"Deliberate extinction"

Details: Published on Thursday, 08 August 2019 07:08; Written by editor

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While we consistently break stories about problems facing the natural world, I hear from readers like you time and time again that you want to hear more about solutions to our world’s big problems — not just about the problems themselves.

Just last week, one such story landed on my desk.

It’s about a proposed Indigenous protected area in northern B.C. that’s larger than Vancouver Island.

The Kaska Dena First Nations have a detailed vision for protecting this land — home to mountain peaks, boreal forest and caribou — from new oil and gas development and forestry, while drawing careful boundaries to allow the economy to thrive and sustain jobs in the region.

A last-minute opportunity came up to attend the Kaska General Assembly happening this week in a remote Indigenous community near the Yukon border.

I was so excited by the opportunity to cover this story that I went rogue and immediately assigned it to our B.C. reporter Sarah Cox and photographer Taylor Roades.

But here’s the thing: last-minute travel and accommodation costs alone for this trip are $4,000.

I said yes, because our readers have blown my socks off time and time again in their support for our independent journalism, but we need 40 people to give $100 today to cover these costs. Can you give $50 or $100 right now?

This gathering of Indigenous leaders offers an opportunity to travel into the area by boat, a concentration of people to interview and a presentation about the proposed protected area and Indigenous guardians program.

“It’s one of the last places in the world where you can walk ancient Indigenous trails for weeks and not meet another soul,” Kaska leaders wrote in an opinion piece on The Narwhal in June.

A recent United Nations report on unprecedented species extinction rates notes that species decline is happening at a noticeably slower rate on Indigenous peoples' lands.

This is an incredible opportunity to highlight ways Indigenous people in Canada are working to protect biodiversity and create sustainable livelihoods in the process.

Please give what you can today to help get Sarah and Taylor to this Indigenous gathering.

We appreciate all you do to make our reader-funded journalism possible (we’re especially looking at you, our wonderful 750 monthly members).

Keep scrolling for all of this week’s stories, including a humdinger about what some scientists are calling a "deliberate extinction."

Thanks for reading,

Emma Gilchrist
Editor-in-chief

P.S. Sarah and Taylor recently teamed up on a story about B.C.’s rare inland temperate rainforest (the picture above is of Sarah on that trip) and that story has become one of our most-read stories of the year! Please help make more award-winning stories possible by giving $50 or $100 today.

‘Deliberate extinction’: extensive clear-cuts, gas pipeline approved in endangered caribou habitat

By Sarah Cox

Scientists warn another B.C. caribou herd could disappear as the provincial government approves 78 new logging cutblocks in critical habitat for the Hart Ranges herd, while construction of a pipeline for the LNG industry takes out another chunk of boreal forest. Read more.

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