Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Save Our Boreal Birds, online petition, birds, conservation, environment

Save the summer homes of Palm Warblers and other North American bird species that breed in Canada's Boreal forests!

The Boreal Songbird Initiative, along with other environmental groups like Bird Studies Canada, Nature Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation, and others created a petition called "Save our Boreal Birds" a little over a year ago. This petition will be sent to the Prime Minister of Canada and many provincial leaders throughout Canada, asking that vital bird habitat be kept intact. This is a response to the impending destruction of more than 30% of Canada's Boreal Forest due to unchecked oil and gas, mining, logging, and hydro "development". As you may know, many migratory birds that travel through the US and other countries breed in the Boreal Forest to the north and they are being strongly impacted by these so-called "developments". For example, there have been long-term declines have been documented for Rusty Blackbirds (95% decline); Olive-sided Flycatchers, Boreal Chickadees, Bay-breasted and Canada Warblers, and Evening Grosbeaks -- all of which have declined by more than 70%; and scaup and scoters, which have declined by over 50%.

So this is where you come in.

David Childs at the Boreal Songbird Initiative is seeking your support. "We're launching a petition on May 12th, requesting that Canada's leaders protect the Boreal, and are currently at about 60,000 signatures," he writes. "We're trying to get up to 70,000 before the launch."

David just told me that the current signature count is 58,154 (they have to remove spam often). David will send updates as to the signature count so I can post them here for the curious among you (which includes me).

This is such a ridiculously simple thing: you dop not have to be Canadian to show your concern for the future of Canada's Boreal Forest and the billions of North American birds that rely on it. Sign this letter urging government leaders to protect the Boreal today.