To the Pimachiowin Aki Corporation and the governments of Manitoba, Ontario and Canada regarding the proposed Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site:
As scientists who have contributed to advancing conservation issues and opportunities around the world, we would like to acknowledge the globally unique cultural and ecological values of the boreal forest ecosystem on the East Side of Lake Winnipeg. To protect this region of outstanding universal value, we support the initiative of regional First Nations in partnership with the governments of Manitoba, Ontario and Canada, to create the Pimachiowin Aki UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The boreal forest region extending from the East Side of Lake Winnipeg across the border into Ontario is the homeland of First Nations and its bounty has sustained their diverse cultures for millennia. It is part of one of the largest unfragmented forest blocks on earth and supports a rich ecological community of forest birds, mammals, freshwater fish, plants, and other species.
A World Heritage Site in this region would present a globally unique opportunity to both showcase and study, from traditional knowledge and western science perspectives, a model for co-management and stewardship of a large boreal landscape well into the future. We support the Government of Manitoba’s decision to route the proposed new hydro transmission line along the more developed West Side of Lake Winnipeg, thus protecting the outstanding and unique boreal forest values of the East Side of Lake Winnipeg.
Based on our understanding of the globally significant ecological and cultural values of the East Side of Lake Winnipeg, of its rich human and biological history, of the regional First Nations’ desire to share these values with the world, we support the proposed Pimachiowin Aki World Heritage Site.
David Schindler, OC, DPhil, AOE, FRSC, FRS
Killam Memorial Chair and Professor of Ecology
University of Alberta
Micheline Manseau, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba
David C. Natcher, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean, Aboriginal Programs and Research College of Agriculture and Bioresources
University of Saskatchewan
Craig Willis Ph.D.
University of Winnipeg
Chancellor’s Research Chair
Peter Raven. Ph.D.
Home Secretary of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Chairman of the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration, President Emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and Engelmann Professor of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis
Gordon Robinson, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences,
Director, Manitoba CRYSTAL
University of Manitoba
Stuart Pimm, Ph.D.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University
Danny Blair, Ph.D.
Professor of Geography
Acting Associate Dean of Science
Acting Principal, Richardson College for the Environment
University of Winnipeg
Hugh Possingham, Ph.D., FAA
Professor, The University of Queensland
Randall Mooi, Ph.D.
Curator of Zoology
The Manitoba Museum
Gordon Orians, Ph.D.
U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Washington
Fikret Berkes, Ph.D.
Distinguised Professor, Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, and Canada Research Chair in Community-based Resource Management
James Hare, Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Head
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Manitoba
Terry Root, Ph.D.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author and Professor of Environmental Science and Policy at Stanford University
Pascal Badiou, Ph.D.
Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research
Oak Hammock Marsh Conservation Centre, Manitoba
John Jacobs, Ph.D.
Departments of Geography and Environmental Science at the Memorial University of Newfoundland
Dawn Sutherland, Ph.D.
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Science Education
University of Winnipeg
Isobel Waters, Ph.D.
Dept of Biological Sciences
University of Manitoba
Jeremy Kerr, Ph.D.
Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa
James Duncan, Ph.D.
Manager, Biodiversity, Habitat and Endangered Species Section,
Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch, Manitoba Conservation
Nigel Roulet, Ph.D.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Scientist, Professor of Geography and past Director of the Center for Climate and Global Change Research at the McGill School of Environment
Spencer Sealy, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus,
Department of Biological Sciences,
University of Manitoba
James Schaefer, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
Trent University
Christian Artuso, Ph.D.
Bird Studies Canada – Manitoba Program Manager
Bridget Stutchbury, Ph.D.
Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology
York University
Renée Douville, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Microbiology
Department of Biology
University of Winnipeg
Raimo Virkkala, Ph.D.
Finnish Environment Institute
Bruce Ford, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Curator, University of Manitoba Herbarium
University of Manitoba
Jim Strittholt, Ph.D.
President and Executive Director of the Conservation Biology Institute.
Stéphane McLachlan, Ph.D.
Professor, Environmental Conservation Lab
Department of Environment and Geography
University of Manitoba
Nancy Turner, Ph.D.
Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria
Eva Pip, Ph.D.
Professor
University of Winnipeg
Andrew Weaver, Ph.D.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author, U.S. National Academy of Science Climate Research Committee, Royal Society of Canada, and Professor and Canada Research Chair in Atmospheric Science in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria.
Jill Oakes, Ph.D.
Professor, Centre for Earth Observation Science
University of Manitoba
John Pastor, Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Biology
University of Minnesota Duluth
Jennifer Shay, OC, Ph.D.,
Professor Emerita, University of Manitoba
Fiona Schmiegelow, Ph.D.
Professor & Director, Northern ENCS Program Dept Renewable Resources, University of Alberta c/o Yukon College
Jacques Tardif, Ph.D.
Canada Research Chair in Dendrochronology
Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research (C-FIR)
University of Winnipeg
Reed Noss, Ph.D.
Davis-Shine Professor of Conservation Biology
University of Central Florida
C. Thomas Shay, Ph.D.
Senior Scholar, University of Manitoba
Russell Greenberg, Ph.D.
Head, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
National Zoological Park
Andy Park, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Centre for Forest Interdisciplinary Research (CFIR)
University of Winnipeg
F. Stuart Chapin III, Ph.D.
U.S. National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Robert Foster, Ph.D.
Principal, Northern Bioscience
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Iain Stenhouse, Ph.D.
Director – Marine Bird Program
Biodiversity Research Institute
Stephen Bocking, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Environmental and Resource Science/Studies Program
Trent University
Kenneth Rosenberg, Ph.D.
Cornell University
Faisal Moola, Ph.D.
Director, Terrestrial Conservation and Science Program
David Suzuki Foundation
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto
Robert Baldwin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Conservation Biology/GIS
School of Agricultural, Forest, and Environmental Sciences
Clemson University
Deborah McGregor, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Geography & Planning
University of Toronto
John Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cornell University
Shawn Leroux, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
University of Ottawa
Malcolm Hunter, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor, Dept. of Wildlife Ecology
University of Maine
John Sinclair, Ph.D.
Professor, Natural Resources Institute
University of Manitoba
Jeffrey Wells, Ph.D.
Science and Policy Director
Boreal Songbird Initiative and Visiting Fellow, Cornell University
David Punter, Ph.D.
Senior Scholar, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Manitoba
Rebecca Holberton, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Avian Biology
Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Maine
Frank F. Mallory, Ph.D.
Professor and Past Chair
Department of Biology
Laurentian University
Eduardo Inigo-Elias, Ph.D.
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
Susan Elbin, Ph.D.
Director of Conservation and Science
New York City Audubon
Bruce Robertson, Ph.D.
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Migratory Bird Center
National Zoological Park
Henry Huntington, Ph.D.
Arctic Science Director
Pew Environment Group
Herb Wilson, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
Colby College
Gary Langham, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist
National Audubon Society
John Fanshawe, Ph.D.
Senior Strategy Adviser
BirdLife International
Erin Bayne, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alberta
David Wilcove, Ph.D.
Professor of Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Public Affairs
Woodrow Wilson School
Princeton University
Nathaniel Wheelwright, Ph.D.
Bass Professor of Natural Sciences
Bowdoin College
Barry Traill, Ph.D.
Australian Director
Pew Environment Group
Terrell Rich, Ph.D.
Partners in Flight National Coordinator (USA)
Brett Sandercock, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Division of Biology
Kansas State University
Frederic Reid, Ph.D.
Director of Conservation Planning
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Rancho Cordova, CA, USA
David Mizrahi, Ph.D.
VP for Research and Monitoring
New Jersey Audubon Society
Floyd Hayes, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
Pacific Union College
Daniel Buckley, Ph.D.
Chair, Division of Natural Sciences
University of Maine Farmington
David Haskell, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
University of the South
Fred Adler, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology and Mathematics
University of Utah
Dolph Schluter, Ph.D.
Zoology Department and Biodiversity Research Centre
University of British Columbia
see the story in the Globe and Mail, September 30, 2011
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/environmental-scientists-join-bid-to-protect-part-of-boreal-forest/article2185825/
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