Dear Alan, The Manitoba government still has not honored its pledge to permanently protect the Poplar-Nanowin Rivers traditional lands in our Heart of the Boreal Forest BioGem.
Your urgent action is needed to ensure that Manitoba makes good on its repeated promises. Mounting proposals for clearcut logging, roadbuilding and industrial hydropower development loom over this irreplaceable habitat for threatened woodland caribou, moose and millions of songbirds. Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/boreal/takeaction and urge Manitoba's premier to grant permanent protection to these First Nation lands. For thousands of years, the Poplar River First Nation has relied on the trees, plants and wildlife of this expanse of rugged granite cliffs, dense evergreen woods and tranquil marshlands for food, medicine and the survival of its beliefs and traditions. In 2004, the Canadian government recognized the outstanding cultural and natural values of this wildland by including it as part of a potential U.N. World Heritage Site. Under pressure from BioGems Defenders like you, the Manitoba government renewed interim protection of the Poplar-Nanowin Rivers Park Reserve to allow for the completion of a land management plan. Yet more than a year has passed now since the plan was finalized -- and the Manitoba government has failed to legislate permanent protection. Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/boreal/takeaction and tell Manitoba's premier to take this long overdue next step toward creating a World Heritage Site in this region. Thank you for all of your efforts to protect the wildest reaches of Canada's vast boreal forest. Sincerely, Frances Beinecke President Natural Resources Defense Council . . . We appreciate the opportunity to communicate with you and other NRDC BioGems Defenders, but if you would prefer not to receive BioGems updates or hear from BioGems activists in the field, you can reply to this email message with "remove" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line. To update your information, including your email or mailing address, visit your subscription management page at http://www.nrdconline.org/biogemscenter/smp.tcl?nkey=wgx7d6i2l56ndjw&;
