Raising A Green Fledgling - Part 1 - Introduction to the Series

Hello Blogosphere! You may already know me as Manager of Nature Canada's Protected Areas Program, but I'll soon start to wear a second hat on the Nature Canada Blog...

Every Friday for the next while I'll be posting my personal accounts of trying to be a 'green parent'. My wife and I joyously welcomed our first child, a beautiful baby girl, in July and we're excited to see how well our strong environmental values withstand the many demands - and conveniences - of modern-day parenthood.

My wife and I both have academic and professional backgrounds in biology and the environmental sciences, but our new role as parents will no doubt challenge us in many ways we can't even imagine...

This series will focus on the various environmentally responsible parenting choices my wife and I make, such as which baby products we buy, what foods we eat and the various things we do to maintain a small ecological footprint. I'll also write about the ways we try to gradually help our little girl connect to nature.

Now for some housekeeping.

This series will describe my own parenting choices and experiences and should in no way be interpreted as parenting, lifestyle or other advice coming from me or Nature Canada. It's just a way for me to share my green parenting thoughts, ideas and challenges (and failures...?) with you, the Reader.

Check back next Friday for Part 2, describing what we did to create a safe, 'harmful chemical-free' environment for our baby prior to her arrival.

Image 1: Me with my newborn daughter (Photo: J. MacDonald)
Image 2: Hemlock grove on Frozen Ocean Lake in Kejimkujik National Park & National Historic Site (Photo: A. MacDonald)

Black-footed Ferret is Making a Comeback

Photo by Brian Gratwick

The Black-footed ferret should not be confused with its close relative the domesticated ferret. Contrary to the domesticated ferret which originates from Europe, the black-footed ferret is native to North America; in fact, it is the only indigenous species to North America.

The domestic ferret as the name would imply is widely kept as a pet and varies in color from white to nearly black usually with a dark mask and tail. The Black-footed ferret has dull yellow fur that is slightly darker on the back.

The degradation of the ferret’s home, the prairie grassland, significant decline of prairie dog populations (the ferret source of food), and disease have all led to the near-extinction of the species. This mid-sized member of the weasel family once found in almost every prairie dog colony across the length and breadth of the North American plains, from the Rio Grande north to the Frenchman Valley, was extirpated from Canada in 1937 and globally extinct in the wild by the late 1970s. It was officially listed under the Canadian Species at Risk Act in May 2000 and classified as endangered in the U.S. as of 1967. For a long time it was believed that the species was extinct until 1981 where a small group of about 130 ferrets were discovered near Meeteetse, Wyoming. At that time, these last known ferrets were probably the rarest mammals on earth. In 1985, these same ferrets were taken into captivity to be bred at various facilities across North America with the intention of being reintroduced into the wild.

Today, after being erased from the Canadian prairie over seven decades ago and after dwindling to a whisker of extinction, the black-footed ferret has made its comeback. "In the early hours of July 14, a playful litter of kits was observed," announced Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice. "The black-footed ferret mother and her three kits appeared healthy and engaged in honing their survival instincts."

On October 2, 2009, a population of 34 black-footed ferrets were released into Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan; of those 34 at least 12 survived the winter. Here is a link to footage of the first black-footed ferret kits born in the Canadian wild. In the coming months you will also have the opportunity to take in this exciting new discovery through the documentary Nature of Things with David Suzuki.

Seismic Survey in Lancaster Sound Blocked

Yesterday, a Nunavut court granted an injunction to block the seismic testing that was to be carried out in Lancaster Sound - a proposed National Marine Conservation Area - this summer under the joint German-Canadian Eastern Canadian Arctic Seismic Experiment. However, the block is temporary given that the Federal Government may appeal the block or undertake a second round of consultations with the Inuit communities in the region.



The decision was reached because of the potential impacts on wildlife and local communities. Justice Sue Cooper, the judge behind the ruling, wrote “If the testing proceeds as planned and marine mammals are impacted as Inuit say they will be, the harm to Inuit in the affected communities will be significant and irreversible”. “The loss extends not just to the loss of a food source, but to loss of a culture. No amount of money can compensate for such loss.”



The Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), the German partner, has accepted the decision and acknowledged that it is a Canadian issue.



We hope this experiment will not proceed in the Arctic and that Lancaster Sound will one day become a National Marine Conservation Area.