Media Release - Coalition forms to protect Wolf Lake old-growth forest
IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Monday February 6, 2012
Coalition forms to protect Wolf Lake old-growth forest
Sudbury – Today 17 conservation organizations and businesses launch the new Wolf Lake Coalition to save the world’s largest old-growth red pine forest. This exceptional place, located within Sudbury city limits, is in peril more than 13 years after Ontario promised to protect the 300 year-old pines. The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) is proposing to reduce protection in the heart of the Wolf Lake Old Growth Forest Reserve to encourage mineral exploration. The Wolf Lake Coalition is calling on the government of Ontario to honour its promise to fully protect Wolf Lake as part of the Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial Park.
The new Wolf Lake Coalition has an online home at SaveWolfLake.org.
“The Wolf Lake pine stand is a cultural jewel that connects today’s generation to the very resources that created Sudbury in the past,” said Franco Mariotti of the City of Greater Sudbury’s Green Space Advisory Panel. “To not protect the Wolf Lake old growth site is to deny future generations of this truly unique natural asset. It would be a denial of our historic past and a short-sighted vision of our future.”
The Green Space Advisory Panel, which is appointed by Sudbury City Council to provide advice on their Green Space Strategy, last week urged the city to afford Wolf Lake permanent protection as the city’s newest Ecological Reserve.
Red pine is one of Ontario’s most iconic tree species; a signature of our cherished northern landscape. Red pine forests once covered much of eastern North America, including what is now downtown Sudbury. These ancient forests remain on only 1.2% of their original extent 1, making them a critically endangered ecosystem 2. The Wolf Lake stand is the largest remaining example of this ecosystem — more than triple the size of the next largest remnant 3. We know of nothing like it that exists anywhere else.
“If we don’t act now to fully protect Wolf Lake, then we lose the opportunity to enjoy the economic and ecological benefits of this unique forest,” said Bob Olajos of the Friends of Temagami. "What we have at Wolf Lake cannot be replicated elsewhere.”
CONTACT
Franco Mariotti, Wolf Lake Coalition, 705-522-3701 ext. 24
Bob Olajos, Friends of Temagami, 705-499-0692
WOLF LAKE COALITION MEMBERS
Ancient Forest Exploration and Research
Association of Youth Camps on Temagami Lakes
BAM North Productions
Camp Keewaydin
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Ottawa Valley
Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury
The Council of Canadians
Earthroots
Friends of Temagami
Friends of the LaVase Portages
Lake Temagami Group
Nipissing Environmental Watc
Ontario Rivers Alliance
Paddle Canada
Rob Nelson Photography
Temagami Lakes Association
Wild Women Expeditions
REFERENCES
1 Quinby, P.A. (1996). Status of Old-Growth Red Pine Forests in Eastern North America: A Preliminary Assessment. http://www.anciennorest.org/flb14.html
2 Noss, R.F. (1995). Endangered Ecosystems of the United States: A Preliminary Assessment of Loss and Degradation. Moscow, Idaho: University of Idaho, Department of Fish and Wildlife. http://biology.usgs.gov/pubs/ecosys.htm
3 Quinby, P.A. (1996). Status of Old-Growth Red Pine Forests in Eastern North America: A Preliminary Assessment. http://www.anciennorest.org/flb14.html
