Photo of the Month: Wood Duck

Sent in by Larry Kirtley, this photo of a Wood Duck drake in his breeding plumage is so vibrant it's almost as if he's a painting.

Wood Ducks will find their mates in January and arrive at their breeding grounds in the spring already paired. This species is one of the few North American Ducks that nest in trees.

Thanks for sharing this fabulous image, Larry!

If you love this photo, why not put it on your desktop? Or, you can check out previous photos in our archives.

Suffield Panel's Report: 1 Year Old

On January 27, 2009 - Yes, one year ago! - a Joint Review Panel made its recomendations to the Government of Canada regarding EnCana’s project proposal to expand gas development inside CFB Suffield National Wildlife Area (NWA). The Panel determined the project could not be approved at that time without compromising the conservation of wildlife, but also set out requirements and 27 recommendations that would have to be met for the project to go forward.

Nature Canada and our colleagues in the Suffield Coalition support many of the Panel's recommendations. We are waiting for the federal cabinet to respond to the JRP Report and deny any further oil and gas development in the CFB Suffield NWA.

While we've been waiting, the Chestnut-collared Longspur, another species that breeds in Suffield NWA was assessed as Threatened by COSEWIC.

One more reason to ensure no more development occurs within this wildlife haven!

Photo by Andy Teucher

Sable Island Announcement Greeted with Hope, Caution

The Honourable Jim Prentice, Canada’s Environment Minister and Minister Responsible for Parks Canada, and the Honourable John MacDonell, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Natural Resources, announced earlier this week that Sable Island will soon be designated a National Park or National Wildlife Area. Both governments have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they outline their roles for the coming year in order to protect Sable Island.

Sable Island, a narrow 40 km strip, is located approximately 300 km offshore from Halifax and is home to various wildlife species - from wild horses to migratory birds. According to Parks Canada it is also home to 'virtually the world’s entire population of vulnerable Ispwich Savannah Sparrow.'

An existing migratory bird sanctuary protects birds and their nests on the island but affords little protection to bird habitat. Find out more about Sable Island and other important bird habitats like it by visiting the national Important Birds Areas website at http://www.ibacanada.ca/.

Nature Canada supports this joint government action to increase habitat protection for marine mammals, seabird colonies and species at risk, including the Ipswich Sparrow and the Roseate Tern.


However, we caution that a national park or wildlife area could open the island to public access and may increase the risks of erosion and habitat degradation on the island's fragile 23 square kilometre coastal dune ecosystems. Currently, the few human inhabitants of Sable Island conduct research or environmental monitoring.


While either protected area designation would significantly improve habitat protection on the island, the government must ensure it limits human impacts on the island’s ecosystems.

Designating Sable Island as Protected Area should be noted as one of Canada's achievements for the International Year of Biodiversity.

Mackenzie Gas Project Report- A huge "IF" for Sustainability

A Joint Review Panel, tasked by the government to report on the environmental, socio-economic and cultural effects of the Mackenzie Gas Project, released its findings December 30, 2009, over two years after the panel's hearings ended in 2007.

The panel concluded that if all of its 176 recommendations were fully implemented, the project would likely be beneficial and have no significant adverse impacts.

Nature Canada has argued publicly that the National Energy Board should obtain firm, funded commitments from the federal and territorial governments to implement the recommendations of the Joint Review Panel of the Mackenzie Gas Project before approving it.

Ninety of the recommendations require action by the federal government, and fifty more require action by the Northwest Territories government. Nature Canada is skeptical that many will actually be funded and implemented without clear, enforceable direction from the National Energy Board. The costs to the federal government alone in implementing its recommendations could run to hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is regrettable that the Panel did not just state more clearly that the Mackenzie Gas Project is unsustainable unless governments and the proponents make a huge conservation effort. Now it is up to the National Energy Board to ensure that it gets solid commitments from governments that they will implement their Panel recommendations before the NEB approves construction.

Nature Canada is pleased that the Joint Review Panel used a test of sustainability to assess the environmental and other impacts of the Mackenzie Gas Project. Many of the specific recommendations in the report are also welcome.

The Panel put the six globally and one continentally significant Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the Mackenzie watershed on the map. Bird-lovers everywhere should be delighted by the fact that the Panel accepted Nature Canada’s recommendation that these IBA sites—which include key breeding and staging areas from Great Slave Lake to the Mackenzie Delta--should be protected under the Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy (NWTPAS).

Unfortunately, the Panel misunderstood the application of the NWTPAS to these Important Bird Areas and did not explicitly endorse Nature Canada’s recommendations that construction-related activity in and near IBAs be limited to the October 30 to May 1 period (when migratory birds are not present), and that the physical footprint of pipeline facilities in IBAs be minimized. Nature Canada will ask the National Energy Board to make our recommendations explicit conditions in any license it issues.

The Panel made other important recommendations that would protect birds and bird habitat if they are implemented by governments:

Protected Areas - The federal and NWT governments should complete the system of protected areas under the existing Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy. More specifically, the Panel first recommended that governments establish a firm timeline for implementing permanent protection for existing candidate protected areas in the Mackenzie Valley. The Panel also recommended land withdrawals of other areas at different stages of consideration for the protected areas network.

Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary - The federal Cabinet should bring forward regulations to protect the Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary, where two of the three anchor fields to extract natural gas are to be located. Protection of the sanctuary was a Nature Canada priority during the Panel’s hearings. The Panel recommended that compensatory habitat be provided for lands within the sanctuary lost to subsidence (flooding) caused by extraction of natural gas. Nature Canada argued unsuccessfully that all sanctuary lands lost on account of Project activities be compensated for. However, the concept that habitat in bird sanctuaries lost or degraded by development should be compensated for with equivalent habitat outside these sanctuaries is an important step forward.

Mackenzie Delta – The Department of Indian and Northern Affairs should designate the Mackenzie Delta as a special management area—which should help to protect the Delta’s migratory bird populations when and if natural gas development induced by the Mackenzie Gas Project ramps up.

The Mackenzie Gas Project is expected to cost at least $16 billion, not including the costs of implementing the Panel’s recommendations. The Project includes three major natural gas production fields north of Inuvik and two underground natural gas pipelines (the longest is 1,220 km) to carry the gas south along the Mackenzie Valley to northern Alberta to fuel tar sands development and other uses.

At the Joint Review Panel's hearings in 2007, Nature Canada argued that the full impact of the project on the lands, water and wildlife of this unique environment would leave an unacceptable footprint. If allowed to proceed, the project would:

• Fragment habitat for bears, caribou and wolves
• Harm fish and fish habitat by increasing sediment deposition into rivers and streams
• Permanently damage important breeding or staging areas for millions of geese, tundra swans and other migratory birds
• Cause forests to be clear cut and heavy machinery deployed to construct the infrastructure and the new underground pipelines
• Impose development on First Nations lands before the Dehcho and Sahtu peoples complete their own land use plans and
• Accelerate the effects of climate change in the Mackenzie Valley.

The National Energy Board has scheduled hearings in April 2010 to hear final arguments for and against the project before making decisions (possibly by September 2010) on whether to approve the Project, and if so under what conditions. However, the Deh Cho First Nation has filed a motion in January 2010 requesting that these hearings be delayed until the federal government files its response to the Panel’s recommendations.

Nature Canada will be providing comments on the Joint Review Panel’s Report to the National Energy Board in February.

Supreme Court Victory for Preserving Nature

Nature Canada is celebrating a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that the government violated its own environmental assessment legislation in a case involving the proposed Red Chris mine in British Columbia. The ruling also guarantees that the public would be consulted when any major industrial projects, including those involving metal mines and tar sands, are proposed.

The ruling comes after a successful appeal by Ecojustice on behalf of MiningWatch Canada.

For groups like Nature Canada, who keep a close eye on the implementation of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, this is a great victory. Read more about this victory, or the ruling here.

Call for Citizen Scientists in Edmonton

Dr. Erin Bayne and his Biology 367 class at the University of Alberta are asking for your help to understand bird collisions with windows in the Edmonton area. Millions of birds are killed each year when they strike windows, but not all of the factors relating to these collisions are well understood.

The study was co-designed by the students in the fall term class and includes an online survey as well as a pamphlet to raise awareness about urban bird conservation.

The information that Dr. Bayne and his students hope to collect also includes the characteristics of yards that cause bird mortality and those that reduce bird deaths. Once this data is collected and analyzed, strategies can be developed to make urban spaces safer for our feathered friends.

Citizen scientists are regular people from all walks of life who are interested in the world around us and want to contribute to understanding it better. By collecting data from local observations and submitting it to a larger group for study, citizen science advances our knowledge of nature.

Canada's Species At Risk Act Has a Lot of Potential

Last weekend's Edmonton Journal featured a detailed article by Ed Struzik about Canada's Species At Risk Act (SARA). The story covers the history and current status of SARA, highlighting examples of the Polar Bear, Nooksack Dace, Greater Sage-Grouse and Woodland Caribou as species that the existing legislation has failed to protect. In two of these cases - the Nooksack Dace and the Greater Sage-Grouse - legal action has been necessary to move forward protection of these species.

In the article, our conservation ecologist Ted Cheskey says:

The Species at Risk Act "itself has a lot of potential ...

"It requires the government to identify and protect habitat in which species need to survive and recover. And habitat loss, we know, is the reason why 84 per cent of the species on the list are in trouble. But so far, we've seen little progress in this area."

The mandatory 5-year parliamentary review of SARA has started, but is another important piece of business stalled by the current prorogation of parliament. Nature Canada is one of several organizations that has presented to the Standing Committee reviewing the Act. We are looking forward to the review process continuing when parliament resumes this spring.

As this news piece shows, Canada's Species At Risk need action now.

IUCN's book on Protected Areas and Climate Change!

The IUCN, in collaboration with other leading organizations, has released a new book shedding light on the role protected areas play in reducing the impacts of climate change. Natural Solutions: protected areas helping people cope with climate change, reveals, in depth, two ways by which protected areas are able to engage in this mechanism: 1) mitigation; protected areas store and capture carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere; and 2) adaptation; protected areas allow for the maintenance of crucial ecosystem functions, processes and their overall integrity which consequently maintain ecosystem services that are essential for the well-being of societies.

The book also stresses the importance of integrating protected areas in national strategies that address climate change:

“Opportunities to use protected areas in climate response strategies need to be prioritized by national and local governments.

“....incorporate the role of protected area systems into national climate change strategies and action plans, including for mitigation by reducing the loss and degradation of natural habitats, and for adaptation by reducing the vulnerability and
increasing the resilience of natural ecosystems.”

That’s why we have to ‘think global and act local’.

The book can be downloaded at http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/natural_solutions.pdf

Winter Bird Counts Low in the Ottawa Region

The final results for the 110th Christmas Bird Count are coming in, and they've been a bit surprising in our local area. Media are reporting that the counts in Algonquin Park and Dunrobin were significantly lower than usual.

Coordinators are attributing the low instances of sightings to a lack of natural conifer seeds (pine, spruce, cedar); typically one coniferous species would produce more seeds while another produces fewer, but this year all the species seem to have hit a low point in their cycle at the same time.

Nature Canada staff participated in a bird count in Ottawa in December and also reported fewer birds than they expected within the urban core.

Many of the birds have likely found alternate food sources for this winter, but for the ones who are still in the area, you might like to check out our tips to prepare your yard for birds and our bird-feeding myths.

Did you participate in a Christmas Bird Count? Tell us about your experience and sightings in the comments below!

Wildlife Act Charges Stayed Against EnCana

Federal wildlife charges against oil and natural gas giant EnCana Corp. have been stayed.

EnCana was accused of installing 300 metres of pipeline in March 2005 through the National Wildlife Area along the southeast section of Canadian Forces Base Suffield in southern Alberta. The crown's senior counsel gave no explanation, but a representative from EnCana was quoted that the Crown had advised him it was felt a conviction was not achievable. Read a news item here.

The charge of conducting industrial activity in a national wildlife area carries a maximum fine of $250,000. According to EnCana, workers inadvertently installed the pipeline while trying to avoid a wetland.

Suffield National Wildlife Area near Medicine Hat, Alberta, is home to nearly 100 plant and animal species at risk of extinction, including the burrowing owl, loggerhead shrike and Ord's kangaroo rat. It contains one of the largest remaining blocks of unploughed grassland in Prairie Canada, and is one of the last large areas of unaltered Dry Mixed Grass Prairie. It is estimated that only 6 percent of this important sub-region of Alberta’s Grassland Natural Region remains unaltered by human disturbance.

Last year a government-appointed Joint Review Panel denied EnCana’s application to install three shallow gas wells inside Suffield National Wildlife Area, and determined that EnCana’s larger proposal to expand gas development inside the federally protected area could not be approved without compromising the conservation of wildlife. However, the Coalition the Panel fell short of recommending against any further oil and gas development in the NWA.

Incidents like the installation of the pipeline in 2005 -- accidental though this one may be -- are a reminder that development in or near protected areas is simply too risky for the rare plant and animal life that cling to a precarious existence inside these so-called safe zones.

Allowing development inside a federally protected area risks rendering the very concept of “protected area” meaningless. What message does EnCana receive when violations of federal wildlife laws are waived? Will they be inclined to be more careful in the future?

(Photo by Andy Teucher)

Endangered Species Print Project -- the Art of Wildlife

This weekend I was pointed to a really cool art project (thanks Mark!) that raises awareness, and appreciation, of species at risk. It's called the Endangered Species Print Project, the brainchild of two graduates from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Jenny Kendler and Molly Schafer. As they explain on their web site, the two artists bonded over their shared "nature-geekery" to produce limited-edition art prints of critically endangered species, and donate 100% of the sales to conservation organizations who work to save wildlife.

The number of prints available corresponds with the remaining animal or plant populations. So, for example, 140 prints of the Vancouver Marmot are on sale because there are only 140 marmots left in the wild.

Their selections are global -- Madagascar Fish-Eagle! Amur Leopard! -- but naturally I began to think about which Canadian species I'd like to see receive this artistic treatment.

Right away, Ord's kangaroo rat. As cute as it is endangered (in my opinion), this nocturnal rodent occupies a small area among the mixed grasslands of southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta. And of course, it's one of the nearly 20 federally listed species at risk that reside within Suffield National Wildlife Area, where we've been working to halt plans to expand shallow gas well development for the last several years.

Other Suffield candidates -- the burrowing owl, or the small-flowered sand verbena.

Or what about other, better known endangered species, like the whooping crane? Or Blanding's turtle?

Sadly, there are over 585 species to choose from in Canada, species who are currently edging toward extinction according to the scientific Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. As recently in November, the Committee added the chestnut-collared longspur, the bogbean buckmoth and the basking shark.



We're now five days into the International Year of Biodiversity, when organizations around the world will be making a concerted effort to raise greater awareness about the plight of endangered species and the important place they have in rich, healthy ecosystems. I think projects like these are an interesting way of presenting the issue and, hopefully, sparking support for the cause of nature conservation.