The Arctic Tern travels as much as 22,000 miles during a migration cycle
Credit: Tom Vezo

For the many of you who signed the Save our Boreal Birds petition, we wanted to send a special thank you for your help.

The Save our Boreal Birds petition was created over a year ago, and received participation from 20 bird and environmental organizations. It was signed by over 60,000 people from 117 countries, displaying the vast number of people from all over the world that recognize the importance of the Boreal Forest as a breeding ground for birds.

The migratory birds that breed in the Boreal Forest travel through and winter in countries from the United States to southern Argentina, which means what happens in the Boreal Forest can affect birds seen across the Americas. The Arctic Tern, of which 50% breed in the Boreal, travels up to 22,000 miles round-trip in one migration cycle. Many bird species have decreased in recent decades, however, and development and lack of land-use planning is a major factor.

The Rusty Blackbird has declined by up to 90%
Credit: Jeff Nadler

But thanks to those of you who signed the petition or sent it around to friends, those birds now have a voice. In addition to getting considerable coverage in the media and a strong online presence, the petition will be read in front of the House of Commons (the main Canadian federal legislative branch). Adding to the petition’s success, the petition was hand delivered to the Premier of Ontario (similar to Governor), who said he was “very impressed.”

It’s nice for a change to know that our message was heard. While only time will tell if policies ensue, one thing is certain: a strong message was delivered. So once again, thank you to all of you who helped this massive petition – it couldn’t have happened without you.

Here are a few of the hits the petition got in the media, which was covered in print, online, tv and radio news sources:

Article in CBC News >
Article in the Victoria Times Colonist >
Op-ed in the Globe and Mail >

L’article en Le Soleil (en Français) >

Radio interview in CBC North > (click to play, right click to save file)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Blogroll, Boreal Science, Events, Jeff in Media, Migration, Thoughts on Birds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.