Declare Your Favourite Lake or Water Body by Signing the Love My Lake Declaration

As lakes across Canada started to phase from water into ice earlier this month, I asked if any of you has a favourite lake or water body. I also mentioned that Nature Canada is introducing the first national Love My Lake Declaration. Well now I'm back to invite you, your friends and family, your co-workers and your fellow freshwater-lovers to sign it!

The Declaration represents a list of people from coast, to coast, to coast (and beyond!) who want to declare their love for Canada's lakes and other (fresh)water bodies. Simply fill out and submit the form below and voilà, you've made official your love of Canada's aquatic environments - in all their wondrous and valuable forms.

Last week I shared my fervor for two Canadian waterscapes: Frozen Ocean Lake in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia and Big Trout and Trout Lakes in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park - and I've already added them to the Declaration. But let's not 'dam' the enthusiasm for waterscapes there... add your favourite lake or water body now!

So don't click away until you've had a chance to sign the Declaration below! Check back soon for an update on how many Canadian waterscapes have been listed.

	Canadians love their waterscapes, and here's your chance to tell us which lake or water body in Canada is special to you and why. Simply fill out the form below to add your name to the national  Love My Lake declaration.  Fields marked with * are required * Name: First Required Last Required * Email: Required * Postal Code:
	*Question - Required -Name of your favourite lake or water body?
	*Question - Not Required -Town or community nearest to the lake (please be as specific as possible)
	*uestion - Required -Province/Territory of your lake or water body?
	Question - Not Required -GPS coordinates of your lake or water body? (optional)
	*** Question - Not Required -Why is this lake or water body special to you?

Spam Control Text: Please leave this field empty

Do you have a favourite lake or pond?

Ice formation, Stan Wojtaszek

With Fall well underway, Canadians are saying "see you soon" to lakes and ponds all across the country for yet another winter. Swimming, paddling, fishing and visits to the lakeside cottage have, among other things, been put on hold for awhile. But now is a great time to reflect on the many ways that lakes and ponds help us connect to nature throughout the year; how they are part of our experience of the 'true north, strong and free'. And I can't forget all the opportunities lakes offer for pond hockey, ice-fishing and skating during the winter months!

Canadians love their waterscapes, it's pretty much a fact. Saskatchewan-based author Allan Casey explores the almost intrinsic relationship Canadians have with lakes and other water bodies in his 2010 Governor General's Award-winning book Lakeland: Journeys into the Soul of Canada. Through a series of encounters with several of Canada's lesser-known but nonetheless well-loved lakes, Casey explains how lakes are an integral part of the Canadian experience. In the opening chapter he writes:

"Like a lot of Canadians, I have been drawn irresistibly to lakes my whole life. Access to pure lakes is fundamental to my quality of life in my home and native land. I love them all." (from p.2)

That excerpt resonates with me in many ways. I didn't grow up on a lake, nor did I grow up with a lakeside family cottage or taking annual paddling trips or attending summer camp. But I did grow up with fond memories of lots of time spent at lakes and ponds, giving me a great appreciation of them as accessible water bodies. For me lakes were not the ocean, which in my experience on the Bay of Fundy was an all-at-once powerful, beautiful and merciless body of water. Lakes were by no means innocuous in my mind, but they were more palpable, more enjoyable - they were more fun.

With my training in environmental science and biology, lakes came to mean even more to me and my experience as a Canadian. Lakes are so much more than just bodies of water or habitat for "fish". You can read all about lakes as habitat and how to promote healthier human and wildlife habitat along Canada's shorelines at The Living By Water Project. You may also be interested in a report our own Ted Cheskey recently co-authored, called Birds At Risk: The Importance of Canada's Boreal Wetlands and Waterways.

Since expanding my perspective on lakes, I've become an avid paddler (whenever I get the chance) and I love exploring lakes in search of birds, fish, crustaceans, freshwater molluscs, dragonflies and other invertebrates, submergent and emergent plants, solace, recharge... you name it. And now as a parent I have the opportunity to see lakes through my daughter's eyes. I look forward to our first paddling trip together, or the first time we skate on a wide open pond. We had lots of fun this summer exploring lakes in baby-steps (literally) and finding out how fun it is to get Mummy and Daddy wet.

Do I have a favourite lake in Canada? Absolutely! I love a waterscape called Frozen Ocean Lake in Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia. I have fond memories of introducing good friends to open water paddling on that lake, and the back-country campsites are amazing! I also love Big Trout and Trout Lakes in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park. And I'm always glad to expand this list!

So, do you have a favourite lake or pond? If so then stay tuned to our blog. Why? Because we're starting Canada's first 'Love My Lake' Declaration - a list of people who want to declare that Canada's lakes are special to them. Check back soon for more details on how you can get involved!

Show the love on National Tree Day - Give a leafy friend a hug!

Hi Folks!

How many trees have you seen since you woke up today? Did you wish any of them a happy National Tree Day? What about a happy National Forest Week? Dig you hug any of those trees??

Don't worry if these questions take you by surprise, since 2011 is the debut year for Canada's National Tree Day celebrations, spearheaded by the Tree Canada Foundation, which focus on the "great benefits that trees provide us - clean air, wildlife habitat, reducing energy demand and connecting with nature". Nature Canada's celebrations today include our Hug A Tree Photo Contest, which we're asking all of our supporters to enter for their chance to win!

I started National Tree Day thinking about the innumerable ways that trees (and forests) benefit me and my family each day. For example, we have 16 species* of trees and woody shrubs in our small Ottawa yard, which offer us shade, improve our air quality and attract lots of birds and insects to our backyard. I also have several beautifully handcrafted pieces of wood furniture in my home. Those items represent a market for value-added forest products that can be a big incentive for ecologically and economically sustainable forest management, including things like Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of forests. Plus, markets for non-timber forest products are growing in Canada and elsewhere, which makes me think of how much I love wild blueberries and cranberries! Not to mention Canada's amazing forest protected areas!

I've also been thinking about how important trees and forests (such as the Boreal forest) are to many of the migrating birds we're watching head south right now, as well as other wildlife that rely on forests seasonally and year-round. Just think of all the bird species that use trees for nesting, from Woodpecker species to Great Blue Herons!

And having spent time as a kid in 'working forests' with my then-silviculturist father, I can't overlook the importance of trees and forests to many communities across this vast country. The Canadian Forest Service reports that the forest industry - in all of its forms - is the "largest non-urban employer in the country".

In closing, there's really not a better time to kick-off Canada's National Tree Day celebrations than the 2011 United Nations International Year of Forests. Here are some quick facts about global forests from the UN's International Year of Forests (IYF) website:

• Forests are home to 80% of Earth's terrestrial biodiversity
• Forests are central to the livelihoods of over 1.6 billion people worldwide
• Forests cover 31% of the Earth's total land area

For more on what Nature Canada is doing for the IYF, check out our website and our interactive map of Canada's forests. And don't forget to enter our Hug A Tree Photo Contest for your chance to win!

Have a wonderful National Tree Day, and a thoughtful National Forest Week!

All photos by A. MacDonald

* No, not all of these are native species, but I'm working to increase the proportion that are native over time.

Plight of the Piping Plover

Last week Canadians learned that in parts of Atlantic Canada the endangered Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus melodus) is not recovering as well as expected. Numbers from the 2011 International Piping Plover Census in the region revealed that numbers declined 7% since 2010, leading to an overall decline of 14% since the early 1990s. This puts the Atlantic melodus population below the 2011 recovery target of 510 individuals, or 255 pairs. A total of 427 individuals was recorded throughout the region in 2011.



The Piping Plover is actually represented by two subspecies in Canada: the melodus subspecies on the Atlantic coast, and the circumcinctus subspecies in the mid-western interior of the continent. On the Atlantic coast the melodus population faces a number of threats including loss and degradation of nesting habitat, human disturbance (direct and indirect), harassment by domestic pets and recreational vehicles on beaches, increased predation, severe weather and abnormal tides, among others. Visit the Species At Risk Act Public Registry to learn more.



Several years ago I managed a recovery and stewardship program for Piping Plovers in southwest Nova Scotia. That program has evolved and continues today (picture above) as part of a province-wide effort coordinated by Sue Abbott at Bird Studies Canada (our Canadian co-partner in BirdLife International).



Earlier this summer my family vacationed in southwest Nova Scotia and had an opportunity to visit some of the Piping Plover nesting beaches found in the area (picture to left). It was a wonderful opportunity for me to see the real benefits of about 20 years of effort to recover the species and educate people about its plight. That effort was put in by many individuals and organizations, including many dedicated volunteers across the region. But as last week's report indicates, the increase in Piping Plover numbers in southwest Nova Scotia was not mirrored in other parts of the region.



Revisiting some of southwest Nova Scotia's plover nesting beaches reminded me of the many complex threats faced by species at risk. It underscored for me the importance of effectively stewarding and/or protecting the remaining habitats - especially the critical habitats - of these species and finding ways to restore those habitats throughout the species' historic range, whenever possible. Imperiled species such as the Piping Plover especially need to be free of human disturbance and other threats that 'piggy-back' on us - like pets roaming on beaches, coastal development, litter, etc. - so they have a fighting chance to deal with the many threats they naturally face, like predation and severe storms. And that leads me to a piece of great news in this otherwise unsettling story.



On August 6th the Nova Scotia Nature Trust announced the acquisition and protection of 33 acres of coastal lands at Crow Neck Beach, a beach in southwest Nova Scotia that supports more pairs of Piping Plovers than any other beach in the province. Crow Neck Beach (picture to right) is also part of the nationally significant South Shore (Roseway to Baccaro) Important Bird Area, which is also a key stopover site for thousands of migratory waterfowl and shorebirds. This is excellent news for Piping Plovers and other feathered friends!



All photos by A. MacDonald

Note: My Piping Plover photo was taken at a safe distance using optical + digital zoom.

Gift to the Earth - Celebrating Parks Canada's 100th birthday with an eye to the future

Good afternoon, Folks!

I'd like to recap a fantastic week for protected areas in Canada last week. You'll recall that Parks Canada Agency marked its 100th anniversary last Thursday, the same day it received a prestigious “Gift to the Earth” award from WWF International. Way to go Parks Canada!

One hundred years ago to the day, May 19th 1911, the Dominion Parks Branch (now the Parks Canada Agency) was created following the establishment of Banff National Park in 1885. This was the first national parks service in the world (Yellowstone National Park in the US was the first actual national park of its kind created in 1872) and has in many ways set the standard for how governments approach conservation in the national interest the world over.

Nature Canada representatives attended a ceremony last Thursday to commemorate this important historic milestone, at which Parks Canada proudly highlighted its progress on protecting representative examples of Canada’s 39 natural regions on land and 29 marine natural regions on water. You can read more about that progress, as well as forthcoming parks and marine conservation areas here. You can read more about specific conservation achievements here.

But Parks Canada and conservation organizations weren't just celebrating a 100th birthday and a major award last Thursday: the Agency also announced the remarkable expansion of Grasslands National Park through the addition of 110 square kilometers of native mixed prairie grassland on the park's existing West Block!

Grasslands are one of the most threatened ecosystems in North America and the world and, as Canada's only national park in the Prairie Grasslands natural region, Grasslands National Park is home to several nationally-listed species at risk. Nature Canada and other organizations are working to safeguard Canada's remaining grasslands in the Prairies region and British Columbia's dry southern interior. (In fact, you can help us better protect a National Wildlife Area in Canada's Prairie region by taking action here.)

You can celebrate Parks Canada's Centennial and its ongoing work to conserve Canada's epic wild spaces all year long with monthly themes focused on Canada's natural and cultural heritage.

Nature Canada celebrates all of Parks Canada's conservation achievements and seconds WWF International’s choice for the Gift to the Earth award. Alongside other organizations, we have worked hard to support and advocate for the establishment of national parks across Canada to protect our wildlife and their habitats. And we’re poised for more exciting announcements by Parks Canada about further progress toward completing Canada’s national park/ marine conservation areas system. With parks and marine conservation areas currently in progress, Parks Canada is set to expand the national park/marine conservation area system by an additional 28% beyond its existing size – to over 410,000 square kilometers.

One of the sites Nature Canada and other groups are working hard to establish is the proposed South Okanagan-Similkameen National Park Reserve in British Columbia’s southern dry interior. That region is Canada’s “pocket desert” and is a truly unique ecological region that we need to protect before it’s too late. CBC recently did a piece on the issues surrounding that park proposal on The National television broadcast, which you can watch here.

Here's to another great year for national parks, national marine conservation areas and other protected areas in Canada! And don't forget to remind your newly elected Members of Parliament how you would like them to protect these and other 'naturally breathtaking' spaces.

Photos:
Daybreak at La Mauricie National Park of Canada, Québec (A. MacDonald)
Paddler's bliss in Kejimkujik National Park & National Historic Site, Nova Scotia (A. MacDonald)

Encouraging Land Protection Announcement from Nova Scotia!

Happy Earth Day!

This Nature Canada employee got an early Earth Day gift in 2011... Yesterday morning the Nova Scotia government released boundaries for two proposed Wilderness Areas in the northern central part of the province – near the isthmian border with New Brunswick. Wilderness Areas are the gold standard in Nova Scotia’s provincial protected areas network, and one of the proposed sites, the Kelly River Wilderness Area, could become the third largest such area in the province!

I'm excited to see this announcement, as I coordinated a grassroots campaign for a new Wilderness Area in the Chignecto region on behalf of CPAWS Nova Scotia several years ago. In addition to CPAWS Nova Scotia, other organizations including Cumberland Wilderness, the Nova Scotia Public Land Coalition and Ecology Action Centre have been calling for permanent protection of provincial crown lands throughout the Chignecto region for years.

I was very lucky to have canoed down the Kelly River with former area resident and professional photographer, Dale Wilson, in addition to visiting parts of the two sites with members of Cumberland Wilderness. Those firsthand experiences proved to me the outstanding conservation potential of crown lands in the Chignecto region. The area is one of the last strongholds of endangered species including the Nova Scotia mainland moose, the wood turtle and Inner Bay of Fundy Atlantic salmon.

Here’s a map showing the proposed areas in yellow. Environmental organizations had been hoping that all of the provincial crown lands (shown in light green) would be captured in a single proposed Wilderness Area, but support for industrial use/development in the region (e.g., commercial logging, mineral and oil and gas exploration/extraction, wind energy development) seems to have influenced the current boundary proposals. Nonetheless, the proposed protected areas capture beautiful elements of Nova Scotia’s upland, interior forests and its rugged Bay of Fundy coastline (see photos).

Three globally significant Important Bird Areas are located beyond the proposed wilderness areas, scattered along the coastline of the Cumberland Basin. The new protected areas should play a role in reducing the negative impacts of industrial and other human activities on the waters entering the basin – as well as the fish, birds and other species that frequent them.

The public is invited to submit comments on the boundary proposals as of May 11th 2011, with the deadline for submissions on August 12th 2011. More information is available here. While the proposed boundaries are a good start, including more of the crown lands surrounding the two sites in the final boundaries would better protect important wildlife habitats in the area.

All Eyes Are On Nature!

Cast Your Vote for Nature on May 2, 2011!

Canadians expect their government to protect nature. We live in a time when the planet's health is in peril, a time when strong leadership and decisive action are required to address the urgent threats of climate change, habitat loss, and species extinctions.

To effectively protect nature for future generations, the Government of Canada has to do four things:

1. Protect Wildlife
2. Preserve Natural Areas
3. Prevent Environmental Disasters
4. Lead Canadian Conservation

Visit Vote for Nature 2011 to find out more about what the government should do on these four issues. We've also put together a list of 7 Questions for Your Candidates.

Tell Canada’s leaders where you stand – vote for nature in 2011!


Music for All Eyes Are On Nature is courtesy of Pitx.

Nature Canada attends reception for 'Thaidene Nene - the Land of the Ancestors'

Yesterday evening Nature Canada staff had the pleasure of attending a reception for a new national park proposed in the Northwest Territories. The proposed park, called Thaidene Nene and formerly known by the moniker East Arm of Great Slave Lake, covers approximately 33,000 square-kilometres and has been a topic of discussion - and a source of controversy - between the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation and Parks Canada for almost 40 years.

The Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation and Parks Canada have "recently initiated a dialogue to jointly protect lands and waters" of Thaidene Nene, the "Land of the Ancestors." A framework agreement for this dialogue was signed in April of this year, committing the Government of Canada and the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation to work as partners toward a Thaidene Nene Establishment Agreement. With a projected two-year timeline on formal discussions (began in September), boundary studies and negotiations, this Establishment Agreement will lay the groundwork for Parliament to officially decide on a national park designation.

The goal of last evening's reception was simply to "introduce and explain this great Canadian landscape" to various audiences here in Ottawa. Representatives from the NGO sector, the mining sector and various federal government departments were invited to the event, which was hosted by the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation and Member of Parliament for Western Arctic, Dennis Bevington.

We were grateful for this opportunity to hear about the cultural, ecological and spiritual significance of Thaidene Nene directly from Lutsel K'e Dene Elders and community members. Each presenter spoke of the need to protect Tsan’kui Theda, the Lady behind of the waterfall, and the lands around her to ensure that the land would always be there to provide for the people, just like it always has. Lutsel K'e Dene Councillor Terri Enzoe, who spoke at the event, shared that "[o]ur elders and the leadership have long maintained that we have a responsibility to protect Thaidene Nene to ensure that our way of life can persist into the future. Given the progress we have made over the past year, we hope that this dream can soon become a reality, and that all Canadians can be inspired by this great place."

You can read more about Thaidene Nene in presentations by Steven Ellis of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation and in research led by geographer Nathan Bennett. Also, stay tuned to Nature Canada's blog and our e-newsletter to learn more about how you can participate in public consultations around the creation of this new national park.



Photo 1: Larry Innes, Executive Director of the Canadian Boreal Initiative, at the 2007 NWT land withdrawal ceremony, which focused on withdrawals for both proposed Thaidene Nene National Park and the proposed Ramparts River and Wetlands National Wildlife Area.

Photo 2: Wolverine, one of Canada's intrepid northern mammals that calls Thaidene Nene home.

What's threatening Alberta's protected areas? The law, actually...

UPDATE:

Since posting this story just hours ago, we've learned that Bill 29, the proposed "Alberta Parks Act", has been officially withdrawn from debate. Cindy Ady, Alberta's Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation, has also agreed to conduct a public consultation on the proposed legislation, responding to urgent requests from concerned citizens and conservation organizations, alike. You can read more in the Edmonton Journal and in the Sierra Club of Canada's related press release.

We thank all Canadians - particularly Albertans - who spoke out in favour of the province's iconic protected areas system! We look forward to results of upcoming public consultations and hope that conservation remains the number one priority in Alberta's protected spaces!

******************************

On Tuesday, Nature Canada, the Sierra Club of Canada (SCC) and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) submitted a joint letter to Alberta Premier, Ed Stelmach, asking him to immediately withdraw Bill 29, the proposed "Alberta Parks Act". This Bill threatens to redefine the management priorities in Alberta's parks and will reclassify the province's existing Wilderness Areas, Ecological Reserves and Wildland Parks. These and other changes could threaten the ecological integrity of 1 existing and 1 nominated World Heritage Site in Alberta, in addition to risking new external pressures on 2 other World Heritage Sites in the province.

In a substantial step backward for the province's protected areas system, Bill 29 proposes to "balance" conservation objectives with recreation and tourism. In our view, conservation should be prioritized over other activities in a system that effectively "...conserves unique and representative land within Alberta’s natural regions for present and future generations..." (cited from s.2(1) of the Bill).

Astonishingly, there was no public consultation on Bill 29 prior to members of Alberta's Legislative Assembly debating and voting on it. As detailed in a joint press release issued November 23rd by Nature Canada, the Sierra Club of Canada and CPAWS,

The [Bill] removes prescriptive laws specifying what can and cannot happen inside parks, opens all parks to tourism development and off-road motorized recreation, and leaves all decisions between development and protection inside parks to Ministerial opinion. That includes Dinosaur [Provincial Park], Áísínai'pi [Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park], and the parks contiguous with Wood Buffalo, Banff and Jasper [National Parks].

What's more, if Bill 29 passes into law it could affect the ecological integrity of numerous Important Bird Areas (IBAs) that coincide with provincially protected areas throughout Alberta. As BirdLife International's Canadian co-partner in implementing the IBA program, alongside Bird Studies Canada, we're concerned about what this could mean for birds and their habitats - especially Alberta's grassland birds. Nature Canada estimates that the proposed changes to Alberta's protected areas system would affect 5 nationally significant IBAs, 4 continentally significant IBAs and 35 globally significant IBAs. Visit the IBA Canada website to learn more about these and other IBAs across Canada.

Bill 29 has already passed its second reading by members of Alberta's Legislative Assembly (MLAs) and could rapidly become law after its third reading. But the government of Alberta needs to hear what Albertans and Canadians think of this draft Law before it's too late!

Our colleagues at CPAWS and the Sierra Club have organized letter-writing campaigns to help the public voice concerns over Bill 29 and the way it has proceeded. You can find them here:

Alberta's new Parks Act puts parks at risk
and
Alberta's Parks Need You

Help to safeguard Alberta's protected areas - for current and future generations of all Canadians.

Photo 1: Bighorn Sheep, Alberta's provincial mammal
Photo 2: Suffield National Wildlife Area, SE Alberta (A. Teucher)

Do Canadians want protected 'National Mining Areas' instead of National Wildlife Areas?

On Friday, October 29th, the federal government made an unexpected decision to permit mineral exploration in a highly anticipated protected area in the NWT. The 14,250 km-squared area west of Great Slave Lake is called Edéhzhíe (Horn Plateau) and is slated to soon become a National Wildlife Area (NWA). Perhaps the federal government instead wishes to designate a protected National Mining Area...

Edéhzhíe is both culturally and ecologically significant for the Dehcho and Tłįcho peoples, and is enshrined in Dene tradition and spirituality. The Horn Plateau is an important wetland stop-over along the Central and Mississippi migratory flyways, and is not surprisingly home to the Mills Lake Important Bird Area (IBA), known for globally significant numbers of Tundra Swan and other waterfowl, and continentally significant numbers of Greater White-fronted Goose. Edéhzhíe also provides habitats for several ‘at-risk’ species including boreal woodland caribou, wood bison and wolverine. It is known as a “food basket” in times of need within surrounding Mackenzie Valley communities.

Despite its rich natural and cultural heritage, Friday’s decision marks a significant policy reversal - one that opens up Edéhzhíe’s subsurface to mining and oil & gas industry interests. This ultimately poses a threat to the ecological integrity of important lakes and wetlands and boreal forest habitats in this region.

This surprising decision overturns a formal request by the Grand Chiefs of the Dehcho First Nation and Tłįchǫ Government that Environment Minister Jim Prentice designate the Edéhzhíe NWA and permanently protect the subsurface lands beneath it. Friday’s decision also ignores recommendations for the same surface/subsurface protections made in a 2009 report by the Edéhzhíe Candidate Protected Area Working Group. That Working Group consulted widely with stakeholders on options for the area, as part of the multi-stakeholder NWT Protected Areas Strategy. The 2009 report was submitted to the Dehcho First Nation, the Tłįchǫ Government and Environment Canada, the federal department responsible for establishing and overseeing NWAs.

Nature Canada is very disappointed with the federal government’s decision on Edéhzhíe, which was made just two days before interim government protections on both the surface and subsurface lands of Edéhzhíe were about to expire - after more than a decade of being retained.
The decision was recommended by Minister John Duncan of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC; PC number 2010-1360), the federal department holding significant jurisdiction over resource management and social and economic development north of 60°. It should be noted that Minister Duncan's decision on Edéhzhíe was made indirectly: he recommended that only surface land withdrawals be 'renewed' for the area, instead of rights to both surface and subsurface lands. It's easy to get lost in the details.

It's worth noting here that in 2009 the Edéhzhíe Working Group recommended a final boundary for the NWA that was 57% of the original 25,000 km-squared study area. The excluded portions represent most of the areas of significant lead/zinc and gas potential within the study area. A 2009 mining industry newsletter laments that even this reduced boundary is too restrictive and prevents the industry from understanding the “true resource potential” of the area, particularly that of diamonds. Interestingly, the 2008 socio-economic assessment of the Edéhzhíe Candidate Protected Area, done by AMEC consultants for INAC, suggests it would be 10-20 years before any non-renewable resource developments could be operational in the area.

Nature Canada's disappointment in the government's Edéhzhíe decision stems from three points:

First, there are clear legislative options to protect both the surface and subsurface lands of Edéhzhíe through an NWA designation combined with an Order in Council (under the Territorial Lands Act). This is what many conservation groups and the Dehcho First Nation and Tłįchǫ Government want. The Canada Wildlife Act gives the Minister of Environment authority to establish and manage NWAs across Canada, but does not protect subsurface lands beneath those NWAs. This is a serious weakness of the Act and currently makes NWAs the ‘poor cousins’ of more strictly protected areas like National Parks. Minister Duncan’s inaction with respect to protecting Edéhzhíe's subsurface suggests that INAC is not willing to support options that respect the wishes of key stakeholders. More importantly, this surprising situation suggests that INAC is not comfortable communicating its true intent to stakeholders of the Edéhzhíe NWA.

Second, this decision has very serious implications for the entire network of 54 NWAs across Canada. This is the first time the federal government has 'opened' a proposed or existing NWA to industrial development. It sends a clear message that NWAs are not off-limits to subsurface resource extraction, regardless of what local stakeholders, First Nations governments and Canadians say about how these areas should be managed and safeguarded over time. While Nature Canada awaits the federal government’s final decision on Cenovus’s proposal to drill 1,275 gas wells inside the CFB Suffield NWA, we are dismayed that the writing may already be on the wall. This is even more concerning given the presence of nationally endangered species in the grasslands of Suffield NWA. Friday’s decision also raises important questions about national parks that are potentially threatened by resource extraction within or just beyond their borders, such as the recently announced Sable Island National Park or the proposed Nááts’ihch’oh National Park Reserve.

Third, we expected the federal government to respect the wishes of First Nations governments and the 2009 recommendations of the Edéhzhíe Working Group. We now question the government’s commitment to listen to First Nations and Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders during future NWA designations through the NWT Protected Areas Strategy. This is particularly worrisome given that local communities in the NWT have shown support for subsurface protection in other candidate NWAs.

While Friday’s decision opens the Horn Plateau’s subsurface to mining activity, interim protections on Edéhzhíe’s surface lands have been renewed until October 31, 2012.

Please check back to follow Nature Canada's unfolding response to this story. The NWT Protected Area Strategy hosts an on-line album of Edéhzhíe photos you can view here.


Photo 1: Mackenzie Valley, Jeff Wells
Photo 2: Boreal Chickadee, Jeff Nadler
Photo 3: Migrating Snow Geese, Stewart Marshall, Flickr

Raising A Green Fledgling - Part 6 - Staying Green While Not Turning Blue...

Hello Readers!

This part of the series focuses on a very timely question - how do you stay warm when the weather starts getting colder?

Fall has descended upon Ottawa in the last couple of weeks, prompting my wife and I to dig out sweaters from the depths of our closet and to evict the patio furniture from the backyard. These and other aspects of 'hunkering down' for the winter made me think about how we and our green fledgling will stay warm during the next 6-8 months.

So how do I heat my home? Well, we have an oil furnace. Yup, oil. We live in a city where natural gas is widely available to homeowners but our home happened to be newly re-equipped for oil heat when we purchased it. Our furnace is less than 12 months old and has a high efficiency rating. We've also sought out and sealed drafts around our 50+ year old house and installed a programmable thermostat to reduce our overall energy consumption/costs for heating & cooling.

This series is all about how well my environmental values withstand the many demands - and conveniences - of modern-day parenthood. While home-heating is not a parenting issue, per se, how it is done absolutely influences one's environmental footprint. In fact, space heating in the home can contribute to 60% of residential energy consumption according to Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). After a series of posts on the things I think my wife and I are doing "well" to reduce our family's environmental footprint and connect our daughter to nature, I thought it timely to talk about something we can and should do better over time.

The Gulf of Mexico oil disaster is a poignant reminder of the risks associated with oil & gas extraction, hopefully catching the attention of anyone who heats with oil or gas, drives a vehicle, or purchases petrochemical products. Concurrent events like the Red Sea oil spill (June), China's Yellow Sea oil spill (July), the Enbridge pipeline rupture in Michigan state (July), Chevron's bid to explore offshore oil & gas in the arctic Beaufort Sea (Aug) and news of Tar Sands extraction impacts on the Athabasca River (Sept) remind us again and again of these risks.

The fuel and electricity that provides heat and hot water in my home (and possibly yours) come from somewhere, and I want to better understand their origins. That way I can make more responsible choices about how to reduce my family's environmental footprint by choosing greener, cleaner energy. Everyone should consider try this, particularly since we're using even more energy (derived from fuel combustion and other sources) in our homes over time... NRCan lists the following changes in energy consumption between 1990 and 2007 across the residential sector*:

Residential

• Water heating = 6.2% increase
• Space heating = 14.3% increase
• Lighting = 17.8% increase
• Other appliances (e.g., TVs, DVD players, personal computers) = 123.8% increase
• Space cooling = 166.5% increase

These increases can be attributed to numerous factors and don't directly reflect changes in fuel and electricity consumption. However, consumption is trending in an opposite direction than one would hope given the risks associated with how and where we get the raw energy sources from in the first place...

So here's the take-home message for this RAGF installment: How will you keep your family warm this winter? Do you know the origin of the fuel and/or electricity used to heat your home? Do you know the full environmental impacts associated with your home heating method? And if so, have you thought about how to reduce the negative impacts? Is your family interested in green energy alternatives?

For the record, there are a lot of 'greener' home heating alternatives available, including things like heat pumps, concentrated solar thermal power, geothermal energy, and energy sourcing alternatives like Bullfrog power. I won't expand on this topic for now since this discussion could be a post unto itself.

Stay tuned for the next post in the RAGF series. Check back every 2-3 weeks for new installments. And thanks for reading!


*Keep in mind that this is just a SAMPLE of all the sector-specific energy consumption stats available from NRCan - I encourage you to also check out the changes in energy consumption patterns that have occurred across the board.

Photo: A. MacDonald

Raising A Green Fledgling - Part 5 - Eating Greener Greens...?

Hello Readers!

Do you know where your food comes from? I mean, where it really comes from? Could you point to the community on a map where your food is grown, raised, produced (or synthesized)?

It's hard to do, right? And almost all of us would need a World map to even try. As new parents, my wife and I want to have a greater ability to know where our food comes from and how it's produced - and we want our daughter to know these things as she grows up, too.

On that note, we started buying our produce, meat, baked goods and some other foods at a local farmers' market several years ago. We used to live in Halifax, where visiting the farmers' market was a weekly tradition in all seasons, and we took pleasure in seeing the same producers from communities around Nova Scotia each week. Since moving to Ontario, we've been semi-regular patrons of the seasonal Ottawa Farmer's Market and love the selection of locally produced meats (artisan and traditional), tree fruits, plants and body-care products that were equally great but in lower supply at the Halifax market. But friends in Ottawa helped us discover a new way to know more about where our food comes from: Community-supported Agriculture (CSA).

CSA is, according to the Ontario CSA Farm Directory website, an agreement in which:

CSA farmers receive a set fee (from you - the consumer) prior to the start of the growing season. In return, you receive shares (produce) in the farm's bounty and you also share the risks due to weather and other factors beyond the control of the farmer.

CSA is an amazing way not only to know where your food comes from, but to also have a part in producing your food, and being more closely connected to the local/regional forces of nature that dictate what produce makes it to your table. Moreover, CSA is a great way to support agricultural production in your region in a time when it's somehow economically sensible/feasible to ship apples from New Zealand, South Africa and Chile to Canada throughout the year!?

Our CSA farm is based in Aylmer, Québec, just across the river from Ottawa, and the farm owners offer several drop-off points throughout Ottawa-Gatineau to more efficiently deliver weekly food boxes (small or large) to share-holders. 'Our farm' has organic certification and the offers farm open houses and opportunities for share-holders to help out with the harvest. In fact, some CSA farms require that share-holders help with the harvest to keep farm operational costs lower, for example. And CSA farms don't only provide produce, some offer various types of meat as well*. There is even a community-supported fishery (CSF) in Nova Scotia that provides weekly seafood catches to its shareholders. I'm sure others exist elsewhere, too. In any case - wow!

But enough about CSA and farmers' markets - how does all of this relate to raising a green fledgling??

Well first of all, knowing where your food comes from and how it's produced gives you a lot of control over your exposure to pesticide and herbicide residues, as well as knowing whether synthetic fertilizers were used and, if so, how their use was regulated. Run-off from both synthetic and "natural" fertilizers (e.g., manure) can infiltrate waterways and even drinking water resources, causing problems like nitrogen and/or phosphorus contamination, eutrophication and hypoxia, and should be minimized. Products from farmers' markets and CSA farms can offer environmental advantages, like organic production techniques, compared to supermarket produce and meat, which in turn help to minimize my family's environmental footprint and reduce our exposure to synthetic chemicals.

Second, experiencing the same weather in which your food grows, and then seeing what grows and what doesn't as a result of that weather, forges an intricate connection to nature. Suddenly you understand how an unusually dry summer translates into the food on your table throughout the fall and winter months. And it does - having a secure, sustainable supply of food on the table is something many Canadians take for granted, especially since foods like carrots, leafy greens and raspberries are available at the supermarket year-round. Again, the locavore or down-to-earth lifestyle choice helps to minimize my family's environmental footprint while giving us insight into the realities of farming in the Ottawa Valley region.

Third, I personally love knowing that I'm supporting farmers in my region. I grew up in Nova Scotia's breadbasket, so this means a lot to me. Farmers feed cities. Not only that, but we're sharing in the gains and losses of our region's farmers; we make the same investment at the beginning of each season without knowing what or how much produce we'll end up with. This is another important aspect of our connection to nature - humans are intimately connected to the environment through our nourishment and our economy.

These points play a big role in raising our green fledgling. She'll (eventually) be eating a substantial amount of organic, locally produced, farm-fresh food - and hopefully year-round, if we follow-through on plans to make our own baby food from summer produce! ;-) Plus, our daughter will grow up knowing where her food comes from and having a sense of what's involved in getting it from the field (or barn) to her dinner plate. That's very important to my wife and I. And yes, I concede that agriculture in many of its forms can be associated with negative environmental impacts, but that discussion goes far beyond the scope of this post. We all need to eat and, in my mind, we should strive to eat food that is produced and harvested as 'greenly' as possible.

As with many greener lifestyle choices, shopping at local farmers' markets and belonging to a CSA and/or CSF is not financially feasible (or geographically practical) for all. But I really wish it were, and I think that Canadian society is moving toward making that so. The premium, if any, charged for local agricultural products better reflects the costs of production, and maybe even the environmental costs, as more farmers move toward sustainable agricultural practices.

If you're interested in CSA, CSF or local farmers' markets, try searching the net for one in your region, or contact your provincial/territorial federation of agriculture to find out what options are available. You can also try contacting non-profit groups working on agriculture, fisheries and/or sustainable living issues to get more info.

I hope you've enjoyed this part in the series - I know I had fun writing it. Sorry for the delay on this addition to the RAGF series and check back in two weeks for the next post!


*Currently our CSA is veggie-only. Instead, we get a lot of our meat from farmers' markets and through friends' with transitionally-organic farmers in their family.

Raising A Green Fledgling - Series Update

Hello Readers,

Thank you as always, for following my Raising A Green Fledgling series on Nature Canada's blog. I'm greatly enjoying sharing my learning, thoughts and challenges in green parenting with you and look forward to continuing the series as the pages of the calendar turn over time.

This update is to inform you that instead of appearing each week, new installments in the series will appear every two weeks from now on. This change will allow me more time to research and develop each installment.

Thanks again!
-Alex

Raising A Green Fledgling - Part 4 - Fried Green Diapers

Hello Readers!

This week's Raising A Green Fledgling installment focuses on green diapering. It can be a messy topic but no worries, we'll keep it nice and clean. Which takes me to the title of this week's post. Why "fried green diapers"? It's simple really, but you'll have to read on to find out why.

Cloth/reusable diapers seem to be enjoying a resurgence after years of high consumer demand for convenient, disposable diapers. I think this resurgence makes sense both environmentally and practically, but it's worth exploring some other perspectives on this, especially since there can be substantial up-front costs for cloth/reusable diapers.

A 2009 research review called Diapers and the Environment, from the Massachusetts-based group NEARTA, compared disposable and reusable diapers in four areas: solid waste, non-renewable resources consumption, airborne/water-borne wastes, and water consumption. The authors' showed that reusable diapers had fewer negative environmental impacts than disposables in the first three areas, while there was no advantage for either type of diaper with respect to water consumption.

Alternatively, the UK Environment Agency showed that reusables can be better or worse than disposables in terms of their negative environmental impacts. In a 2006 study, An Updated Lifecycle Assessment Study for Disposable and Reusable Nappies (Aumônier et al), the Agency concluded that "consumers' behaviour" largely determined the negative environmental impact of reusables over time. Translation: the impacts of reusables vary based on how you wash, dry and hand them down over time, not to mention the appliances you use and the electricity and water you use to rinse, wash and dry them (and where the electricity and water come from). Other life cycle assessments of disposables and cloth/reusables have failed to find a clear front-runner, as well.

Fair enough. Reusable diapers do require a lot of rinsing, washing and drying, multiple times per week. And rinsing a reusable can consume more water once baby is on solid food. Hot water washing (w/ cold rinsing) is also recommended to remove stains from reusables. Finally, you shouldn't mix regular laundry with reusables because they require less detergent and detergent that is less harsh and free of synthetic chemicals (see RAGF Part 2). Detergent residues left after washing can decrease the absorbency of reusables and may lead to skin irritation.

But I was perplexed that life cycle assessments would fail to name reusables the clear winner. I mean, disposables generate so much MORE persistent, non-degradable waste than reusables, right? And disposables may take up to 500 years to decompose and break-down into tiny bits of plastic that persist in the environment. Most disposables also contain super absorbent polymer (SAPs) compounds that solidify to gel once 'activated', adding additional chemical waste to the mix.

Reusables range from being 100% composed of natural fibres to being a clever mix of natural and synthetic fibres. They're typically designed with an outer cover and an absorbent insert, both of which are washable. While the synthetic components of reusable diapers have life cycle impacts similar to those of their disposable counterparts, reusables produce far less waste at the end of product life and can be re-used by multiple babies over time in a family. Try that with a disposable.

My wife and I considered the waste our reusables might generate if we tossed them out with this week's trash (assuming we were bonkers). We estimated the waste at less than one regular-sized garbage bag, and that's based upon one-size-fits-all reusables that will last us at least until our daughter's first birthday. Plus we can re-use them with future children. Using some of the estimates presented in the research above, a typical baby goes through 70 to 80 disposables per week. That's easily enough to fill 52 regular-sized garbage bags in that same one-year period. One garbage bag compared to 52 for the same period amounts to a lot more impact from disposables in my mind. A 2004 World Health Organization study said that disposable diapers are the "third largest individual constituent of municipal solid waste" making up "over 4%" of the total amount.

So notwithstanding water consumption, I don't buy the conclusion that disposables and reusables have equal environmental impacts. But that's just my opinion, and you know my bias. I also can't get beyond the fact that disposable diapers effectively 'lock-up' biodegradable human waste for hundreds of years, while reusables often liberate that waste into sewerage systems where it can be treated and/or biodegraded more readily.

I haven't talked about the difference in cost between disposables and reusables, but it's enough to say that reusables have a greater up-front cost. However, this cost is usually amortized, or spread-out, over the baby's entire diaper-wearing life. And the diaper-wearing lives of its younger siblings. Disposable diapers cost less per unit in the beginning but become more expensive as baby grows, and they have to be newly purchased newly when they run out. NEARTA conducted another research review, Diaper Cost Comparison, which reported these conclusions. The review also points out the costs associated with water and electricity consumption for laundering reusables, including the cost of using a cloth/reusable diaper cleaning service. This is certainly not insignificant in every case.

As for our experience with reusable diapers so far: they're wonderful. We're happy about the reduced waste associated with reusables, which allows us to feel like responsible environmental stewards. On the practical side, we're very impressed with how well reusables work and how little odor they have when soiled. Our daughter seems to love them, too. They're not messy and rarely leak if fitted and fastened properly, plus many of the new outer cover materials prevent external soaking. We use a non-airtight diaper pail lined with a washable diaper bag to store soiled diapers, and control occasional odors between washes by using drops of tea-tree oil in the bag. We also use washable cloth wipes with an all-natural diaper wipe spray, and we found great all-natural, biodegradable bamboo baby wipes to use as an alternative when not at home.

There's one other huge benefit to cloth/reusable diapers: they motivate toddlers to potty-train earlier since there are no super absorbent polymers and moisture-wicking membranes to make baby feel dry even though he/she's not. Yes, you have to pay more attention to the state of baby's diaper this way, but it's worth it in the longer-term I think.

Oh yeah, what about the title of this week's post? Well, fried green diapers refers to a trick that comes in handy with reusables. Normal washing and drying often won't remove all stains from reusable diapers, but the sun does a remarkable job of naturally bleaching them. So whenever possible, we line-dry our diapers to make sure they stay looking as good as new. I think "fried green diapers" nicely describes this process, since the sun 'fries' our 'green' diapers. :-)

Disclaimer: This is by no means a comprehensive look at the benefits and pitfalls of cloth/reusable diapering. There are numerous maternity stores, baby shops, boutiques and other retailers that can help you navigate the world of cloth/reusable diapers and I encourage you to seek the advice of their experienced staff. A simple Google search will help you find a retailer or cloth/reusable diapering blog or forum in your region.

Photos: A. MacDonald

Raising A Green Fledgling - Part 3 - Forging an early connection to nature

Hello Readers,

This week I'd like to focus on a couple of indirect ways in which my wife and I are trying to forge our daughter's connection to nature as she grows.

The idea for this post started as I was looking at my daughter's growing book collection. Yes, that's right, she's not even 7 weeks old and we already have tonnes of books. And tonnes of music - but that'll be a later installment in this series. We make sure to read, sing, hum and chat to our little one as much as possible to help her on her way.

Anyway, back to the point: I noticed that the majority of her books and music had some sort of nature theme. This is nothing extraordinary, of course, but I think it says something about the types of environmental values we hope to instill in our family.

I noticed books such as "On The Night You Were Born", by Nancy Tillman; "Baby Beluga", by Raffi and Ashley Wolff; "Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?", by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle; "I Like Bugs", by Lorena Siminovich; "Walking With Mama", by Barbara A. White; "Just Me and My Dad", by Mercer Mayer; "The Very Quiet Cricket", by Eric Carle; and of course "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. There are of course many others I've neglected to list.

Several of these books talk about wildlife as an inherent part of our world - as part of the human experience, while others focus on directly experiencing nature and the countless critters that comprise it. Baby Beluga gives a special nod to a federally-listed species at risk, too. "Panda Bear...", "On the Night..." and "The Lorax" go a step further to deal with conservation themes, quite eloquently and directly in the case of the Seuss book.

These are important messages we want to convey to our daughter. We want her to grow up understanding how we fit into nature and what opportunities we have to decrease our negative impacts on the natural world. There are many ways to do this and so far, it seems we're approaching it indirectly through the stories we share with our daughter. So with any luck, she'll grow up interested in nature and aware that it is both possible - and important - to experience it.

That last point made me think of a book by one of my undergraduate professors, Peter G. Brown, from McGill University's School of Environment. The book is called "The Commonwealth of Life" and though it's a treatise on stewardship economics, Brown discusses the inherent right to exist held by every living thing. He also addresses the moral imperative we have, as humans, to respect those inherent rights. I'm barely scratching the surface here, but I always recall these ideas when I think about why people should care about nature. That's just my take, and my daughter is free to come up with her own. :-)

There are also a couple of very special books I have to mention. My wife and I got these books more for ourselves to enjoy, but we think they hold a number of fun, timeless and valuable messages for our daughter, too. They are: "The World Needs Your Kid" by Craig and Marc Kielburger (of Free the Children fame) and Shelley Page, and "Nelson Mandela's Favourite African Folktales" edited by Nelson Mandela. We love that "The World Needs..." shares inspirational messages and ideas by some of the world's leading promoters of positive social and environmental change, while Mandela's book shares some very real, valuable lessons about life and the world, told through the voices of numerous African cultures throughout the ages. Both books capture some great points about the importance of connecting to and understanding nature.

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for checking out this third installment in the series. And be sure to check back next week for Part 4 on the trials and tribulations of cloth diapering!

NOTE: In searching for links to the books I've mentioned above, I stumbled across a list of children's nature books recommended by Virginia State naturalists. I also found this one from the Massachusetts Dept of Conservation & Recreation. That has me wondering, do other government departments, professional naturalists, naturalist clubs and associations have similar recommended book lists? Please post a comment if you know of one.