• News Release: Loss of more nature, more park development worrisome
Additional development in Whiteshell threatens our natural heritage

The Wilderness Committee was disappointed to learn, today, that the province was allowing construction of a private camp in an undeveloped natural area in Whiteshell Park, despite there being no current park management plan.

Click here to read today's news release.

Click here to visit our Sylvia Lake development page

• News Release:
Canadian Forestry Firms’ Agreement Fails on Caribou, Boreal Protection
Good news turns out to be too good to be true

A recent announcement by a 21-corporation forestry consortium that led Canadians to believe that huge swaths of boreal forest and caribou habitat were no longer going to be logged turned out to good to be true, as 9 times more caribou habitat is being targeted for logging than is being temporarily preserved over the next three years.

Click here to read the news release on our national website

• Volunteer Project at Raven's Creek
Wilderness Committee getting volunteers to assist community and ecotourism venture in the Heart of the Boreal

The Wilderness Committee is happy to announce we are immediately moving forward with a pilot volunteer project at Raven's Creek Ventures in the community of Hollow Water.

Raven's Creek Ventures was established by Garry Raven to bring people out to the Heart of the Boreal, and provide education about the environment through the traditional knowledge and culture of the Anishinaabe people. With Garry's passing this winter, Robert Raven has taken on the responsibilities of Raven's Creek.

The volunteer opportunities at Raven's Creek are varied. General labour and handyperson work will be necessary to revitalize the campground and gathering facilities at Raven's Creek and afield. An organic garden plot is being established, with the help of international WWOOF volunteers (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), to provide healthy food for community celebrations and events. Trail marking and routing work will be ongoing all summer, as hiking trails are established in the Heart of the Boreal region.

If anyone is interested in signing up for volunteer days and trips, please contact the Wilderness Committee by phone or email.

• Forest Facts for McFadyen
Global Forest Watch confirms east side of Lake Winnipeg has more intact forest than west side

Hugh McFadyen, leader of the PC Party of Manitoba and Official Opposition Leader, has been showing his ignorance of Manitoba's natural environment by claiming there is more intact forest in western Manitoba than on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. He is insisting that running BiPole 3 through the Heart of the Boreal is the environmentally responsible route because of this fact. During Question Period this past April in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly, Mr. McFadyen explained this argument by claiming Global Forest Watch—an environmental organization—told him that the west side had more intact forest. In response to this claim, Peter Lee, Director of Global Forest Watch Canada, sent a letter to all MLAs in Manitoba, explaining that their work concluded that there was more intact forest on the east side of Lake Winnipeg than the west side.

The letter and map can be found on our website here.

http://www.globalforestwatch.org/

• Intact forest map shows significance of the Heart of the Boreal

The Wilderness Committee has published a map that makes it easier to realize the significance of the Heart of the Boreal—the vast tract of forest stretching into Ontario from the east shore of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba.

Click here to view a higher resolution map, which can also be printed.

• Letter from Grassy Narrows asking for urgent support
Grasy Narrows First Nation, located in the Heart of the Boreal in Ontario, needs help launching study of mercury poisoning in their water

Grassy Narrows is asking for assistance in publicizing a new study on the effects of mercury poisoning in their local waterways from a pulp mill spill in the 1970s. Logging has brought devastation to the boreal forests around Grassy Narrows. In addition, the rights of Ontario First Nations to have input into activities in their traditional territories is not always recognized or enforced.

Click here to read the email from Grassy Narrows

Director Eric Reder and WC National Scientist Andy Miller travelled to Grassy Narrows last fall to witness first-hand the unsustainable clearcutting which had been authorized by the Ontario government over the last decade. While we know Manitoba has some stunningly large and devastating clearcuts, the situation in Ontario is much worse. Below is an image taken during the trip to Ontario's Heart of the Boreal, showing clearcuts as far as the eye can see.

Click here to see this image full size (1.4 MB).

• McFadyen can't talk the line on BiPole 3, runs from the truth.
Hugh McFadyen, the leading proponent for disrupting on of the world's greatest intact forests with a hydro line, was short on facts and ran from questions on Tueday.

"Manitobans deserve to be given the truth about the Heart of the Boreal—the East Side of Lake Winnipeg,"said Eric Reder, Wilderness Committee Campaign Director. "About the best thing you could say is that Mr. McFadyen and his staff are not serving Manitobans well on this."

You can read the report of the run-in here. There is a transcript of the eventual conversation wth Mr. McFadyen. There area also audio and video recordings coming soon.

• Organizations get together to launch new website
Educational website on the Heart of the Boreal, the East Side of Lake Winnipeg shows the positive facts about this global treasure

The Wilderness Committee has teamed up with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and the Boreal Forest Network to launch a new educational website about the Heart of the Boreal--Manitoba’s gift to the world. It can be found at HeartoftheBoreal.ca

On March 17, we coordinated an action alert and news release with the U.S.-based National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The action alert calls on the government of Manitoba to keep working to preserve one of the greatest forests on our planet.

Read the NRDC blog post here

Read the news release here

Visit the HeartoftheBoreal.ca website

• Last Chance to See: Sylvia Lake

February 28, 2010 day ski and snowshoe trip!

Get all the details here.

• Sylvia Lake, Whitesehll Park Management, Tim Horton development

The plan to develop a new corporate youth camp in Whiteshell Park is continuing. We may have saved Meditation Lake, but the government of Manitoba and Tim Horton Foundation is pushing to destroy more Whiteshell Park wilderness. What Manitobans need is a long-term vision for all parks, especially Whiteshell, that puts forth steps to protect more of our beloived park, not destroy more of it.

Public consultation on the proposal has begun. There are two open houses, but all the information people need to know is listed online. Please take the time to read the information and then voice your opinion with the government.

Get details by clicking here.

• First Meeting with Conservation Minister Blaikie

The Wilderness Committee’s first meeting with new Conservation minister Bill Blaikie finally took place on Thursday, February 11.

We spoke briefly about the fact that all of the forest management licenses in Manitoba have now expired, and that our forests do need better management. We spoke about the problems in northwestern Manitoba in Tolko Industry’s management area. There is very little protected area in a truly massive section of forest. There is also no public plan to preserve the woodland caribou, and we presented more evidence of caribou being displaced by Tolko’s logging this past December. We talked briefly about why the government was spending time reviewing Tembec’s 20-year forestry plan, when the company has no intention of ever opening the mill. We stressed that this is a waste of money. We also stated that the mill cannot reopen without any new owners filing a new forest management plan, as well as upgrading the mill so it meets current environmental emissions standards.

We really wanted to hear the Minister’s opinion on the logging road across Grass River park, where logging is banned. He repeated his predecessor’s inane statement that “a logging road is not logging.” We were waiting to give the new Premier and the new Conservation Minister a chance to review and reverse approval for this road. Now we must escalate our fight against this logging road decision.

We touched briefly on Manitoba’s Conservation Hotspots, and talked about the Wilderness Committee educational report. We were assured that the government was working on protected status for all the areas listed in our report.

You can read complete details about the meeting by clicking here.

• Manitoba government mismanaging parks

New development announcement highlights lack of management plan and direction

The Wilderness Committee is again disappointed with the Manitoba government's decision to randomly allow private developments in undisturbed areas of provincial parks. This morning, MB Conservation announced plans to authorize a private youth camp on undeveloped Sylvia Lake in cherished Whiteshell Provincial Park.

Whiteshell Provincial Park is already heavily developed. Business owners in the park have stated a de facto no development policy has been in place for several years. According to the most recent Whiteshell Management Plan, published in 1983, the Whiteshell was already overdeveloped:
"The plan recognizes that most of the intensively used areas in Whiteshell have been developed to maximum levels."

Read the full press release by clicking here.

• Closing Tembec plant means Manitobans will breathe easier

Third-worst polluter in Manitoba is closed and up for sale

Tembec announced it will close its paper mill in Pine Falls immediately, seeking to sell it by spring 2010. With this announcement, one of the largest sources of pollution in Manitoba over the last 80 years will be shut down, preventing 4.68 million tones of pollutants from being emitted each year.

The coal-powered mill, located only a few kilometers up river from Lake Winnipeg, was built in the 1920s and retains that era’s lack of environmental standards. Pollution Watch ranks the coal-powered operation as the third worst polluter in Manitoba, and it has been emitting high levels of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, phosphorous and other toxins since opening.

“This is wonderful news for our province. Literally, Manitobans will be breathing easier from now on,” said Eric Reder, Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee.

Read the full press release by clicking here.

Media coverage of the issue:

Winnipeg Free Press: A glimmer of light in lockout

CJOB: An environmental group favours Tembec closure

CBC: Sagkeeng First Nation ponders mill purchase

• Government backtracking on park logging ban

On the anniversary of park logging ban, new provincial leaders have an opportunity to repeal new park logging licence

On the one-year anniversary of the introduction of the provincial park logging ban, the Wilderness Committee is drawing attention to the fact that the Manitoba government continues to approve logging in provincial parks.

In August, the government approved a licence for a logging road across Grass River Provincial Park against the advice of its own Conservation branch staff. Appeals to the licence were dismissed without explanation in October, just before a new premier and conservation minister were chosen.

Read the full press release by clicking here.