Stretching from Alaska to Labrador, the boreal forest carpets the landscape with trees, providing important habitat for numerous bird species, CBC Canada writes. The Boreal Birds Need Half campaign is a rare chance to save a forest that fortunately, is still mostly untouched, scientists say.
“In the rest of the world, much of that kind of protection will require restoring and converting habitat that has been degraded or lost,” Jeff Wells, the science and policy director who’s leading the project for the Boreal Songbird Initiative told CBC News. “But in the boreal forest, we have large expansive areas that are free from large-scale industrial development. So we have a chance to get it right from the start.”
The campaign, launched Monday, is endorsed by the Boreal Songbird Initiative, Ducks Unlimited, and several other groups including The National Audubon Society, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, and Nature Needs Half.
This is the first time that major conservation groups have formed a coalition and embraced the 50-percent benchmark, Bird Watching Daily reports.
The campaign also plans to add businesses to its list of endorsements and collect signatures from people in Canada and the U.S.
So far, the campaign has met with enthusiasm from the public.
“When you see broad support from the scientific community, bird organizations and everyday citizens, it makes for a compelling case for increased protection,” Kevin Smith, of Edmonton, which is the national manager of boreal programs for Ducks Unlimited Canada, told The Edmonton Journal. “We are looking at a whole different scale of balance of protection and sustainable development. “At first glance it might seem like those things are at odds, but we work with a lot of partners in industry that want to achieve their goals while assuring that areas like this are preserved for future generations. I think it is a very important initiative.
“Protecting at least 50 percent of the boreal forest is in line with what modern conservation science contends is needed to preserve the ecological health of the forest and its biodiversity, and we hope that governments will adopt land-conservation policies that reflect the science,” Wells says.
Stretching across all of Canada’s provinces and territories, with the exception of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, the boreal forest is often referred to as “North America’s bird nursery.” This forest provides nesting habitat for an estimated three billion birds and this is crucial. More than 300 species — almost half of all bird species in the U.S. and Canada are in steep decline.
Alberta boasts a system of wetlands that support more than three million water birds, and it’s the last natural nesting area for whooping cranes, The Edmonton Journal reports. Only 35 percent of the province is free from industrial disturbance.
“These nesting grounds are the only place on Earth where the birds can make more of themselves,” Wells said. “If you remove that ability, it makes it that much more difficult for their species to survive. So these boreal forests, which are largely in Canada, are critically important for the world.”
They are also frequently locations where oil, gas, and mineral deposits are found, CBC News reports. In Canada, the northern boreal forest is, for the most part, publicly owned and managed by First Nations, governments or industry.
This means that the key to conserving half of this forest will be to encourage partnership among these groups.
“It’s about preserving enough of large areas through a balance of protection and sustainable development,” Wells said. “Development will need to occur to a certain level to maintain economies and healthy northern communities. We think there is a way to balance nature with the economic development.”
So, the coalition plans to do this by collecting public and industry support over the next year, and then present it to the Canadian and U.S. governments. Organizers hope this will strike a chord, CBC News reports.
“Birding is a real important connection to nature,” Smith said. “In order to keep those birds continuing to migrate through all those backyard bird feeders, this level of protection and sustainable development is necessary.”
“Birding is a real important connection to nature,” Smith said. “In order to keep those birds continuing to migrate through all those backyard bird feeders, this level of protection and sustainable development is necessary.”
This campaign is being launched prior to the United Nations’ International Day of Forests on March 21 and in conjunction with the release of a video by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that highlights just how important boreal forests are for birds. Also in the same week, the documentary “Songbird SOS,” which focuses on the decline of songbirds all around the world, and it will air on the program The Nature of Things.
