Drawing on new data and first hand observation from citizen birders in U.S. and Canada, Audubon issues a watchlist for 2007 and highlights birds in rapid decline, and in some cases near extinction. “Identifying the species at greatest risk is the first step toward saving them. It helps target public policies, funding support, conservation initiatives […]

This is an important opportunity for the public to be involved in a policy planning process, and to bring greater attention to the Mackenzie Mountains Natural Region and the ecological integrity of the Nahanni Park Reserve. Parks Canada, Dehcho First Nations, and the Federal Government (in its 2002 “Action Plan to Protect Canada’s Natural Heritage”) […]

CPAWS looks at long term planning and conservation proposals, and reminds members of Dec. 10, 2007, deadline for public comments on Cash Minerals land use application with Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board. Public comments needed by December 10, 2007 (extended twice from Nov. 20). A mining company plans to bulldoze winter roads into the […]

North Country Public Radio (Canton, NY) aired a radio series this week titled “Hydro Power in Cree Country.” The six part series includes interviews with Nemaska Chief Jose Jemekin, Hydro Quebec and Sierra Club representatives, audio postcard from Wakwayokastic River, 1992 interview with Ogdensburg librarian Nicholas Smith, news story about high power transmissions lines in […]

Paul Nicklen has previously been recognized for his outstanding photography in the Canadian Arctic, and was the recipient of two World Press photo honors. His essay on the return of Narwhals to their summer grounds around Baffin Island (and the hunting of Narwhals for food and ivory) appears in the August 2007 issue of the […]

One chapter is closed . . . and more questions remain. After several months delay, and a cabinet reshuffle, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs has finally given some direction to the rush for mineral exploration in the Northwest Territories on lands in the Upper Thelon River Basin. Ur-Energy Inc. (a junior mining company […]

I just received the first issue of the newsletter from Parks Canada on the Nahanni Park Expansion (summer 2007). It contains pullouts on a Nahanni Dall Sheep Study, Grizzly Bear Research, Woodland Caribou Research, the North Karst, and Glacier Retreat Monitoring. It contains updates on the Deh Cho and Sahtu processes, protecting heritage and traditional […]

Uravan Minerals Inc. (“Uravan”) and Cameco Corporation (“Cameco”) continue uranium exploration activities in the Thelon Basin this summer with a total of four diamond drill holes completed, and three more scheduled. Their current land use permit covers the 2007-2008 season, and they seek to extend their permit to cover a larger area of the Boomerang […]

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board has reviewed the request of Ur-Energy for a Land Use Permit on an exploratory drilling program at Screech Lake in the Thelon Basin, NWT, and has recommended that the project not be approved. It is only the second time that the Review Board has not recommended a project. As […]

Mobile field station (NOMAD) combines social science and natural sciences to explore human-Rangifer interactions in the Kola Peninsula of the Russian Federation and the Murmansk Region of Samiland. Research seeks a comprehensive understanding of the changing environment, climate change, and resource use of domestic reindeer herding. Researchers will follow the herds for up to a […]