Here's to Bruce Falls, Aird Lewis, Antoon deVos, David Fowle, Bill Gunn, and John Livingston, founders of the Nature Conservancy of Canada!
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 8:02 PM
Five days ago, I saw a squirrel lying in the middle of the street, which had, I assumed, died as soon as it was struck by a car. My first thought was, "Whatever. I've seen this before."
What kind of society do we live in where dead squirrels are common occurrences?
That said, it’s obvious that humans have produced negative effects on the environment. Possibly the worst thing we've done is destroying the habitats of animals for our benefit. For example, the Boreal Forest, being the home to 20 plant species, 300 bird species, 85 species of mammals, and more, is one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the country. However, it's being threatened to such an extent by logging and pulp companies that only 63% of the Boreal Forest are intact. The following is an example of a vast area that was cleared in the Boreal Forest:
The Canadian Wetlands is also one of the most threatened habitats. Over 80% of the Wetlands near cities have been converted to urban expansion or agricultural use, which is unfortunate, not only for the thousands of animals that live there, but also for the health of Canada's environment, as the Wetlands acts a carbon sink to help reverse global warming:
Since the arrival of the first European settlers, more than 30 wildlife species have become extinct in Canada, with over 500 plant and animal species now at risk. If habitat destruction continues at this rate, millions of plant and animal species will soon be endangered!
This is where the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) comes in.
Recently, NCC initiated the “Ten Gifts to Canadians” project, in which they protected 10 Canadian natural habitats to celebrate Canada's 143rd birthday. The gifts ranged from a rare haven for songbirds in Newfoundland, to rising cliffs over Cowichan Bay in Vancouver Island. Altogether, the gifts covered more than 12.5 square kilometers!
Since it first opened, NCC has been working to save wildlife and plant species by preserving their habitats...and they’ve made a tremendous amount of difference! Look at the following picture, for example:
This property, known as the Darkwoods in B.C., is now being protected by NCC, therefore saving the 45 members of South Selkirk mountain caribou herd that resided there in the process. With only 1,900 of these caribou left in B.C. (down from 5,000 about 20 years ago), it was a very important land agreement.
It's because of projects like these that there’s still biodiversity left in Canada. Without them, we'd be the only species left in this country. Now, who'd want that?
Definitely not the squirrels.
Word Count: 500
Comments:
Abigail Lopez, RE: Greenpeace
Wayne Yeung, RE: Save the Giant Pandas!!!
Sources:
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=354
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/theme_modules/wetlands/index.html
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=4&id=232
http://www.natureconservancy.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=ncc_about_mission
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/07/24/bc-caribou-land-deal.html
posted by Rowena @ 8:02 PM
What kind of society do we live in where dead squirrels are common occurrences?
That said, it’s obvious that humans have produced negative effects on the environment. Possibly the worst thing we've done is destroying the habitats of animals for our benefit. For example, the Boreal Forest, being the home to 20 plant species, 300 bird species, 85 species of mammals, and more, is one of the most biologically diverse habitats in the country. However, it's being threatened to such an extent by logging and pulp companies that only 63% of the Boreal Forest are intact. The following is an example of a vast area that was cleared in the Boreal Forest:
The Canadian Wetlands is also one of the most threatened habitats. Over 80% of the Wetlands near cities have been converted to urban expansion or agricultural use, which is unfortunate, not only for the thousands of animals that live there, but also for the health of Canada's environment, as the Wetlands acts a carbon sink to help reverse global warming:
Since the arrival of the first European settlers, more than 30 wildlife species have become extinct in Canada, with over 500 plant and animal species now at risk. If habitat destruction continues at this rate, millions of plant and animal species will soon be endangered!
This is where the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) comes in.
Recently, NCC initiated the “Ten Gifts to Canadians” project, in which they protected 10 Canadian natural habitats to celebrate Canada's 143rd birthday. The gifts ranged from a rare haven for songbirds in Newfoundland, to rising cliffs over Cowichan Bay in Vancouver Island. Altogether, the gifts covered more than 12.5 square kilometers!
Since it first opened, NCC has been working to save wildlife and plant species by preserving their habitats...and they’ve made a tremendous amount of difference! Look at the following picture, for example:
This property, known as the Darkwoods in B.C., is now being protected by NCC, therefore saving the 45 members of South Selkirk mountain caribou herd that resided there in the process. With only 1,900 of these caribou left in B.C. (down from 5,000 about 20 years ago), it was a very important land agreement.
It's because of projects like these that there’s still biodiversity left in Canada. Without them, we'd be the only species left in this country. Now, who'd want that?
Definitely not the squirrels.
Word Count: 500
Comments:
Abigail Lopez, RE: Greenpeace
Wayne Yeung, RE: Save the Giant Pandas!!!
Sources:
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=354
http://www.eosnap.com/image-of-the-day/destruction-of-boreal-forest-near-athabasca-oil-sands-canada-september-8th-2010/
http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/theme_modules/wetlands/index.html
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=4&id=232
http://www.natureconservancy.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=ncc_about_mission
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/07/24/bc-caribou-land-deal.html
posted by Rowena @ 8:02 PM
5 Comments:
Hey... (>^^)><(^^<)
First thing I notice other than the gripping hook statement is the pictures and how you actually use them as aids and not fillers. I find it sad that we are driving so much species to extinction. I'm glad that NCC came into the picture to at least soften the blow we are doing to the biodiversity of the world.
I would include maybe one or two pictures of the extinct or endangered species to add a different angle of sympathy to the post.
Overall, this is an awesome post about biodiversity which is very brief and has an exciting or saddening fact at every corner keeping the reader interested and informed.
I am glad to know that there are other organizations out there working to save habitats as well, and wow their focus is in Canada which is even more amazing. I also think your post would have been quite a bit more effective if you had included a bit more information about the different species that have actually been saved due to Nature Conservancy Canada. However I did enjoy reading your post and found it to be very informative.
Thank you, Daniel & Robert :)
I know! I love the Nature Conservancy of Canada!
Yeah, I wanted to focus on this organization BECAUSE of the fact that they focused on Canadian habitats, and after learning about Canadian ecosystems from grade nine, I've realized how very diverse Canada is!
I'll make sure to take your advice for future blog posts.
By the way, I thought both of your blog posts were very informative. If it were me, I'd give you guys 100s~
I remember that dead squirrel! It was quite a harrowing experience, let me tell you--you do remember my screams, yes?
Back to the topic, I thought your blog post was rather informative--I didn't know that 63% of Canada's boreal forest has been cleared down!
That's a shocking statistic. I thought deforestation was more apt to happen in Asia, where us strapping North Americans take advantage of our brothers to the east. Did you know 90% of Central Asia's fruit and nut forests have been destroyed?(Well, now you do. :D)
NCC sounds like a great organization--2 million acres of land saved since 1962? That's amazing! Maybe I wouldn't go so far to say that we'd be the only species left in Canada without these biodiversity projects, but yes, I think that the ecological picture would look very bleak indeed.
And the squirrels would not want that.
Thanks Sarah :)
Why, yes, I do remember your screams.
I never knew that either!
Oh...okay, that was a hyperbole on my part, aha.
And your blog post...wow...it's so well-written! And you call MINE informative? I couldn't believe yours was only 499 words!
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