Boreal Bird Blog    

Dr. Jeff Wells is the Senior Scientist for the Boreal Songbird Initiative. During his time at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and as the Audubon Society's National Conservation Director, Dr. Wells earned a reputation as one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists. He is now dedicated to understanding and protecting the land where North America's birds are born and raised, the Boreal Forest of Canada and Alaska. Check back regularly to read Dr. Wells' perspectives on the conservation, migration and interesting habits of Boreal birds.

Archive for the 'Boreal Heroes' Category

A Man, a Cabin and One of the Largest New Mining Complexes on Earth

Monday, April 22nd, 2013

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 [...]

Renowned Conservationist Shares His Tales of B.C.’s Impending ‘Gold Rush’ of Development

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

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 [...]

Breakthrough in Boreal Agreement

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

Just over two years ago the unthinkable happened. After decades of disputes and fighting over logging in pristine parts of Canada’s boreal forest, environmentalists and forest companies finally decided to talk to each other directly about their concerns rather than by exchanging sound bites through the media.

Log pile in Canada’s boreal forest
Credit: Garth Lenz
Although [...]

Boreal Voices

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

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 [...]

Actions Over Words: These Aboriginal Leaders are Getting it Done

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

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 [...]

The Poplar River Precedent

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

A few weeks ago I had the honor of being part of a tour of the proposed Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site. There is no doubt that the region and the people there are incredible and I will write more about the trip in an upcoming blog entry. In the meantime I wanted to share [...]

A Speech You Might Have Missed

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Quebec Premier Jean Charest and the boreal forest.
Credits: Charest: © Hans Westerling (via Flickr); Boreal: © Garth Lenz
The Premier of Quebec, Jean Charest, gave his long-anticipated Inaugural Address on Wednesday. For the majority of us living outside of Quebec most parts of the speech wouldn’t have been too relevant to our daily lives (things like education [...]

Boreal Awards 2009!

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

We are delighted to post this guest blog by our Canadian colleague Suzy Fraser of the Canadian Boreal Initiative about their annual Boreal Awards ceremony in Ottawa. There were some great nominees and winners, as well as a great overall mood about the Boreal! – Jeff

‘Bou’ the Woodland Caribou drops by the CBI Awards
Credit: [...]

UNESCO Site Gains Attention

Friday, October 16th, 2009

I thought I would do a quick follow-up on my previous post about the great progress being made in Manitoba toward the creation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. The Premier, who just allocated $10 million toward the project before taking on his new job as ambassador to [...]

We can Still Get Some Things Right

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

A river within the potential new UNESCO site
Credit: Garth Lenz
Yesterday the outgoing Premier of Manitoba (equivalent of governor), Gary Doer, announced he will be putting $10 million into a trust fund designated for large-scale conservation planning in eastern Manitoba. Selected as the new ambassador to the United States and thus leaving his post as premier, [...]


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