Victory for the Wilderness Committee and the citizens of Manitoba!

Wilderness Committee congratulates government on protecting most of Manitoba's parks, finally ending park logging

The government of Manitoba announced an end to nearly all park logging on November 21, 2008. The citizens that make up the Wilderness Committee from across Canada would like to congratulate Premier Doer and Conservation Minister Struthers for this historic step. While more work remains to be done with Duck Mountain Provincial Park, today will be remembered as a great and historic day for wild lands in Manitoba.

Click here to read the November 21 Manitoba government news release and backgrounder
Click here to read the November 24 Manitoba government news release and backgrounder

Click here to read the Wilderness Committee Media Release

Click here to read the Wilderness Committee review of Bill 3: The Park Logging Ban

• Winnipeg Free Press article

You can read the November 22, 2008 Winnipeg Free Press article by clicking here.

• Winnipeg Free Press article

You can read the September 24, 2008 Winnipeg Free Press article about the rallies for Forest Week by clicking here.

• Rallies and Actions kick off National Forest Week

September 21 to 27 is National Forest Week, a time to raise awareness of the importance of forests in our lives. The Wilderness Committee is observing National Forest Week by drawing attention to the fact that forests in our provincial parks are not protected.

From Monday to Thursday next week we will be holding rallies downtown at the Manitoba Legislature.
- At 3:30 p.m. we will gather in front of our office on the northeast corner of Portage Avenue and Donald Street, and walk down to the Manitoba Legislature with our banners about park logging.
- At 4 p.m. we will camp out at the Legislative Grounds near the corner of Broadway and Osborne until 5:30 p.m., when the legislature session ends for the day.

Every day we will have a new banner with more messages about park logging, and the effects it is having on our province.

On Friday at 11:30 a.m. (the day the Legislative Assembly doesn't assemble), we will gather on the corner of Broadway and Kennedy, display all of our banners that we've used throughout the week, and give out information and free greeting cards to people.

Please make time to come down and see us during National Forest Week. Decisions about our parks and the health of our forests are being made right now. Let elected officials know how you feel about protecting our parks by attending these rallies.

Monday to Thursday, 4 p.m.
Manitoba Legislative grounds
Park protection rally

Friday, 11:30 a.m.,
Broadway at Kennedy
Park protection gathering and give-away

• Mass species die-off in Whiteshell Provincial Park

Clams dead in secluded lake near logging operations in Whiteshell Provincial Park

The Wilderness Committee is investigating a mass die-off of freshwater clams near a logging operation in Whiteshell Provincial Park. Meditation Lake is only accessible by hiking, and appears to have suffered a large toxic algae bloom in July, which may have killed off many of the freshwater clams.

You can read the press release by clicking here.

• Logging NOT the Answer for Whiteshell Provincial Park
An article in the Winnipeg Free Press on Sunday, June 23 mentioned the logging of Whiteshell Provincial Park. Currently, an area of forest in the Whiteshell that was flattened in a windstorm last summer is being logged to lessen the risk of fire. The article perpetuated some fallacies about the role of logging, fires, and provincial parks. Most Manitobans know that we don't need logging in our parks, and most jurisdictions around the world already ban logging in parks, yet the logging community in Manitoba is clinging to false justification for their continued destruction of our cherished forests.

You can read the newspaper article by clicking here.

You can read the response letter from the Wilderness Committee by clicking here.

• Stop Tolko's Grass River Provincial Park Road and Bridge!
Tolko to bisect Grass River Park with a logging road and bridge, permanently damaging park and woodland caribou population.
Tolko, a private logging corporation, formally submitted a bridge and road building plan to the Manitoba Government's Environmental Licensing branch. Public consultation on this project is going on right now, and will soon close. The Wilderness Committee feels this bridge is not necessary, and is definitely not in the best interests of Manitobans. This bridge will permanently damage a provincial park and threaten woodland caribou populations. The bridge is being built solely to make more money for Tolko.

• Click here to go to the Stop Tolko's Grass River Provnical Park Road and Bridge! page

• Tolko Plans Park Destruction
Logging project to permanently damage Grass River Provincial Park and threatened woodland caribou habitat.
Wilderness Committee demands government action to stop development in woodland caribou habitat, begin public process to legislate an end to industrial logging in provincial parks.
Tolko, a private logging corporation, has applied to build a permanent road and bridge that will bisect Grass River Provincial Park in northwestern Manitoba. The proposed road and bridge will damage protected areas of woodland caribou habitat in a provincial park, and is only being built to make more money for a private company, Tolko.

You can read the press release by clicking here.

• Read the Eco-Journal article on logging licenses and provincial parks.

Click here to read the March / April 2008 Manitoba Eco-Journal article.

• Tembec's Devastating Logging Plans Revealed to the Public
Sneak peek at plan of supposed 'green' corporation includes logging areas 10-times the legal size limit, as well as logging ALL the winter habitat of a woodland caribou herd.
On March 20, Tembec showed off their logging plans for the next several decades in a University of Manitoba classroom. After being alerted by a concerned citizen, Eric Reder, Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee, attended the lecture and recorded it. Both the Manitoba government and Tembec have told the Wilderness Committee in recent weeks that Tembec's logging plan could not be legally released to the public yet.

Tembec's plans for the coming years include logging areas that are over 1,000 hectares in size, ten-times larger than the government currently permits. Tembec also unveiled a plan to log the entire winter habitat of the Owl Lake woodland caribou herd.

You can read the press release by clicking here.

• Cutting down Provincial Parks is cheaper than recycling
Tembec seeks to keep clearcutting in Manitoba, but doesn't respect our environment
Tembec has announced an arrogant and reprehensible plan to stop using recycled newspaper in their pulp and paper plant in Pine Falls, Manitoba. According to CBC News online, Tembec has stated it's cheaper to cut down trees than to use recycled content. This announcement comes as Tembec is trying to renew their license to keep logging our provincial parks for the next 20 years.

"The world is searching for means to lower our impact on this planet," said Eric Reder, Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee. "Yet Tembec is making the distinct decision to increase their devastation of our forests, including our cherished provincial parks. They are not managing their operation in Manitoba in the best interest of people in this province, nor for our future."

You can read the press release by clicking here.

Tembec desires to make more off our forests look like this.

• Attend a Rally to Protect our Parks and our Future!
Wednesday, February 27
Healthy provincial parks create a healthy environment and a better future for all Manitobans. Unfortunately, industrial activity such as clearcut logging is permanently degrading our parks. In the coming months forestry licenses that were granted to corporations to clearcut log these cherished areas are expiring. The government is currently negotiating new licenses that could allow clearcut logging in our parks for the next 20 years. Overwhelmingly, Manitobans have stated that they want industrial activity out of our parks. Our beloved parks must be removed from all future forestry licenses.

Attend a Rally to Protect our Parks and our Future!

On Wednesday, February 27 from 12–2 p.m. on the Manitoba Legislative grounds, please gather with other conservationists to let the government know we want our parks protected and we don't want forestry licenses to include our provincial parks.

If you're free at lunch hour, we'd love to stand by your side to help get your public lands protected. Even if attending rallies isn't your thing, come down to listen to our guest speakers and learn about how they have had their lives impacted by the degrading industrial activity occurring in our parklands. Tell your co-workers, your fellow students, your family, the people you go camping with, your fishing buddies, your bird watching group, and the people who have a cottage next to you at the lake. If you are not an outdoors-type person, come down and hear how our parklands work to provide us all with clean air and water, the essentials of our life on earth. Everyone who is thinking about what kind of future we are building in Manitoba should make an effort to attend this rally. Bring a mug for free hot chocolate.

Now is the time to let your voice in the wilderness be heard!

• Park Logging lectures at the U of W, this Wednesday, February 13
The sordid history of corporate logging interests and our provincial parks creates an unbelievable tale, and this is the focus of lectures being hosted by the Wilderness Committee and the University of Winnipeg environmental student group, Eco-MAFIA. These talks are sure to be disturbing, but they will also empower all those who attend with the information and direction needed to preserve Manitoba's invaluable wild lands. The first talk will be held at the University of Winnipeg on Wednesday, February 13th from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Room 1L11, with an expanded version of this talk being held that evening from 7:00 to 9 p.m. in Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall. Bring your friends, family, and colleagues. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. Admission is free.

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Room 1L11,
which is in Lockhart Building, the southwest corner of Ellice Avenue and Balmoral Street.

7:00 to 9 p.m. in Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall,
which is in the Centennial Building, just south of the Lockhart Building.

Maps of the University of Manitoba, with building and parking locations, can be found at this web address: www.uwinnipeg.ca/index/maps