Media Centre

Press Releases

2004

Boreal Region to Headline Joint Canada-U.S Meeting of Bird Scientists

Urgent call for comprehensive bird monitoring to be highlighted

August 16, 2004 - Quebec City

Canada's boreal region is so significant for North American birds that it will be showcased when hundreds of scientists from Canada and the U.S. gather this week for a joint meeting of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists and the American Ornithologists' Union. One in every three North American land birds is hatched in Canada's boreal region.

"We are pleased to see Canada's boreal region at the centre of this prestigious scientific gathering," said Canadian Boreal Initiative (CBI) Director Cathy Wilkinson. "A better understanding of the region will enable us to conserve its tremendous ecological values, both for us and for the significant bird and wildlife populations who depend on it."

Among the numerous workshops and scientific presentations focusing on the boreal will be a symposium in which Dr. Fiona Schmiegelow of the University of Alberta will discuss the urgent need for a comprehensive bird monitoring program in the boreal region and how to design an effective program for such a large landscape.

"Given the importance of Canada's boreal region, it is essential for the scientific community to engage and contribute to a greater collective understanding of this complex and dynamic ecosystem, said Dr. Schmiegelow. "We are challenged to think differently about conservation and on a much larger scale than ever before."

Additional boreal-themed workshops will include presentations by Keith Hobson of the Canadian Wildlife Service discussing his pioneering efforts both to use high-quality recording equipment to monitor songbird populations and the use of stable isotopes to track migratory bird species. In addition to discussing his findings, Hobson will make recommendations for further product development.

Scientists from Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) will give a presentation on their program to measure the impacts of rapidly expanding industrial activity in the region, including oil and gas, forestry, mining and hydro electricity generation, on boreal wetland ecosystems. Since 1997, DUC has conducted landscape-level planning and evaluation using cutting-edge satellite mapping and habitat inventory techniques.

"A third of this great region is water and wetlands of continental importance to North American waterfowl. It must remain an ecologically intact and productive habitat to continue to sustain a high diversity and abundance of wetlands, waterfowl and associated water birds," said Gary Stewart, Director of Western Boreal Programs for Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC)." The discussions and important scientific findings from this conference will help inform our conservation strategies."

Last year, a Bird Studies Canada report commissioned by the CBI and the U.S.-based Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) entitled Importance of Canada's Boreal Forest to Landbirds showed that for several species, including the Black-backed Woodpecker, Tennessee Warbler and Northern Shrike, virtually all of their global population breeds in the Canadian boreal region. The report also found that populations of 40 species, including Rusty Blackbirds, Connecticut Warblers, White-throated Sparrows and many others have seen their numbers drop in Canada or across the continent in recent years. The reasons for the declines are not yet fully understood.

BSI Director Marilyn Heiman applauded international scientists for focusing on the boreal forest. "The Boreal Forest region of Canada and Alaska is one of the world's last best chances to protect a vast, unspoiled ecosystem and the birds that breed there."

Almost 300 bird species breed in the boreal forest and wetlands every summer. In the coming months, as many as five billion of North America's birds -- including warblers, sparrows, ducks, pelicans, hawks and shorebirds - will migrate south from the region for the winter. At 53% of its total land mass and 1.4 billion acres, Canada's boreal region spans the country from the Yukon to Newfoundland and Labrador. It represents 25% of the world's remaining large intact forests.

Descriptions of all workshops and presentations at the gathering, as well as information about a reception showcasing the boreal region to be hosted there by CBI, BSI and DUC on August 18, can be found at http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/SocCanOrn.

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For more information:
Kelly Acton
Canadian Boreal Initiative
(613) 230-4739 ext. 222