97% of Short-billed Dowitchers breed in the boreal forest
Credit: Jeff Nadler
When many of us think about the word ‘biodiversity’, we often think of it to mean species diversity—the number of species present within a specific area. However, biodiversity represents so much more than just how many species occur where. There are a number of [...]

Last Thursday world-renowned conservationist J. Michael Fay came to Seattle at our invitation to talk about some of the emerging mining threats to the remote northwestern corner of British Columbia. The area was mostly untouched by human development until the past several years until an enormous number of large-scale mining projects, driven by rising gold [...]

Aerial view of rivers converging in NW British Columbia.
Credit: Michael Fay
We here at the Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) are proud to host internationally renowned conservationist J. Michael Fay on a speaking tour about a new ‘gold rush’ of mining development in the otherwise-remote northwestern corner of B.C. and the impacts it could have on [...]

George River caribou herd
Credit: Valerie Courtois, Canadian Boreal Initiative
As a follow up to our last post about the ever-dwindling George River caribou herd of northern Quebec and Labrador, we thought you might be interested in hearing another opinion on the matter. As you may or may not have heard, Labrador has recently issued a [...]

Member of the George River caribou herd
Credit: Valerie Courtois, Canadian Boreal Initiative
Over the holidays Jeff posted a new guest blog on National Geographic about the plight of the George River caribou herd in northern Quebec and Labrador. This herd, once the largest in the world just decades ago, has plummeted to dangerously low numbers of [...]

Boreal forest
Credit: Valerie Courtois, Canadian Boreal Initiative
If you’re a regular returner to this blog you are likely aware that while we support bird conservation in almost every instance, our particular focus and passion is the preservation of Canada’s boreal forest. This (we think) is for good reason: the boreal is one of the world’s [...]

Today is World Water Day. With high temperatures scorching much of the United States and Canada many of you may be turning World Water Day into World Water Park Day, but regardless of how you spend it we should all spend a minute to appreciate the ultimate source of life on earth.
The UN’s theme this [...]

Today the public comment period for the Canadian federal government’s woodland caribou recovery strategy ended. Woodland caribou populations have been spiraling downward for decades, prompting concern among environmentalists, Aboriginal communities, and many everyday citizens concerned with the future of our planet.

A lone caribou crosses a river in Labrador.
Credit: Valerie Courtois, Canadian Boreal Initiative
The government actually [...]

While the majority of North American media has been focused on a few high-profile stories over the past few weeks, an amazing and uplifting story has quietly emerged behind the scenes in Manitoba and Ontario.

A warm welcome from some of the children of Bloodvein First Nation.
Credit: Jeff Wells
It began with the joint announcement between [...]

Attawapiskat First Nation office
Credit: Paul Lantz
We thought it important to bring to your attention a troubling crisis in the far north of Canada. We’ve blogged numerous times in the past about various environmental crises in the boreal forest—from worrisome declines in woodland caribou and migratory birds to destructive industrial projects—but this story focuses [...]