Woodland caribou, songbirds could disappear from the Mackenzie Valley: CBI report

Hanneke Brooymans
edmontonjournal.com

EDMONTON - Woodland caribou and sensitive songbirds could disappear from large tracts of Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories unless strong conservation measures are introduced, new research shows.

The report by the Canadian Boreal Initiative focused on the Mackenzie watershed, an area that covers 170 million hectares, including over half of Alberta and the Northwest Territories, as well as parts of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Nunavut.

 Two-thirds of the boreal forest in that area remains intact. That forest provides stores carbon, filters and stores water, and provides habitat for birds. But if industrial development continues as usual, the watershed and wildlife are at risk, says the report by the Canadian Boreal Initiative, an organization which works with industry, governments and others to conserve the country\'s boreal forests.

Read the rest of the article at the Edmonton Journal website.