Ottawa, April 21 2010 – On the eve of Earth Day, human-sized herds are converging in downtown locations across Canada today to highlight the need to protect the iconic yet nationally threatened woodland caribou’s remaining habitat in Canada’s Boreal forests and wetlands.

From Vancouver to Ottawa to Montreal, dozens of people are expected to join colourful events with CPAWS’ caribou ambassador Bou, to celebrate that over 20,000 people have voiced their support for protecting Canada’s woodland caribou and its Boreal forest habitat.

The Ottawa event is scheduled for 12:15 on the Sparks Street Mall between Bank and O’Connor Streets. The Montreal and Vancouver events will occur at 5:30 and 6 PM respectively.

“As Earth Day approaches, we’re reminding decision-makers of Canada’s global responsibility to protect our endangered woodland caribou. They’re a famous Canadian species that has long been on our quarter, and their Boreal habitat also happens to be world’s largest remaining wilderness forest,” says Eric Hebert-Daly, CPAWS National Executive Director.

Once ranging as far south as Algonquin Park, woodland caribou have lost over half of their habitat since Europeans first arrived in Canada. Requiring large intact forests to survive, human activities including agriculture, forestry and road building have largely caused the caribou’s decline. Outside of Newfoundland, there are an estimated 36,000 remaining Boreal woodland caribou in Canada. Their Boreal forest habitat is estimated to store nearly 200 billion tons of carbon – an important buffer against climate change.

CPAWS is calling on governments, industry, conservationists and First Nations to work together to protect this iconic species and its habitat. The organization is running a public education campaign called “Caribou and You” to engage Canadians in conserving Canada’s Boreal forest. In addition to scientific information about the state of boreal woodland caribou and conservation efforts across Canada, CPAWS’ caribouandyou.ca website hosts their Boreal mascot Bou’s blog and links to his videos and facebook fanpage.

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Information
Sophie Paradis
514-603-7627