While skimming state list serves there were several references to a letter by Scott Weidensaul about the saving of a large tract of the Boreal Forest.  We have copied it  and hope everyone will read it and send a thank you to Ontario's Priemer Dalton McGuinty.

 

Pat and Jane Bell

Louisville

 

Subject: [PABIRDS] Astonishingly good news for birds
From: "Scott Weidensaul"
Date: Sat, July 19, 2008 8:42 am
To: PABIRDS AT LIST.AUDUBON.ORG

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One of the biggest conservation stories ever emerged last week, but
received relatively little press here in the States. The premier of
Ontario has pledged to set aside half of the province -- about 55
million acres, an area the size of the entire UK -- for permanent
conservation, with requirements that industry work with First Nations
and the government to craft sustainable development plans for the
rest.

Given that the boreal forest is the great bird factory of North
America, producing billions of migratory songbirds, waterfowl,
shorebirds and raptors, this is arguably the single biggest win in
history for bird conservation.

Anyone who enjoys the seasonal flow of warblers, thrushes, sparrows
and other Neotropical songbirds passing through Pennsylvania - and
I'm guessing that's all of us -- owes a huge debt of gratitude to
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty for his visionary move, part of the
larger Boreal Forest Conservation Initiative, a collaboration of
conservation groups, First Nations and industry which aims to protect
at least half of the 1.4 billion-acre Canadian boreal forest.

Here's how my good friend Jeff Wells of the Boreal Songbird
Initiative put it on his blog (http://www.borealbirds.org/blog/) this
week, sending his own thanks to McGuinty:

"I don't know if you have ever heard the soft flutely song of a
Swainson's Thrush, but try to imagine three million of them singing
at once. That's the sound emanating into the sky on a June morning
from the number of Swainson's Thrushes that would be found in the 55
million acres of northern Ontario's Boreal that you have just
announced will now be protected. Even better yet, imagine 4.5 million
renditions of the "Oh-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada" song of the
White-throated Sparrow echoing across the Boreal."

As Jeff went on to point out, the land that Ontario will
permanently protect from timbering and mining is home to 5 million
juncos, 4 million magnolia warblers, 3 million palm warblers and 2
million Tennessee warblers, just to name a few species.

You can find a story from the Toronto Star about the land deal at
http://www.thestar.com/article/460305. You can also read a piece I
wrote in 2007 for The Nature Conservancy on the Boreal Forest
Conservation Framework at
http://www.nature.org/magazine/summer2007/features/?src="">
And finally, you can send a note of thank you to Premier McGuinty
via BSI's website, http://www.borealbirds.org/ -- something every
American birder who reaps the benefits of the boreal forest should
take a moment to do.

Scott Weidensaul
Schuylkill Haven, PA