Boreal Forest Conservation Scientist Sign-on Letter

Dear Canadian Government Leaders:

North America's Boreal region is one of the most intact forest and wetland ecosystems left in the world. Canada alone is home to an estimated one-quarter of the world's intact forests, most of this in the Boreal region[i]. North America's Boreal is a major part of the Boreal region that encircles the northern part of the globe. The global Boreal region stores more freshwater in wetlands and lakes[ii] and more carbon in trees, soil, and peat[iii] than anywhere else on the planet.

Canada's Boreal region supports three billion migratory songbirds[iv], the world's largest caribou herds[v], millions of waterfowl and shorebirds, large populations of bears, wolves, and lynx, and native fish in abundance. Large scale ecological processes such as predator-prey, fire and hydrologic cycles still shape the region—natural processes that have become rare in much of the world. Ecological services provided by the region, including water filtration and carbon storage, are estimated to be worth 2.5 times the value of natural resources extracted each year[vi]. Hundreds of Aboriginal communities depend on the region's ecosystems and wildlife. Clearly, there is a globally-significant responsibility to protect Canada's rich Boreal natural and cultural values, a responsibility embodied by the IUCN World Conservation Union's recommendation that Canada and Russia do more to ensure the conservation of boreal forest regions[vii].

A wide range of threats face the Boreal, and recent reports by the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy concluded that development pressure on Canada's boreal is increasing[viii]. The vast majority of commercially productive forest in the region has been allocated to timber companies[ix]. In addition, significant mining, oil and gas, and hydropower development occurs across the boreal. Development pressure is greatest in the more productive southern boreal where species diversity is also greatest. The cumulative effect of the wide range of threats prompted a Senate Committee to conclude the region to be “under siege”[x]. In response to these threats, degradation of the region's ecological integrity is predicted[xi].

The relatively intact state of Canada's northern boreal region[xii] provides an opportunity to implement conservation strategies to protect the region's ecological integrity. The field of conservation biology identifies four objectives that must be achieved to ensure the long-term viability of an ecosystem[xiii]: 1) all native ecosystem types must be represented in protected areas; 2) populations of all native species must be maintained in natural patterns of abundance and distribution; 3) ecological processes such as hydrological processes must be maintained; and 4) the resilience to short-term and long-term environmental change must be maintained. Achieving these objectives requires an extensive interconnected network of protected areas and sustainable management of the surrounding areas. Reviews of previous conservation planning initiatives provide further direction by indicating that protected areas should cover in the range of half of the landscape to achieve the objectives listed above[xiv].

Adequate conservation strategies will be challenging to implement in the southern boreal region [xv] where approximately two-thirds of the forest land has been allocated to resource development.[xvi] Almost two million square kilometres of the southern boreal region remains undeveloped,[xvii] however, and ecological integrity can be maintained if industrial use is reduced to increase protection, and the remaining allocated lands are managed using practices that are ecologically sustainable. In the northern boreal region, most areas remain unallocated to industrial development and proactive land use planning with Aboriginal communities is possible to increase protection prior to industrial allocation and identify sustainable resource development options while flexibility remains.

We are concerned that current conservation planning efforts are insufficient to sustain the ecological integrity of Canada's Boreal region, one of the most intact ecosystems left in the world. Specifically, the amount of land in protected status within the Canadian Boreal, now at under 10 percent[xviii], is inadequate and must be markedly increased. The Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, developed by leading resource companies, First Nations, and conservation organizations, promotes an equal treatment of conservation and development across Canada's Boreal region[xix]. As scientists, we urge federal, provincial, territorial and Aboriginal governments, companies, communities and others to support implementation of the Framework's Boreal conservation vision.

Sincerely,

Elisabeth Ammon, Ph. D.
Wildlife Biologist

Per Angelstam, Ph. D.
Professor
Swedish University of Agriculture Sciences

George W. Argus, Ph. D.
Curator of Vascular Plants Emeritus
Canadian Museum of Nature

Robert A. Askins, Ph. D.
Professor of Biology
Connecticut College

Guy A. Baldassarre, Ph. D.
Professor
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Rosemary Barraclough, Ph. D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Massey University

Suzanne Bayley, Ph. D.
Professor
University of Alberta

Erin Bayne, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
University of Alberta

Joel Berger, Ph. D.
Senior Conservation Scientist
Wildlife Conservation Society

Michael Berrill, Ph. D.
Professor
Trent University

Dominique Berteaux, Ph. D.
Canada Research Chair in Conservation of Northern Ecosystems
Université du Québec à Rimouski

Joël Bêty, Ph. D.
Professor
Université du Québec à Rimouski

Keith L. Bildstein, Ph. D.
Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

Dee Boersma, Ph. D.
Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science
Department of Biology, University of Washington

Daniel Boisclair, Ph. D.
Professor
Université de Montréal

Rudy Boonstra, Ph. D.
Professor of Physiology and Zoology
Centre for the Neurobiology of Stress and Department of Life Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough

Stan Boutin, Ph. D.
NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Integrated Landscape Management
University of Alberta

Jacques Brisson, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
Université de Montréal

Irwin M. Brodo, Ph. D.
Lichenologist Emeritus and Research Associate
Canadian Museum of Nature

Greg Butcher, Ph.D.
Bird Conservation Director
National Audubon Society

Eric Butterworth, Ph. D.
Senior Biologist/Manager of Territorial and Boreal Operations, Western Boreal Forest Program
Ducks Unlimited Canada

Stephen Carpenter, Ph. D.
Professor
University of Wisconsin

Carlos Carroll, Ph. D.
Klamath Centre for Conservation Research

Colin Chapman, Ph. D.
Professor and Canada Research Chair
Department of Anthropology and McGill School of Environment, McGill University

Lauren J. Chapman, Ph. D.
Professor
Department of Biology, McGill University

F. Stuart Chapin, III, Ph. D.
Professor of Ecology
Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska

Gabriella Chavarria, Ph. D.
Vice President for Conservation Policy
Defenders of Wildlife

Carla Cicero, Ph. D.
Curator and Researcher
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California

Steeve Côté, PhD
Associate Professor
Laval University

Steve Cumming, Ph. D.
Canada Research Chair in Boreal Ecosystems Modelling
Laval University

Marcel Darveau, Ph. D.
Head Boreal Research and Conservation, Quebec
Ducks Unlimited Canada

André Dhondt, Ph. D.
Edwin H. Morgens Professor of Ornithology
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University

Rueven Dukas, Ph. D.
Professor
McMaster University

Erica Dunn, Ph. D.
Emeritus Scientist
Environment Canada

Peter Dunn, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Paul Ehrlich, Ph. D.
Professor
Stanford University

Chris Elphick, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
University of Connecticut

Mark D. Engstrom, Ph. D.
Vice President Collections and Research and Senior Curator, Mammals
Royal Ontario Museum

Tony Erskine, Ph. D.

John Faaborg, Ph. D.
University of Missouri-Columbia

Brock Fenton, Ph. D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario

Marco Festa-Bianchet, Ph. D.
Professeur Titulaire
Université de Sherbrooke

George Finney, Ph.D.
President
Bird Studies Canada

John Fitzpatrick, Ph. D.
Louis Agassiz Fuertes Director
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Lee Foote, Ph. D.
Chair, North American Sustainable Use Specialist Group
IUCN

Graham Forbes, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
University of New Brunswick

David R. Foster, Ph. D.
Professor
Harvard University

Claude Gascon, Ph. D.
Senior Vice-President of Regional Programs Division
Conservation International

John Gittleman, D. Phil.
Director and Professor, Institute of Ecology
University of Georgia

Russell Greenberg, Ph. D.
Director
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

J. Christopher Haney, Ph. D.
Director of Conservation Science
Defenders of Wildlife

Susan Hannon, Ph. D.
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta

Daniel J. Harrison, Ph. D.
Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Coopering Professor of Forest Ecosystem Science
University of Maine

David G. Haskell, Ph. D.
Associate Professor and Chair Biology
University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee

J. David Henry, Ph. D.
Scientist and author of Canada's Boreal Forest

Steve Herrero, Ph. D.
Professor of Environmental Science Emeritus
University of Calgary

David Hik, Ph. D.
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Northern Ecology
University of Alberta

Malcolm Hunter, Ph. D.
Libra Professors of Conservation Biology
University of Maine

Richard Hutto, Ph. D.
Professor and Director
Avian Science Center, University of Montana

Louise Imbeau, Ph. D.
Professor
Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT)

Jerome A. Jackson, Ph. D.
Professor of Biology
Florida Gulf Coast University

Chris Johnson
Assistant Professor, Ecosystem Science and Management Program
University of Northern British Columbia

Jill Johnstone, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
University of Saskatchewan

Ingvar Kärnefelt, Ph. D.
Professor of Ecology and Director of the Biological Museum
Lund University, Sweden

David R. Klein, Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus
Institute of Arctic Biology
University of Alaska Fairbanks

Charles Krebs, Ph. D.
Emeritus Professor
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia

Naomi Krogman
Associate Professor, Environmental and Resource Sociology
University of Alberta

Claude Lavoie, Ph. D.
Professor
Université Laval

Denis Lepage, Ph.D.
Senior Scientist
Bird Studies Canada

Brendan Mackey, Ph. D.
Professor
Australian National University

Jay Malcolm, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
University of Toronto

John M. Marzluff, Ph. D.
Denman Professor of Sustainable Resource Sciences
University of Washington

Daniel Mazerolle
Post-Doctoral Fellow
University of Alberta

David S. Mizrahi, Ph. D.
Vice-president for Research
New Jersey Audubon Society

Arne Mooers, Ph. D.
Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Harold Mooney, Ph. D.
Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Sara R. Morris, Ph. D.
Professor of Biology
Canisius College

Henry Murkin, Ph. D.
Director of Conservation Programs, National
Ducks Unlimited Canada

Daniel K. Niven, Ph. D.
Senior Scientist – Bird Conservation
National Audobon Society

Erica Nol, Ph. D.
Professor
Trent University

Chris Norment, Ph. D.
Professor
Department of Environmental Science and Biology, SUNY Brockport

Reed Noss, Ph. D.
Professor
University of Central Florida

Gordon Orians, Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus
University of Washington

David Pashley, Ph.D.
Vice President of Conservation Programs
American Bird Conservancy

Jean-Pierre Ouellet
Professor
Université du Québec à Rimouski

Katherine L. Parker, Ph. D.
Professor, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies
University of Northern British Columbia

Katharine C. Parsons, Ph. D.
Senior Scientist
Manomet Center for Conservation Science

John Pastor, Ph. D.
Professor
University of Minnesota Duluth

Stéphanie Pellerin, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Université de Montréal

Mark Petrie, Ph. D.
Ducks Unlimited

Scott Petrie, Ph. D.
Research Director, Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund
Bird Studies Canada

Stuart Pimm, Ph. D.
Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University

John Post, Ph. D.
Professor and Chair, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Calgary

Monique Poulin, Ph. D.
Professor
Université Laval

Jeff Price, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, California State University

William O. Pruitt, Jr., Ph. D., DSc.
Professor
Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba

John T. Ratti, Ph. D.
Research Professor
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho

Justina Ray, Ph. D.
Director and Conservation Scientist
Wildlife Conservation Society Canada

Fritz Reid, Ph. D.
Ducks Unlimited

John Robinson, Ph. D.
Senior Vice President and Director of International Conservation
Wildlife Conservation Society
President, Society of Conservation Biology

Jean-François Robitaille, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Laurentian University

Line Rochefort, Ph. D.
Professor
Université Laval

Terry Root, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Center for Environmental Science and Policy and the Institute for International Studies
Stanford University

Ken Rosenberg, Ph. D.
Director, Conservation Science Program
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

David Schindler, D. Phil., O.C., F.R.S.C, F.R.S
Professor
University of Alberta

James Schaefer, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Trent University

Christoph Scheidegger, Ph. D.
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

Fiona Schmiegelow, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
University of Alberta

Richard Schneider, Ph. D.
Conservation Director
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Edmonton

John Schoen, Ph. D.
Senior Scientist
Audubon Alaska

W. B. Schofield, Ph. D.
Emeritus Professor of Botany
University of British Columbia

G.E.E. Scudder, D.Phil., C.M. F.R.C.S.
Professor Emeritus
University of British Columbia

John Sheard, Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan

Stuart Slattery, Ph. D.
Research Scientist, IWWR
Ducks Unlimited Canada

Michael Soulé
Professor Emeritus
University of California, Santa Cruz

Sandy Smith, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto

John Spence, Ph. D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Renewable Resources
University of Alberta

Brad Stelfox, Ph. D.
Landscape Ecologist
Forem Technologies

Iain J. Stenhouse, Ph. D.
Director of Bird Conservation
Audobon Alaska

James R. Strittholt, Ph. D.
Executive Director
Conservation Biology Institute

Phil Taylor, Ph. D.
Professor
Department of Biology, Acadia University

John Terborgh, Ph. D.
Professor
Duke University

Stephen Trombulak, Ph. D.
Professor
Middlebury College

Amy Vedder, Ph. D.
Vice President and Director, Living Landscapes Program
Wildlife Conservation Society

Marc-André Villard, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Université de Moncton

Jeff Wells, Ph. D.
Senior Scientist
Boreal Songbird Initiative

Tomasz Wesolowski, Ph. D.
Professor
Department of Avian Ecology, Wroclaw University, Poland

Darroch Whitaker, Ph. D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Acadia University

Linda A. Whittingham, Ph. D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

John A. Wiens, Ph. D.
Chief Scientist
The Nature Conservancy

David S. Wilcove, Ph. D.
Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Public Affairs
Princeton University

Mary Willson, Ph. D.
Independent Ecological Researcher

[i] Bryant, D., et al.1997. The Last Frontier Forests: Ecosystems and Economies on the Edge. Washington D.C.: World Resources Institute.

[ii] Softwater Boreal lakes may contain 80% or more of the world's fresh, unfrozen water (Schindler, D.W. 1998. Sustaining aquatic ecosystems in boreal regions. Conservation Ecology [online] 2(2): 18. Available from the Internet. URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol2/iss2/art18).

[iii] The boreal region has been estimated to store 703 Pg of carbon, more than tropical and temperate forests combined (http://www.whrc.org/Borealnamerica/#overview_storage).

[iv] Blancher, P. 2003. Importance of Canada's Boreal Forest to Landbirds. Canadian Boreal Initiative and Boreal Songbird Initiative. For more information see www.borealbirds.org.

[v] The George River herd in Labrador and Quebec is the largest in the world with approximately 800,000 individuals.

[vi] M. Anielski and S. Wilson. 2005. Counting Canada's Natural Capital: Assessing the Real Value of Canada's Boreal Ecosystems. Canadian Boreal Initiative and The Pembina Institute. Available online at: http://www.borealcanada.ca/reports_e.cfm.

[vii] See http://www.iucn.org/congress/members/submitted_motions.htm for full text of IUCN recommendation RECWCC3.101 “Advancing Boreal Forest Conservation”.

[viii] National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. 2005. Boreal Futures: Governance, Conservation and Development in Canada's Boreal. Available online at http://www.nrtee-trnee.ca/eng/programs/Current_Programs/Nature/
Boreal-Forest/Documents/Boreal-Futures/Boreal-
Futures_Contents_E.htm.

Lee, P. 2004. Boreal Canada: State of the Ecosystem, State of Industry, Emerging Issues and Projections.

Report to the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy. Global Forest Watch Canada.

Edmonton. 85 pp.

[ix] Approximately 95% of the Commercial Forest Land (as reported by the Atlas of Canada – see below) is within the Commercial Forest Tenures (as identified by Global Forest Watch Canada – see below):

Atlas of Canada. Map of Protected Areas and Commercial Forest Land. Available at: http://atlas.gc.ca/site/english/learningresources/theme_modules/
borealforest/protcomm.jpg/image_view (Commercial Forest Land is defined by the Atlas of Canada as “accessed, timber-productive and on-reserved land within the boreal forest.”)

Lee P, Z Stanojevic, JD Gysbers. 2004. Canada's Commercial Forest Tenures,2003: Background and

Summary Report. Edmonton, Alberta: Global Forest Watch Canada. 59 pp.

[x] Sub-Committee on boreal Forest of the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. 1999. Competing Realities: The Boreal Forest at Risk. Government of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. Available from the Internet, URL: http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/bore-e/rep-e/rep09jun99-e.htm.

[xi] Examples of research predicting the degradation of boreal ecosystems include:

Schindler (1998, Sustaining aquatic ecosystems in boreal regions, Conservation Ecology 2: 18. Available from the Internet. URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol2/iss2/art18/) predicted continued declines in boreal fisheries and water quality due to unsustainable management of boreal aquatic systems.

Weclaw and Hudson (2004, Simulation of conservation and management of woodland caribou, Ecological Modelling 177:75-94) concluded that woodland caribou have a high probability of disappearing within 40 years from a region in boreal Alberta if industrial development continues at its current rate.

[xii] 78% of Canada's Boreal forest lacks access by roads (Smith, W., and P. Lee (editors). 2000. Canada's Forests at a Crossroads: An Assessment in the Year 2000. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.) 63% of Canada's Boreal forest remains in blocks of intact forest at least 120,000 acres in size (Lee, Peter, Dmitry Aksenov, Lars Laestadius, Ruth Nogueron, and Wynet Smite. 2003. Canada's Large Intact Forest Landscapes. Global Forest Watch Canada, Edmonton, Alberta.).

[xiii] Noss and Cooperrider. 1994. Saving Nature's Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

[xiv] Noss and Cooperrider's (Saving Nature's Legacy: Protecting and Restoring Biodiversity (Island Press, Washington, D.C., 1994)) review of conservation planning initiatives determined that between 25 and 75% protection was necessary to maintain ecological integrity. A more recent review of conservation planning initiatives (F. K. A. Schmiegelow, S. G. Cumming, S. Harrison, S. Leroux, K. Lisgo, R. Noss, and B. Olsen, Conservation Beyond Crisis Management: A Reverse-Matrix Model, BEACONs Discussion Paper No. 1, 2006. Available online at http://www.rr.ualberta.ca/research/beacons/publications.htm.) determined that the median protected area recommendation to achieve ecological objectives lay above 50%. Recent conservation planning exercises in the Canadian boreal region are consistent with the findings of these reviews. In Labrador, for example, the inclusion of conservation biology principles during land-use planning of a largely intact Boreal region resulted in greater than 50% of the region being afforded protected designation, with the remainder designated for sustainable use (Innu Nation and Silva Ecosystem Consultants, Peer review summary: Multiple Spatial Scale Reserve Design for FMD 19).

[xv] The southern boreal region is here defined as the Boreal-specific ecozones (as opposed to Taiga-specific ecozones) as defined by the boundaries of the Terrestrial Ecozones of Canada.

[xvi] Approximately two-thirds of the Boreal-specific ecozones have been allocated to logging companies: as calculated by over-laying the commercial forest tenures (GFWC).

[xvii] Calculated by the amount of remaining forest landscape fragments over 10,000 ha in size, as determined by Landsat satellites (see below), that lie within the sourthern boreal region (efined as the Boreal-specific ecozones, as opposed to Taiga-specific ecozones) as defined by the boundaries of the Terrestrial Ecozones of Canada).

Lee P, JD Gysbers, and Stanojevic Z. 2006. Canada's Forest Landscape Fragments: A First

Approximation (A Global Forest Watch Canada Report). Edmonton, Alberta: Global Forest

Watch Canada. 97 pp.

[xviii] Canadian Boreal Initiative. 2005. The Boreal in the Balance: Securing the Future of Canada's Boreal Region. A Status Report. Available online at: http://www.borealcanada.ca/reports_e.cfm.

[xix] The Boreal Forest Conservation Framework can be viewed at http://www.borealcanada.ca/framework_e.cfm.

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