Friday, December 12, 2008

Tar Sands Oil Development Could Claim More Than 160 Million Boreal Birds


Important new report entitled Impact on Birds of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canada’s Boreal Forest

Canada’s Boreal Forest is an incredibly important area for many breeding neotropical migrant birds, and other biodiversity, and contains numerous Important Bird Areas. The report details impacts to at least five Important Bird Areas, among numerous other impacts.

According to Jeff Wells, author of the report and Senior Scientist of the Boreal Songbird Initiative “…this is one of the first attempts to do a cumulative assessment of the magnitude of impacts to birds from one of the largest energy industrial sources in North America. This is the second largest oil deposit on earth and most people in the U.S. don’t know it but the U.S. gets more oil and gas from Canada than from any other single country.”


You can download the full report and get background info at the following sites:

http://www.borealbirds.org/blog/?p=116

http://www.borealbirds.org/birdstarsands.shtml


Tar Sands Oil Development Could Claim More Than 160 Million Boreal Birds
New Science-Based Report Outlines Devastating Impact for Birds in U.S. and Canada

CHICAGO (December 2, 2008) – Extraction and refining of heavy oil from Canada’s tar sands is taking a significant toll on migratory birds throughout North America, according to a report released today. DANGER IN THE NURSERY: Impact on Birds of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canada’s Boreal Forest is a new peer-reviewed policy and science document outlining the current and projected impacts the tar sands oil industry is having on migratory bird populations in the Boreal forest of Alberta and along the hemisphere’s flyways.


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