Canada's Boreal Forest at Risk from Oil Sands Projects:

[amborin]

Woodland Caribou Under Threat in Oilsands Area, Group Says

by Mike De Souza





OTTAWA - The oilsands could wipe out threatened woodland caribou populations in northern Alberta if regulators fail to protect the boreal forest and its surrounding habitat, warn experts from government, industry and academic sectors.

The oilsands could wipe out threatened woodland caribou populations in northern Alberta if regulators fail to protect the boreal forest and its surrounding habitat, warn experts from government, industry and academic sectors. (Photograph by: Handout, Canwest News Service)In a letter sent Tuesday to the Stelmach and Harper governments, a conservation group said decision makers must listen to the advice of their own experts and restrict oilsands development in at least half of the region.

"It may not be easy, but we think it is possible for you to reconcile the interests of both habitat conservation and the industry in the oilsands area - if you take a clear stand and act decisively now," said the letter, written by Helene Walsh, boreal conservation director at the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

Walsh noted the number of woodland caribou has dropped by nearly half since 1993 in the area where industry is concentrated.

"Unless there is a significant change in policy and regulation, there is real danger that the caribou are headed for extinction," wrote Walsh, who is a biologist.

The letter also stressed the region was home to many aboriginal communities and wildlife species.

"Our boreal forests and wetlands cleanse our air, purify our water and moderate our climate," said the letter. "Boreal soils store huge amounts of carbon. When humans disturb intact boreal forests and wetlands, we release that land-based carbon and accelerate the rate of global warming."

The warnings echo the conclusions of a report prepared for the Alberta government last year by a panel of experts that included two oil-producing industry representatives from Golder Associates and ConocoPhillips.

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/02-6

http://www.borealforest.org/

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Perhaps the biggest threat to the boreal forest today is exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves (see http://www.ran.org/oilreport/russia.html ). From Alaska to Canada to Russia, it is estimated that vast amounts of petroleum products lie under these forests. Increased instability in the Middle East, more effective technology for working in the cold, and the high demand for fossil fuels are pushing exploration and development into areas once thought impossible to exploit. It is not clear whether the slow-growing coniferous forests can recover.

Other threats abound. Perhaps the most serious is Global Warming; as the planet warms the southern reaches of the boreal forest will become warm enough for deciduous trees to outcompete the conifers and replace them. It is not clear whether the tundra areas to the north will support forests even under warmer conditions, and it is less clear if the trees will be able to move north rapidly enough in any event. There is some evidence to suggest that additional carbon dioxide and methane - both greenhouse gasses - will be liberated from warmer tundra and taiga soils as the built up detritus of thousands of years is finally free to decompose. This additional release of greenhouse gasses could accelerate global warming even further.

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http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/boreal.htm

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/boreal

[pscot]

1. I'm surprised no one has

rushed in to challenge this.

[amborin]

2. break

time?

or the evening off?