[Pollinator] op-ed by David Suzuki on Guelph's pollinator park

[Faisal Moola]

hi friends
 
David Suzuki and I wrote an op-ed today that was published in the Ottawa Citizen on recent progress in the protection of wildlife habitat in Canada. We hi-light the recent creation of Canada's first pollinator protected area in Guelph, Ontario. See below: 


More than just black flies, bogs, rocks and trees
 
By David Suzuki and Faisal Moola, Citizen Special
July 15, 2009
 
The environmental challenges facing Canada are daunting -- the lack of a credible plan to address climate change, the overreliance on tar sands to fuel our energy needs and economy, the snail's pace with which we work to protect endangered species and their habitat, including iconic wildlife such as polar bears and caribou.

But in the midst of painful foot-dragging, partisan bickering and PR spin rather than substantive progress, there has been one bright spot in the sorry state of environmental policy in this country. Thanks in large part to the efforts of individual Canadians, First Nations, and environmental organizations, our municipal, provincial, and federal governments have made great strides to protect Canada's natural heritage -- our ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and rivers that are not only important habitat for biodiversity, but the source of clean air, clean water and other natural benefits that sustain the health and well-being of our communities.

Just last month, the federal government and the Dehcho First Nation announced a plan to permanently protect more than 30,000 square kilometres of boreal wilderness in Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories. That's an area the size of Vancouver Island.

The announcement came on the heels of a new law introduced in Ontario that legally commits the government to protect at least half of the province's northern boreal forest, as well as a promise by Quebec Premier Jean Charest to do the same in that province. Canada's boreal forest is globally significant, even though most Canadians know less about its majesty and plight than about other conservation battlegrounds, such as the Amazon or Indonesia's tropical rainforests.

Misunderstood as a foreboding landscape of black flies, bogs, and "rocks and trees and trees and rocks and water" (to quote comedy group the Arrogant Worms), the boreal's ecological value leaves one awestruck. This is a forest that spans the nation, like a great green cloak, from Newfoundland to the Yukon. It is larger than all of the other great forests of the planet, including the Congo Basin, the Amazon, and the Russian Taiga.

The boreal stores more freshwater in its wetlands and lakes and more carbon in its trees, soil and peatlands than anywhere on Earth. It supports three billion migratory songbirds, the world's largest herds of caribou, millions of waterfowl and shorebirds, and abundant populations of large predatory animals, including wolves, grizzly bears, polar bears, wolverines and lynx. And it is home to hundreds of First Nations communities that depend upon the region's ecosystems for their livelihoods and rich culture.

The boreal isn't the only place we've seen good news lately. The federal government has also made some moves to protect aquatic wildlife in our oceans, lakes and rivers. Last month, it issued a recovery strategy for the endangered North Atlantic right whale, which included identifying the 80-tonne mammal's critical habitat -- the habitat it needs to survive. Under Canada's Species at Risk Act, the identification of the whale's habitat triggers protection.

The government is also working to protect critical habitat for killer whales off the B.C. coast, though it took a lawsuit by the David Suzuki Foundation and other organizations to convince the government to act. We're cautiously optimistic that the whales may finally get the legal protection they need to survive.

Different levels of government in Canada have protected or committed to protect hundreds of thousands of hectares of forests, tundra, rare grasslands, lakes, rivers, and other terrestrial, freshwater and ocean ecosystems. This is cause for celebration.

But in the midst of the monumental landscapes that will forever be wild, one story that really inspires us is that of Canada's most unusual new park. This year the city of Guelph established the world's first pollinator sanctuary on a former landfill site on the edge of town. Heaps of rotting garbage within a sarcophagus of soil and clay are being restored with native vegetation to create much needed urban habitat for perhaps the hardest-working species on the planet: insect pollinators. Many of these critters are declining throughout Canada as a result of sprawl, pesticides, global warming and intensive agricultural activities. Their decline is worrisome, as about 90 per cent of flowering plants, including at least one-third of the food we eat, need pollinators, including apples, blueberries, carrots, broccoli and many other fruits and vegetables, as well as many seeds and grains too.

Ottawa readers will recall the recent controversy over neighbours' complaints about a private pollinator garden in Constance Bay. While it might seem an unusual approach to yard care, there is a genuine ecological benefit to allowing indigenous plants to grow.

Canadians have always celebrated the spectacular natural bounty that makes ours one of the most beautiful and prosperous nations on Earth -- from oceans and coastlines to mountains and foothills to prairies and grasslands. Conserving our land and waters is a gift to the planet, though much more needs to be done to protect the richness of wildlife and wilderness with which we are blessed, especially in our oceans, as less than 0.5 per cent of Canada's vast marine realm has legal protected status. If we continue to work together, we can ensure that we and our children and grandchildren will have much to celebrate, long into the future.

David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and chair of the David Suzuki Foundation. Faisal Moola is director of science at the David Suzuki Foundation and an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
 
 
Dr. Faisal Moola, PhD 
Director, Terrestrial Conservation and Science Program
David Suzuki Foundation 
 
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto
 
2211 West 4th Avenue, Suite 219 
Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6K 4S2 
Tel: (604) 732-4228 Fax: (604) 732-0752 

________________________________

From: pollinator-bounces+fmoola=davidsuzuki.org at lists.sonic.net on behalf of pembert3 at bellsouth.net
Sent: Wed 7/15/2009 6:38 AM
To: pollinator at lists.sonic.net
Subject: [Pollinator] honey bee pollinators of North America orchids


Hello,
 
Does anyone know of cases in which honey bees are legitimate pollinators of North America orchids?
 
Thanks, Bob Pemberton
 
 

 

Robert W. Pemberton PhD

 

Research Associate

Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coral Cables, FL

Florida Musueum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL

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