December 9, 2009
PROVINCE COMMITS TO NEW BOREAL PEATLANDS STEWARDSHIP STRATEGY: SELINGER
– – –Kaskatamagan and Kaskatamagan Sipi Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) Added to Protected Areas
On the eve of the Copenhagen climate-change summit, Manitoba is announcing two new protected areas with significant carbon stores and committing to a new boreal peatlands stewardship strategy, Premier Greg Selinger announced today.
“We are adding almost 400,000 hectares in the boreal tundra transition area to our protected land base,” Selinger said. “Kaskatamagan Wildlife Management Area is 259,530 hectares and is home to the western Hudson Bay sub-population of polar bears from July to November and caribou in the summer. The Kaskatamagan Sipi WMA protects 133,820 hectares of wilderness in the boreal Arctic tundra transition zone and is recognized as a globally significant bird area.”
For a couple of weeks each year, beluga whales, polar bears and caribou can all be found along the coast at the same time, making it a unique destination for ecotourism activities such as viewing wildlife, said Selinger.
It has been estimated these two protected areas alone store approximately 179 million tonnes of carbon in their peatlands and soil, Selinger said. This is equivalent to 656 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the same as the emissions from the entire province of Manitoba for 30 years.
Boreal areas store more carbon than any other ecosystem and are gaining increasing attention from the scientific community for the significant amount of carbon stored, particularly below the surface, Selinger said. It is estimated that Manitoba’s boreal forest stores as much as 30 billion tonnes of carbon.
“We believe strongly in the role forests play in our fight against climate change and will continue to advocate nationally and internationally to ensure boreal forests are an important part of any climate change strategy,” Selinger said. “Manitoba will be a leader in the preservation of boreal peatlands with a new stewardship strategy that will be developed in co-operation with stakeholders and leading climate-change non-governmental agencies.”
Manitoba will pilot management practices to assess the carbon value of boreal forests, wetlands and peatlands, Selinger said.
Since 1999, Manitoba has permanently protected 1.26 million hectares of land in parks, wildlife management areas, ecological reserves and provincial forests, and by memorandum of agreement with conservation agencies, Selinger said. The province has also banned logging in 80 of the province’s 81 parks.
Logging, mining, hydroelectric power development, oil and gas exploration or development, and any other activities that could significantly and adversely affect natural habitat are banned in the new protected areas, the premier said.
“Aboriginal and treaty nights will be respected in these new protected areas, which include accessing protected areas for hunting, trapping, fishing and other traditional pursuits,” said Selinger.
The newly protected areas will help the province meet its commitments under the Green and Growing strategy. Both areas fall within the boreal forest and will also contribute to Manitoba’s climate-change and wetland protection commitments.
These initiatives build on other recent protected areas announcements where the province:
· designated Whitemouth Bog Ecological Reserve, Whitemouth Bog WMA and Observation Point WMA adding 14,040 hectares to Manitoba’s protected areas network;
· invested $7 million in support for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to acquire and preserve lands over the next five years in eight areas in southern Manitoba;
· expanded Manitoba’s protected area network by adding more than 2,200 hectares of privately owned NCC land under an updated memorandum of agreement with the province;
· expanded the Pembina Valley WMA by adding 129 hectares of private land, purchased in partnership with NCC; and
· expanded the Pinawa Dam Provincial Park by 168 hectares.
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