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Issue No. 10
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Jan 28, 2008
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Special 2008 New Year Supplement
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Dear OLTA Supporter,
Due
to time sensitive input to the OLTA E-News, we are
starting the year with a second E-News in the first month. Please do keep
sending us the news you want to share with others!
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Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change
through the Conservation of Nature
The Land Trust Alliance of British Columbia (LTABC)
To download and
view the Executive Summary or the full report: http://www.landtrustalliance.bc.ca/research.html.
The Report is
authored by economic and climate change experts, Sara J. Wilson and Dr.
Richard J. Hebda. Sara is a leading Canadian researcher on
Ecological Economics, which is an emerging field that values nature's
services. Dr. Richard J. Hebda is an adjunct associate professor,
Biology, Schools of Earth and Ocean Sciences and Environmental Studies at
the University of Victoria and a respected, published author and
presenter on climate change.
The LTABC
commissioned report highlights the wisdom of investing in mother nature's
intact ecosystems as a means of mitigating and adapting to the impacts of
climate change. In British Columbia, virtually all discussions and
proposed solutions to the increasing concerns about climate change are
about energy, transportation and other technological advances. Very
little attention has been paid to our forested lands, grasslands and
wetlands - the critical role that existing ecosystems play actively
conserving vast stores of carbon-reducing GHG emissions to the
atmosphere. The report highlights that most effective way to benefit from
the carbon storage values of natural ecosystems is to prevent or mitigate
their conversion to other uses and keep them healthy. This is
exactly what BC Land trusts do. The report has three sections: The
Value of Nature in an Era of Climate Change, The Impacts of Climate
Change in BC, and Strategies to Reduce the Impacts of Climate Change in
BC.
The Land Trust
Alliance of BC is grateful for funding support from The Bullitt
Foundation, The Real Estate Foundation of BC, and Ducks Unlimited for the
research and creation of this report. Funding for dissemination has
been recently awarded from Vancity Community Fund and Mountain Equipment
Coop. We are very grateful to the many reviewers of this report. As the
report says "It is time to get the message out that conserving land is
an essential strategy to prepare for climate change."
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Conservation Lenders - Bridge Financing
for land Securement
The Hamilton Naturalists' Club (HNC), through
it's Head-of-the-Lake Land Trust is looking into establishing a
roster of conservation lenders from amongst our members and
supporters. These people would offer to provide significant
loans on relatively short notice to serve as bridge financing
for opportunities where a high priority acquisition must close
before all funding is in place.
Does your land trust have experience with this kind of
arrangement or do you know of other organizations that do? If
so, please contact Al Ernest at (905) 689-9466 or land@hamiltonnature.org.
The HNC is particularly interested in learning from other's
experience and finding out what criteria, policies, practices and/or
loan agreement formats they have developed. Information gleaned will be
available to all interested OLTA members
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Young Conservation Professionals
Opportunity for
leadership development for young environmental professionals!
The Young Conservation Professionals
Career Development Program has energized the careers of Ontario's next
generation of environmental leaders. This year-long program focuses on
personal development, management training and network-building. The
program includes three three-day residential retreats, up to six day-long
management workshops, and culminates in a graduation ceremony at the A.D.
Latornell Conservation Symposium in November. Minimum qualifications for
the program are at least two years work experience following a college
diploma or undergraduate degree, and approval of your supervisor. Applications
are being accepted until January 25th for YCP 2008. Young
professionals in government, NGOs, and the private sector are encouraged
to apply. For more information on the program and application process
please visit http://www.uoguelph.ca/~claws/ycp/apply.html.
YCP is a project of the University of Guelph's Centre for Land and Water
Stewardship and the A.D. Latornell Conservation Symposium.
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Botulism blamed on Zebra Mussels in the
Great Lakes
Excerpted from an article By James Janega | Tribune reporter January 15,
2008
Botulism takes fatal toll on thousands of Great Lakes
birds Botulism and the
infamous zebra mussel are blamed for killing birds - from gulls to loons
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by the thousands.
The mounting toll on migrating birds has stoked fears
among researchers and
ecologists that blame for the deaths lies with invasive populations of
zebra
mussels and round gobies -- which arrived in ballast tanks in the 1980s
and
1990s -- spreading over the Great Lakes and effectively creating a new
food
chain.
Zebra mussels and their deep-water kin, quagga mussels, filter naturally
occurring botulism and other toxins from the water. Gobies eat the
mussels,
and birds, in turn, eat the gobies.
Scientists theorize this new food chain is concentrating botulism and
other
toxins and passing them up to predators. The theory is the subject of a
handful of scientific papers and upcoming research proposals.
Whatever the mechanism of transmitting the botulism, scientists in 1999
counted 311 birds in Lake Erie that appeared to die of it. The next year
they counted 8,000, and the toll has remained in the thousands in the
Great
Lakes every year since. And instead of fading quickly as outbreaks did in
decades past, the toxin has spread -- first through Lakes Erie and
Ontario,
then Huron. In 2006, Lake Michigan was the most recent lake to be
affected
and by last autumn was one of the hardest hit.
Article submitted by C.W. (Wally) King
member of the Great Lakes Cruising Club
and Founding Chairman, Georgian Bay Trust Foundation Inc.
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 Natural England
A Model for Ontario to follow?
Natural England works
for people, places and nature, to enhance biodiversity, landscapes and
wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas; promote access,
recreation and public well-being; and contribute to the way natural
resources are managed so that they can be enjoyed now and in the future.
Natural England works towards the
delivery of four strategic outcomes, which together deliver on our
purpose to conserve, enhance and manage the natural environment for the
benefit of current and future generations.
- A healthy natural environment: England's
natural environment will be conserved and enhanced.
- Enjoyment of the natural environment: more
people enjoying, understanding and acting to improve, the natural
environment, more often.
- Sustainable use of the natural environment:
the use and management of the natural environment is more
sustainable.
- A secure environmental future: decisions which
collectively secure the future of the natural environment.
For further details about Natural
England, its objectives, targets, and ways of working visit, http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/default.htm
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Also see the
press release on the 2.9 billion grant (British pounds) to start this
initiative
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/press/releases2007/061207.htm
Thanks to
Steve Hounsell for supplying the links to Natural England.
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JOBS
The Kensington Conservancy has partnered with
the Science Enterprise Algoma on an application to Heritage
Fund for an Invasive Species Public Outreach intern. The job is
posted with the Job Bank and on website. The link is attached Job Posting. Deadline for applications is 31 January.
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The Good Life
World
Wildlife Fund has just launched The Good Life: an online community for concerned Canadians who
want to stop talking about climate change and start taking personal
action. It's free, open to
everyone, to sign up, visit www.wwf.ca
The Good Life
offers a menu of actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions - some big,
some small - including "how-to" details. New actions will be
added regularly, along with profiles, expert advice, etc.
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Kathy Allan
Ontario Land Trust Alliance
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P.O. Box 97026
Toronto, Ontario M6R 3B3
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