Boreal Action is a grassroots environment and social justice group.

74 leading scientists sign letter of support for east side preservation

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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