| The Boreal And Caribou Hit the Big Time | 19 August 05 |
 Canada's boreal forests and caribou are in the spotlight along with lingerie in a recent Macleans Magazine article.The August 1, 2005 Macleans issue features the article "Lingerie and Caribou", chronicling recent efforts by environmentalists to pressure catalog giant Victoria's Secret to reduce their dependence on Canada's boreal forests. The lingerie company prints and mails, on average, well over one million catalogues a day and according to ForestEthics, a San Francisco-based environmental watchdog, about 25% of the paper in those catalogues comes from trees felled in Canada's virgin boreal forest, where the caribou live. Woodland caribou is one of three species of caribou in Canada. The latest data suggest there may be 33,000 still living among the black spruce, white spruce and tamarack of the northern boreal forest. In 2000, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), a federal agency, designated the boreal woodland caribou a "threatened" species, citing habitat loss as one reason. Development such as logging to supply companies such Victoria's Secret is one of the primary reasons for habitat loss. The caribou have also been garnering media attention recently in Manitoba; concerned environmentalists have been calling attention to the fact that the population health of these mammals are an indicator of the state of the boreal forest because of their requirements for large areas of intact boreal. Ron Thiessen, Director of the Wilderness Committee Manitoba office, told Manitoba Wildlands, "As a measure of boreal forest health, Manitoba woodland caribou's dramatic decline sets off alarm bells. Manitoba government action to list and protect woodland caribou under our Endangered Species Act is long overdue." View the August 4, 2005 Macleans Magazine article "Lingerie and Caribou" on the ForestEthics web site Visit the Macleans Magazine web site Source: Macleans Magazine |
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