http://www.greenlivingonline.com/OurWorld/saving-our-boreal-forest/
(Jul 21, 2007)
The boreal forest wraps a green halo around Russia, Scandinavia and Canada. In North America, the band of green extends from Alaska to Newfoundland, bordering the tundra to the north and touching the Great Lakes to the south.
It’s an important breeding and nesting site for many bird species. Each year, two billion birds representing 300 species visit its wetlands and primarily coniferous forests (that’s nearly 50 percent of the species found in the U.S. and Canada). This includes songbirds, some which migrate as far away as South or Central America. In North America, 100 percent of the global population of palm warblers, short-billed dowitchers and Bonaparte’s gulls breed in the forests.
The boreal forest is also home to thousands of other animals such as caribou, lynx, black bear, moose, coyote, timber wolf and the recovering populations of wood bison. Its pristine lakes, rivers and other wetlands store and filter millions of liters of fresh water. Its trees and other flora provide a defense against global warming.
Despite its critical importance as one of the largest intact forest and wetland ecosystems left on earth, less than 10 percent of the region is strictly protected from development. This means it’s disappearing at an alarming rate as chain saws and bulldozers snake their way through the land. Clear-cut logging alone claims more than 2 million acres annually, an area equivalent to 4,000 football fields each day. Urban sprawl, hydroelectric dams, pulp and paper mills, mining for gold, uranium, diamonds and oil and a vast network of roads have fractured the southern boreal.
All this development is having an impact on the animals, particularly the birds. Bridget Stutchbury, a biology professor a York University and author of Silence of the Songbirds; How We Are Losing the World's Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them, warns that songbird populations are declining at an extraordinary rate. Since the 1960s more than two dozen species have suffered continent wide decreases; species, such as the olive-sided flycatcher are losing up to 15 percent of their population each year.
Stutchbury cites habitat loss in southern tropical forests, along migration routes and in our boreal forests as a chief cause of songbird decline. Conservation organization across North America are calling for a land-use planning program to protect the boreal forests for future generations. The American based Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) has banded together with the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) to work with First Nations groups, scientists, the forestry industry, conservation groups and a variety of businesses to save this precious resource. The BSI Get Involved page lists ways you can participate in the initiative. It also has an interactive map where you can follow migration routes and find about birds in your city.
You can also make following choices to help preserve the forest:
Ask retailers for paper and wood products (from 2 x 4s to furniture and kitchen cabinets) certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Find out more about sustainable wood by reading What is sustainable wood? Consumers demanding these enviro-friendly products will encourage the forest industry to adopt the good practices laid out by the FSC. Use less paper and reuse what you do have. Be sure to recycle all paper products. Consider buying a product made from reclaimed wood. Check out products made from bamboo. It's a fast-growing wood, so bamboo forests replenish themselves quickly. Conserve energy to reduce the demand for hydro.
Agatha Cinader is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
Saving our boreal forest
Image: istockphoto.com
It’s an important breeding and nesting site for many bird species. Each year, two billion birds representing 300 species visit its wetlands and primarily coniferous forests (that’s nearly 50 percent of the species found in the U.S. and Canada). This includes songbirds, some which migrate as far away as South or Central America. In North America, 100 percent of the global population of palm warblers, short-billed dowitchers and Bonaparte’s gulls breed in the forests.
The boreal forest is also home to thousands of other animals such as caribou, lynx, black bear, moose, coyote, timber wolf and the recovering populations of wood bison. Its pristine lakes, rivers and other wetlands store and filter millions of liters of fresh water. Its trees and other flora provide a defense against global warming.
Despite its critical importance as one of the largest intact forest and wetland ecosystems left on earth, less than 10 percent of the region is strictly protected from development. This means it’s disappearing at an alarming rate as chain saws and bulldozers snake their way through the land. Clear-cut logging alone claims more than 2 million acres annually, an area equivalent to 4,000 football fields each day. Urban sprawl, hydroelectric dams, pulp and paper mills, mining for gold, uranium, diamonds and oil and a vast network of roads have fractured the southern boreal.
All this development is having an impact on the animals, particularly the birds. Bridget Stutchbury, a biology professor a York University and author of Silence of the Songbirds; How We Are Losing the World's Songbirds and What We Can Do to Save Them, warns that songbird populations are declining at an extraordinary rate. Since the 1960s more than two dozen species have suffered continent wide decreases; species, such as the olive-sided flycatcher are losing up to 15 percent of their population each year.
Stutchbury cites habitat loss in southern tropical forests, along migration routes and in our boreal forests as a chief cause of songbird decline. Conservation organization across North America are calling for a land-use planning program to protect the boreal forests for future generations. The American based Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) has banded together with the Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) to work with First Nations groups, scientists, the forestry industry, conservation groups and a variety of businesses to save this precious resource. The BSI Get Involved page lists ways you can participate in the initiative. It also has an interactive map where you can follow migration routes and find about birds in your city.
You can also make following choices to help preserve the forest:
Agatha Cinader is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
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