm.

You are the ideal candidate if you're comfortable with:

• talking with lots of people
• working with kids
• using a digital camera

...and interested in conserving Canada's wilderness!

Want to be part of the fun? Please contact Jill Sturdy to sign up.

Making Forests Count for Caribou And You update

Back in October, I blogged about why Making Forests Count at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen is important to caribou and you.

Just before CPAWS’ climate and forest expert Chris Henschel took off for Copenhagen to attend the talks, I got the chance to sit down with him to hear what he expected and hoped for from the negotiations. Here is the video of our conversation:

(watch meet Chris Henschel video on YouTube)

Since then, Chris has been reporting about the UN negotiations around forests and climate change in Copenhagen via his Make Forests Count Scorecard, Forests and Climate Change blog and Biocarbonman twitter account. The news early on was dire. Only Switzerland agreed to account for real carbon emissions from cutting down forests while the other developed countries wanted to create a logging loophole:

(watch logging loophope video on YouTube)

But, then a glimmer of hope. Out of nowhere France stepped up to the table and agreed to make forests count and urged the other EU countries to follow suit. With this hopeful news I crossed my hooves hoping to hear of developed nations siding with France and Switzerland to make forests count. But now as the clock ticks down to the last day of meetings, it looks as though an agreement might not even be finalized. Whatever comes out of Copenhagen, one thing is clear. Making Forests Count will continue to be an important issue. This means the Make Forests Count team will continue to pursue and support the right change for our climate.

Join the cause and follow the news at:
www.MakeForestsCount.org
Make Forests Count on facebook
Chris Henschel’s Blog
Chris Henschel on twitter

Nature's Danger Alert! When caribou meets politician.

I recently read Ontario's Woodland Caribou Conservation Plan. The plan acknowledges the negative impact that human development in my species' habitat has on our well being and that 40-50% of my Ontario boreal woodland caribou friends and family have disappeared.

The plan sets out the Provincial Government's intentions for woodland caribou conservation. They intend to do more studies and then take action. At this stage of the game, intentions are not enough. The Government needs to take action NOW to stop the decline of Ontario's woodland caribou. An immediate halt on the logging and road building that is pushing my Ontario cousins to extinction needs to be put in place while the Government undertakes further studies.

Please show your support for immediate action to save Ontario's woodland caribou by going to http://www.caribouandyou.ca/on and sending a letter to the Ontario Goverment.

My species thanks you :)

New report confirms boreal forests are vital to caribou and you!

The Boreal Songbird Initiative and the Canadian Boreal Initiative today posted the findings of a new scientific report "The Carbon the World Forgot". The report's findings confirm how important boreal forests are to the fight against climate change. Besides being the life blood for a large variety of wild life, including me and my boreal woodland caribou family and friends, the boreal is also vital to your health and well being because it is the world's largest land carbon store. Boreal forests represent 22% of all carbon stored on our planet's land surface.

Some other interesting findings are:

1. Boreal forests hold almost twice as much carbon per area as tropical forests.
2. Boreal forests can keep large amounts of carbon out of our atmosphere for thousands of years by storing the carbon underground in deep peatlands and permafrost soils.
3. Canada has the largest intact Boreal forest.

So how should these new findings be used to fight climate change? According the report:

The Kyoto Protocol failed to create sufficient incentives for forest conservation and sustainable forestry. Carbon accounting for peatlands, the planet’s most carbon-rich ecosystems, was also not included.

Future climate change protocols must be better suited to motivate stewardship of the massive quantity of carbon stored in forest and peatland ecosystems.

Two simple changes to the protocol that would have far-reaching beneficial impacts are 1) inclusion of peatland carbon; and 2) mandatory accounting of all carbon emissions from forest management, without an obligation to account for emissions caused by natural disturbances. This protocol should also require a positive or neutral affect on biodiversity and ecosystem services in order to maintain capacity to adapt.

In other words, our leaders need to Make Forests Count in the next agreement on climate change. If you want your Government to make forests count, then go to www.makeforestscount.org and sign the email or petition. It will take you less than a minute to do, so please take a minute to do it now.

I would like to send a BIG woodland caribou THANK YOU to the Boreal Songbird Initiative, the Canadian Boreal Initiative, and the authors of the report for all of their hard work in putting together and publishing these very important findings. You are helping to save the lives of both of our species, families, and friends. Thank you.

Bou's Halloween DIY costume idea - can you guess what it is?

Happy Halloween! It’s Halloween eve and if you are still stuck wondering what to go as this year, may I suggest a “Woodland Caribou”? What did you think I would say? To help you out, I put together this Halloween video to show you how to build you’re very own set of woodland caribou antlers and how to act like an authentic member of the herd. Don’t forget to personalize your antlers with some custom BLING!

And if you are looking for something fun and rewarding to do after Halloween, why not become an official CPAWS volunteer this holiday season!