Saving Wood Buffalo

Details: Published on Friday, 05 October 2018 11:40; Written by editor

Saving Wood Buffalo r1 ...

Canada's biggest park is in peril

Wood Buffalo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a crown jewel in the federal parks system. It's 44,807 square kilometres of boreal forest, and is home to bison, wolves, lynx, moose and the world's longest beaver dam.

It's also downstream of the oilsands and two — likely soon to be three — major hydro dams. Local Indigenous people say the dams have changed river flows while the oilsands have contaminated them.

Thanks to the incredible support of our monthly members, we were able to send reporter Judith Lavoie to Wood Buffalo to see the changes taking place firsthand, and she has brought us a three-part series on the challenges of protecting the park.

Check out Part One here.

If you think this kind of journalism is important, please consider donating to support it. As a non-profit news organization, we rely on reader donations.

In other news, it's been a big, big week — we're happy to show off work by two new contributors, Erica Gies and Gloria Dickie. They both come to The Narwhal with resumés as thick as phone books, so we're extremely happy to have them.

Okay that's enough nerding out over our growing roster of awesome people. Keep scrolling!

Emma Gilchrist Editor-in-Chief, The Narwhal

Extinction deniers? Forestry industry undermines caribou conservation with climate denial tactics

By Erica Gies

We all know the playbook: deny the problem, dispute the cause, claim the cost is too high. That's worked to delay climate action, tobacco regulation, banning of DDT, and other necessary government interventions over the decades.

But a new report says it's now being deployed by the forestry industry to prevent Canada from taking action to protect caribou. Read more.

B.C. First Nations forced to shelve clean energy projects as Site C dam overloads grid

By Sarah Cox

Site C is expected to generate enough power that BC Hydro isn't going to be buying electricity until at least 2030. That's bad news for the First Nations who have been working towards building actual green energy projects across the province. Read more.

‘It’s appalling’: Greens, NDP oppose federal environmental assessment bill

By Emma Gilchrist

It's been a long time in the making. After more than two years and a nationwide public engagement effort, critics say Justin Trudeau’s government has fallen short on election promise to reform Canada’s environmental review process. Read more.

First Nations to co-manage much of B.C. coast under new agreement

By Gloria Dickie

Coastal B.C. First Nations are set to take on more responsibility for their territory, with a new accord signed between Canada and 11 First Nations.

The agreement will help protect Canada’s Northern Shelf bioregion, which includes the north and central coast of B.C., Haida Gwaii and northern Vancouver island, and will create a landscape of shared authority that recognizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge-based management. Read more.

Where is the action to save Wood Buffalo National Park?

By Judith Lavoie

It's been 35 years since UNESCO designated Wood Buffalo National Park a World Heritage Site.

In the past three decades, so much industrial development has impacted the park that — without drastic action — Wood Buffalo is headed for the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. Read more.

Tsilhqot’in back in court in fight over Fish Lake as Taseko Mines readies for exploration

By Judith Lavoie

It's the zombie project that just won't die: two rejections by the federal government later, and here we are: exploration work is about to begin near Fish Lake in B.C., the proposed site for Taseko's New Prosperity Mine. Read more.

Controversial Jumbo Ski Resort rises from the dead and heads to court

By Judith Lavoie

Speaking of zombie projects, here's a Jumbo one. The controversial ski resort is challenging the 2015 court decision that put it in the ground. Read more.

Peace Valley residents hold out hope for Site C dam injunction as eviction day looms

By Sarah Cox

Construction of the most expensive public project in B.C.’s history has been fraught with complications, legal challenges and setbacks, creating agonizing moments of hope for local residents who wonder still if the megadam might be stopped Read more.

Jacinda Mack wants to get real about what that mine is actually going to do to your community

By Carol Linnitt

For Jacinda Mack, the Mount Polley accident marked an irrevocable change to the world she knew and transformed how she saw not only the mine but British Columbia, which she recognized for the first time as under siege by one of the world’s most powerful industrial forces.

Managing Editor Carol Linnitt spoke with Mack about industry, "man camps" and corporate capture of government. Read more.

B.C.’s big opportunity to fix under-regulated industry is here (and you’ve probably never heard of it)

By Jimmy Thomson

In the early 2000's, the B.C. Liberals began the process of turning over many of the government's regulatory responsibilities to private companies. That has resulted in the kind of bad decisions that caused the Mount Polley disaster.

Now B.C. has an opportunity to fix it. Read more.

B.C.’s confusing new fish farm rules explained

By Sarah Cox

B.C. introduced two new ‘bold’ rules this week that could change the way salmon farming is done in the province — maybe. Read more.

Have a friend who is a bit behind on their Canadian news? Get 'em educated with this r33 Copyright © 2018 The Narwhal, All rights reserved.
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