In the News

Environmentalists want the Manitoba government to order an immediate year-long pause on logging and mining in a sweeping area northwest of Grass River Provincial Park to help woodland caribou recover from a massive forest fire earlier summer. The fire burned about 55,000 hectares north of Cranberry Portage and destroyed a large part of the Kississing-Naosap caribou herd's range, Wilderness Committee spokesman Eric Reder said Friday. The herd is one of three in Manitoba that the province has categorized as high risk due to ongoing or imminent development activities. Reder and Manitoba Wildlands spokeswoman Gaile Whelan-Enns said the province has to limit development in the area to allow the caribou time to find a new area to feed and calve. "The caribou aren't going to be able to live in a forest fire area," Reder said. "They have to go somewhere. The question is where do they go?" Reder said the pause in development, including hydroelectric ...

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Floods, fires, melting ice and feverish heat: From smoke-choked Moscow to water-soaked Iowa and the High Arctic, the planet seems to be having a midsummer breakdown. It's not just a portent of things to come, scientists say, but a sign of troubling climate change already under way. The weather-related cataclysms of July and August fit patterns predicted by climate scientists, the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization says — although those scientists always shy from tying individual disasters directly to global warming. The experts now see an urgent need for better ways to forecast extreme events like Russia's heat wave and wildfires and the record deluge devastating Pakistan. They'll discuss such tools in meetings this month and next in Europe and America, under United Nations, U.S. and British government sponsorship. "There is no time to waste," because societies must be equipped to deal with global warming, says British government climatologist Peter ...

We grabbed our paddles and headed into the deep woods

[caption id="attachment_593" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo by MARTIN ZEILIG"][/caption] I was startled from my dreamless sleep by a spine-tingling snarl in the thick boral forest not far from my small tent. Too close for comfort, but thrilling in a spooky sort of way. Quickly, I clicked on my headlamp and listened intently. Was it a black bear growling in frustration at being unable to reach our food packs strung high up in a jack pine? Perhaps a smaller hunter -- a fisher, a marten, or even a lynx after its evening meal? Maybe a lumbering moose or woodland caribou, snorting as it foraged. Noises can be deceptive in the back country, especially at night. A couple of others in our group of six canoeists, Les McCann and Brian Wagg, confessed over a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee that ...

Land Offered as Compensation for Province's Role in Forced Relocation of Dene Community in 1956 The Province of Manitoba officially apologized for its role in the forced relocation of the Sayisi Dene from Duck Lake to Churchill in 1956 at a ceremony today on the outskirts of Churchill. The ceremony was attended by Sayisi Dene Chief Jimmy Thorassie, Churchill Mayor Michael Spence and Aboriginal and Northern Affairs Minister Eric Robinson. "This disgraceful and sad chapter in Manitoba history must be acknowledged. While the federal government of the time was responsible for the relocation, others, including provincial officials, contributed to the tragedy," said Robinson. "With this apology, we pledge to never forget the tremendous suffering initiated over 50 years ago that continues in so many ways to this day. The Province of Manitoba accepts responsibility for erroneous information that validated the relocation and commits to moving forward in a ...

The provincial government is inviting Manitobans to participate in the creation of a new provincial park. The park would be in north-central Manitoba at Little Limestone Lake, a 15-kilometre body of water north of Grand Rapids. The lake is in a limestone region with underground drainage and many cavities and passages caused by dissolution of the rock. It is referred to as a marl lake, since it changes colour when calcite precipitates in the water as the lake's temperature rises in summer. "Protecting one of the most amazing examples of a marl lake in the world is an important legacy we can leave for future generations," Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie said. "Because of its rare geography, Little Limestone Lake stands out among Manitoba lakes for its annual cycle of magnificent colour changes." Ron Thiessen, executive director for the Manitoban branch of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said the current park reserve boundary is ...

Volunteers to help study vegetation, wildlife

RIDING MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK -- The three-woman boat crew plies the high seas of Clear Lake in glorious sunshine, chasing northern pike hard-wired with transmitters, and pulling up creels of slimy sculpin. For these summer students employed by the wildlife lab at Riding Mountain National Park, it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it. Now, that someone could be you. The national park is launching a "citizen scientist" program where ordinary Joes and Josephines can join everything from this summer's archeological dig at the park's former POW camp to following transmitter-clad pike by boat using a hand-held antenna. For years, summer students have lined up for jobs to augment the wildlife lab's field work. The voluntary citizen scientist program hopes to expand that labour force further. The park gave the Free Press a tour of some research projects citizen scientists will be recruited for. The first ones started this ...

Public Consultations Underway Until Aug. 31

A new provincial park at Little Limestone Lake in north-central Manitoba is being proposed and the public is invited to have input in the process from mid-July to late August, Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie announced today. “Protecting one of the most amazing examples of a marl lake in the world is an important legacy we can leave for future generations,” said Blaikie. “Because of its rare geography, Little Limestone Lake stands out among Manitoba lakes for its annual cycle of magnificent colour changes.” With the co-operation of the Moose Lake Resource Management Board, the province is developing a management plan for the proposed park to guide how it will be conserved and protected. This process involves the Mosakahiken Cree Nation, local citizens, industry, interest groups and the general public and will incorporate scientific and traditional knowledge. Little Limestone Lake is a 15-kilometre body of ...

Refurbished Marsh Trail at Falcon Lake Opening

Manitobans and visitors are invited to enjoy Canada's Parks Day July 16 to 18 by taking in a wide variety of family-oriented activities including being an honourary natural resource officer, Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie announced today. “We can be proud of the fine heritage of our parks,” said Blaikie. “This province features many popular campgrounds, beaches and picnic areas in beautiful, natural environments and this weekend is a great time to explore everything our provincial parks offer.” This year, Canada's Parks Day celebrates the International Year of Biodiversity and more than 30 provincial parks are featuring special events in honour of Manitoba Parks 50th anniversary. Scheduled activities include:· · whirlwind tours in 25 minutes through the history of provincial parks celebrating the golden anniversary at amphitheatres at Grand Beach, Birds Hill, Big ...

OTTAWA -- The plummeting moose population in Nopiming Provincial Park demonstrates the animals need more space if they are going to survive, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society said Friday. In its 2010 Review of Canada's Parks, the organization calls for more and bigger parks across the country that are connected to provide wildlife with improved mobility and migratory paths. "In the old days, we used to draw boundaries for parks based on political decisions, not ecological need," said CPAWS Manitoba executive director Ron Thiessen. "But the lack of parks, protected areas, and connections between them has led to a massive decline in species across Canada." Thiessen noted the fact Riding Mountain National Park and Duck Mountain Provincial Park are not connected via protected land cuts off wildlife species like elk and wolves from their traditional migratory routes. Instead of swaths of protected land connecting with each other from coast to coast, Canada's parks ...

Ensuring Canada's woodland caribou, eastern wolf and other at-risk species survive will require bigger, more interconnected parks, a new report says. Canada's parks are an uneven patchwork in terms of how much protection they offer endangered wildlife, concluded the third annual review of how wildlife are faring in Canada's parks released Friday by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. "There are quite a few [species] that in fact rely very heavily on parks as their main habitat," said Eric Hébert-Daly, the group's executive director. "Having really big parks, to keep large habitat in tact, having them connected to other protected areas is quite essential." Animals tend to thrive in larger, well-managed parks, he said. "The smaller ones that aren't connected tend to be the ones that have a hard time." The report praised the government efforts to create more parks, including the recently announced Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area in B.C., Sable Island in ...