Manitoba sets national precedent with commitment to conserve large boreal woodland caribou habitats
Today, the Manitoba government released its draft strategy to recover its woodland caribou populations. Boreal woodland caribou are listed as “threatened” across Canada, requiring provincial governments to develop action plans for recovery of local populations. Upon initial analysis, CPAWS believes Manitoba’s strategy is the strongest in the nation.
Fortunately, in Manitoba we don’t have to consider placing a big fence around our threatened woodland caribou populations to prevent them from going locally extinct, as is currently being considered in Alberta. We just need to ensure that their habitat is properly protected. We are blessed to still have vast expanses of intact boreal forest where woodland caribou are free to roam which gives Manitoba perhaps one of the best opportunities in Canada to protect this species.
The Manitoba government has made an unprecedented commitment to make protection of intact scale-appropriate habitats its main priority for woodland caribou survival efforts. Conserving large areas of the boreal forest for caribou will also help protect the world’s largest source of fresh water, the northern lungs of the planet, and the tremendous quantity of carbon stored in its soils and trees that helps curb global climate change.
Ron Thiessen
Executive Director
Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society – Manitoba chapter