Manitoba escarpment Photo: Shawn Baker
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
By Gray Jones
The secret of the 'prairie' provinces is that they are far more that wheat fields, endless sky and cattle. Well over fifty per cent of their landmass is blanketed with boreal forest. Until the last decade these huge northern forests remained as vital carbon-sinks and intact wildernesses webbed together by water. Then the technology evolved for manufacturing pulp from hardwoods, and the great boreal rush was on. Piggybacking on the billions of dollars worth of pulp mill expansions are coal, nickel, and uranium mines, and explosive oil and gas developments.
Perhaps the most frightening specter is the astronomical $25 billion expansion of the oil sands in Alberta. The amount of water required by this Goliath will dry up forest ecosystems and produce massive greenhouse gas emissions, escalating global warming.
Unique wilderness areas like Dore/Smoothstone in Saskatchewan and historically significant provincial parks like Manitoba's Duck Mountain are being clear cut as you read this. Duck Mountain Provincial Park is famous for its lakes, loons, and the ghost of Louis Riel.
In most cases raw pulp, logs, petroleum and ore end up in foreign countries-exporting our value added jobs with them.
WCWC's Boreal Forest Campaign is working with local people to stop logging in provincial parks and significant wildlands, and to create new protected areas. We are about to present plans for two new parks in Alberta's boreal forest.
For many Canadians, both the wonder of the boreal and the threats it faces are out of sight, so out of mind. We urge you to help spread the word and support our boreal forest campaign.
Gray Jones, is Executive Director WCWC Boreal Forest Campaign
