For Immediate Release

Mackenzie Pipeline Study Ignores Effects on Critical Bird Habitat: Nature Canada Report

Ottawa (June 23, 2005) – The environmental impact statement of the Mackenzie Gas Project does not adequately assess the project’s impact on birds and bird habitat, according to a report released today by Nature Canada.

“The statement does not address how the Mackenzie Gas Project will affect the 350,000 migratory birds that summer in the Mackenzie Valley and Delta,” said Julie Gelfand, president of Nature Canada. “We are especially disappointed that the statement fails to document the effects of the project on five Important Bird Areas that occur in the study area.”

The Nature Canada report, a technical review of the environmental impact statement prepared by Imperial Oil and other Mackenzie Gas Project proponents, will be presented next week to the joint review panel evaluating the potential environmental impacts of the project.

The Nature Canada report contends there has been a lack of attention paid to the project’s effects on Important Bird Areas — internationally significant areas of critical bird habitat. The five IBAs located entirely or partially within the proposed project’s study area contain almost 6,700 km² of wilderness. Each one holds high concentrations of birds throughout the year, many of which are endangered or rarely found elsewhere.

“For several bird species these Important Bird Areas represent critical stopover points during migration, and are important breeding and nesting areas,” said Sarah Wren, Nature Canada Conservation Biologist. “The environmental impact statement ignores many species that have been identified as national or North American conservation priorities.”

Nature Canada launched the Canadian IBA program in 1996 with Bird Studies Canada. Both organizations are co-partners with Birdlife International.

Some other key findings of the Nature Canada report are as follows:

• The species selected as Wildlife Valued Components to act as surrogates for other wildlife failed to adequately address the requirements of significant bird species.
  
• The environmental impact statement did not follow the Migratory Birds Environmental Assessment Guideline produced by Environment Canada as a guide for environmental assessment of migratory birds.

• One species in the project’s study area, Eskimo Curlew, is Highly Imperiled according to the Canadian Shorebird Conservation Plan. The last documented sighting of the Eskimo Curlew was in the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary.

• Thirty-four landbird species within the project’s study area require management to achieve continental population objectives, as set out in the North American Landbird Conservation Plan.

• In June, Nature Canada formally endorsed the Mackenzie WILD Declaration opposing the Mackenzie Gas Project and the oil and gas industrialization of the Mackenzie watershed that it would trigger. The Mackenzie WILD Declaration, also endorsed by such groups as Sierra Club of Canada, Ecology North, Council of Canadians, the Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance and the Wilderness Society calls on Canadian governments to: support Canada’s commitments to protect the global atmosphere, protect the biodiversity and ecology of the Mackenzie Valley, ensure sustainable, healthy Mackenzie Valley communities and respect the rights of Mackenzie Valley Indigenous Peoples. For more information on Mackenzie WILD see www.mackenzieWILD.ca.

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Read Nature Canada’s report on the Mackenzie Gas project.

For further information, contact:

Julie Gelfand
President, Nature Canada
613-562-3447, ext. 231

Sarah Wren
Important Bird Areas, Conservation Biologist, Nature Canada
613-562-3447, ext. 300

Chris Sutton
Manager, Communications, Nature Canada
613-452-3447, ext. 248