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News- Page 2
Who you gonna call?
Posted by WpgJim on Friday, September 11, 2009 (17:33:29) (115 reads)
East Selkirk resident disgusted after bear report goes unchecked
By Mark T. Buss
An East Selkirk resident who watched a mother bear and four cubs roam his property for over four hours on the weekend is disgusted with the way his report was handled by Manitoba Conservation officials.
Kyle Wass said not only did Conservation officers fail to attend the scene, he still hasn’t received a follow-up call.
“I grew up in a hunting family and I’ve had a lot of dealings with (Conservation) over the years, but the fact nobody would come out and investigate ... I was stunned,” Wass said.
Wass said the incident started around 2 a.m. on Sept. 5 when his two dogs became agitated and began barking vigorously in the family’s backyard on Strathcona Road across from Happy Thought School.
Wass said he went outside to investigate, only to find the dogs had treed two bear cubs on the property.
Realizing something else was in the yard, he turned to find a 250-pound sow and two more cubs scampering up a tree.
“She was right behind me and I didn’t even know it,” Wass said. “Needless to say, I got back into the house pretty quick.”
Wass contacted the Selkirk RCMP, who gave him the Conservation 800-number tip line to call, which he said he did.
After going through the automated directory, Wass said a woman answered the phone who, he said, sounded like she wasn’t to impressed with having her sleep disturbed.
“She told me the Selkirk Conservation office was the hardest one to get hold of and advised me to leave the animals alone and they would eventually go away,” Wass said in a joking tone. “I tried to explain I lived in the village, across from the elementary school ... that I didn’t live off in the boonies somewhere bears normally wander through, but that didn’t seem to matter.”
“I couldn’t believe it,” he added.
Able to eventually gather his dogs in the house, Wass said he and his family spent the next four hours watching the bears climb down from their perch and move from the back yard to the front yard.
As the clock passed 6 a.m., and the bears were still on his property, Wass said he realized no Natural Resources officers were coming to investigate.
“By 7 a.m. the bears were gone from my yard but we didn’t know where they went,” Wass said. “This is a pretty active place. People take their dogs for walks, people jog ... it wasn’t a very good feeling.”
Wass’ mother-in-law Elaine Markwart said her family had two other bear sightings within the last week – one on Frank Street and one of Church Road – including allegations of gunshots Monday night.
Markwart believes bears have become more brazen as they continue to forage for food following a poor summer for berries and other items.
“They’re starving,” Markwart said. “They’re looking for food and I think that makes them dangerous.”
A former Lord Selkirk School Division trustee, Markwart said the bear sighting’s proximity to the Happy Thought School – where children spend their summers congregating on the playground – is unsettling.
“This is potentially dangerous situation in a residential area and we can’t get a proper response?” Markwart questioned. “If (Conservation) doesn’t handle this, who does?”
Environmental sources say protocol regarding bear sightings involves reports being forwarded to the appropriate Conservation office which will then result in a call from a Conservation officer. At press time, it was undetermined if the Saturday morning report was ever forwarded to the Selkirk office.
Barry Verbiwski, head of Conservation’s problem wildlife unit, confirmed 59 bear reports have been called in the Selkirk area this year with approximately one month to go, as opposed to 41 all of last year.
Verbiwski advised homeowners have a role to play by managing their properties so bears aren’t attracted to them. Garbage and food should be secured in a manner that doesn’t allow odours to escape and attractants like compost piles and beehives should be covered.
“Bird feeders and garbage are responsible for 70 per cent of calls,” Verbiwski said.
He added not all reports are investigated but did confirm ones where animals won’t leave a property are normally followed through.
Although he couldn’t officially comment on Saturday’s incident, Verbiwski said having four cubs and a mother in a rural residential setting should have sent up a red flag in his view.
Selkirk Journal calls to Conservation Minister Stan Struthers’ communication staff were not returned as of press time.
Bear attack
While bear sightings are not that uncommon in and around East Selkirk, the community’s worst fears were realized in August 2005 when Harvey Robinson, 68, was attacked and killed by a 250-pound black bear while out picking plums behind his Two Mile Road property in the RM of St. Clements.
The incident could have been even more disastrous had family members not waited for RCMP officers to arrive on the scene. As they stood near Robinson’s body, the bear came charging out of the bush forcing a Selkirk Mountie to shoot the bear twice with his 9-mm pistol.
The bear was found dead five hours later in a massive search that included Selkirk RCMP, Manitoba Conservation and seasoned St. Clements hunters while a helicopter soared overhead.
Source: http://www.selkirkjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1749579
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Wildlife boot camp
Posted by WpgJim on Saturday, August 29, 2009 (14:43:41) (15 reads)
Petersfield teen digs in at Oak Hammock Marsh camp
By Hayley Brigg
A local teen had the chance to fuel his inner conservationist last week.
Zachary Clemons, a 13-year-old Grade 8 student from Petersfield, spent a week-long excursion at Oak Hammock Marsh Aug. 11-14 after being selected to participate in Ducks Unlimited Canada’s (DUC) 14th annual Great Greenwing Adventure.
Clemons, along with 10 other youth from across Canada and two from the U.S., were handpicked by DUC to participate in an all-expenses-paid trip to Oak Hammock from for what DUC calls the ‘eco-adventure of a lifetime’.
“It’s an opportunity for kids who may already been involved and interested in the environment to build on and foster that interest,” said Rick Witsherd, education manager for Oak Hammock Marsh. “The hope is that eventually they might go on to pursue studies or careers in the environmental or conservation field.”
The group spent the week visiting not only Oak Hammock Marsh, but Delta Marsh north of Portage la Prairie to work alongside University of Manitoba biologists, learning how to study wetlands and waterfowl.
“They’ve been able to do some really great things like participating in a small bird and waterfowl banding program,” said Witsherd. “They’ve even had the opportunity to learn how to use wildlife radio telemetry.”
In addition to the educational side of the camp, the students had the opportunity to have fun, learning how to make decoys, use a GPS system, canoe, skeet shoot and do water and invertebrate sampling.
Clemons said he was encouraged by his parents to apply for the camp, submitting a personal essay detailing his experience with environmental-related activities and explaining why he felt he deserved to be selected.
“Conservation is important to me because I want it to be around for my children and grandchildren,” he said. “I respect the wetlands in my area and I enjoy going duck hunting, especially at Netley Marsh. I always make sure that when we hunt, we only leave our footprints behind.”
For Clemons, he says the experience he had at the camp was not only an enjoyable one, but it ignited a more profound interest into pursuing a environmentally-related career.
“I want to become a conservation officer,” said Clemons. “I have always thought about being one but this has made me want to do it a lot more.”
Source: http://www.selkirkjournal.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1713417
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Thinking through the camp proposal
Posted by WpgJim on Saturday, July 18, 2009 (14:30:32) (15 reads)
Whiteshell park area hardly pristine now
By: Bruce Owen
MEDITATION LAKE -- The wolf ambles through the clear cut, poking its nose in what little underbrush there is.
A 2007 wind storm toppled thousands of trees here that loggers have cleaned up, so it's easy to pick out the lone animal.
Chris Monk doesn’t want the proposed youth camp and all its services to set up in the area, where his family has fished for years.
Chris Monk doesn’t want the proposed youth camp and all its services to set up in the area, where his family has fished for years. (JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)
A timber wolf stares through the underbrush at Meditation Lake. (JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)
The wolf looks at us for a few brief seconds and continues with his scrounging, not caring if we're there. A few minutes later, he trots off.
To borrow a line from an old song, will he survive?
The Doer government is entertaining the idea of allowing coffee-and-doughnut juggernaut Tim Hortons, through its Children's Foundation, to build a wilderness youth camp on the shore of Meditation Lake.
Some fear the camp will ruin a pristine area of Whiteshell Provincial Park. Others say a year-round facility will only improve an area of the park that has been underserved by government.
But to say Meditation Lake and the area around it is pristine wilderness is stretching things a bit. The wind storm and earlier logging operations -- now banned -- have changed virgin forest to a moonscape. On the way into Meditation Lake off Highway 307, there's also a big quarry with high piles of gravel and crushed rock, and a second but inactive quarry.
The proposed $10-million camp that was to open by 2011 now appears to be in limbo as the province and the Tim Hortons Children's Foundation study its feasibility.
Hiker Chris Monk and a companion want Meditation Lake to stay as it is, and any camp built in a more accessible area.
"This is a paradise," Monk, 71, says, despite the rain and mosquitoes. "You're not going to have it back once you put the camp in here."
His family fished for northern pike on the lake, taking their boat down the trail on a makeshift bicycle-wheel trailer. Many still do.
If Tim Hortons gets the green light, it means building a new road to the lake for several kilometres off Hwy. 309 that's big enough to accommodate buses taking kids to the camp and trucks delivering groceries and taking away garbage. It also means extending electricity service and likely building a sewage lagoon and water-treatment system.
With increased vehicle traffic, the province may have to improve Hwy. 307 from Rennie north to White Lake and Hwy. 309 from White Lake to Big Whiteshell Lake.
"It's going to improve the park as a whole," Big Whiteshell Lake Lodge owner Karl Fabian says. "If they improve the roads, do you think any of the cottagers are going to complain?"
Tim Hortons Children's Foundation vice-president David Newnham has said officials are to review a summer's worth of provincially collected water-quality data before any decision is made.
Opponents say because the lake is shallow, and in dry years restricted in its outflow, it's plagued with blue-green algae blooms, making it unsuitable for swimming and canoeing activities.
What causes the toxic algae is unknown. One theory is airborne contaminants from fertilizer used in agriculture might be to blame. The same algae blooms appear on Lake Winnipeg from time to time.
"We want to make sure the water quality in the lake is appropriate for a children's camp," Newnham said. "It is possible we will need to take a look at other locations if Meditation Lake is not deemed to be an appropriate spot." Eric Reder, the Manitoba campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, said one option might be for Tim Hortons to take over and improve an existing facility elsewhere in the Whiteshell, though he wants the government to be more open should that happen.
Reder also said new legislation should be enacted restricting development on Meditation Lake and nearby Horseshoe Lake.
Maybe then, too, the wolf will survive.
What's there
MEDITATION Lake is 340 hectares in size, lying five kilometres west of Big Whiteshell Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park.
Access is off Highway 309 running 4.5 km from Rennie.
The landscape around the south end of Meditation Lake includes a large red pine stand and a fine sandy beach. The red pines were planted in 1957. The terrain is dominated by gently rolling bedrock.
Wildlife is primarily white-tailed deer -- some say too many deer -- which attract predators like the wolf.
Meditation Lake supports northern pike, walleye, perch, white sucker and smallmouth bass.
The province is to plant up to 400,000 trees to reforest an large area around the lake hit by a 2007 windstorm.
On April 1, 2009, logging was prohibited in Whiteshell Provincial Park.
-- Source:
Manitoba Government
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 18, 2009 A10
Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/thinking-through-the-camp-proposal-51090867.html
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Wildlife association revived
Posted by WpgJim on Thursday, July 02, 2009 (14:39:15) (19 reads)
The Lac du Bonnet Wildlife Association is experiencing a revival, thanks to a new executive that’s been formed to take the reins of the long-dormant club.
A meeting was held last week at the Lac du Bonnet Community Centre to help bring some public attention to the club and the new executive’s plans to bring it back to life.
“It went great,” new association president Gerry Arbez said. “We had 30 people sign up as members and I think we’re on the right track to getting the club started up again.”
The new eight-member board is composed of Arbez, Bruce Williams, Ed Klassen, Devin Orvis, Art St. Amant, Devin McMurren, Ken MacMaster, and Neil Jack.
The wildlife association has existed since the 1970s, and for many years was active in the community and contributed to many wildlife-related projects including fish and bird counts, walleye spawning ground development, feeding deer during harsh winters, and a lot more.
However, membership dwindled in later years to the point where the club had virtually no members. Its only event for the past several years has been the annual Sno Golf tournament, which remains very successful. The association also recently donated $25,000 to the Lac du Bonnet Charitable Foundation.
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Arbez, who’s had a cottage in Pinawa Bay for the past 30 years, said the initiative to revive the club began when he and a few neighbours got together and started mulling the idea over.
“We thought it was a real crime that Lac du Bonnet didn’t have an active wildlife association,” he said. “We felt the club was needed and wanted to see what we could do to get it re-activated.”
So, the group spoke to past club president Pete Humble, who is now ready to turn over the wildlife association mailbox and bank account to the new executive. The bank account holds some funds that will be used to help get the newly-revived club off and running.
“I think it’s really great that this new group has stepped forward to breathe some life back into the club,” Humble said. “For awhile there didn’t seem to be any interest, but it looks like that’s changed and that’s great to see.”
Arbez said the club’s first activities have yet to be finalized, but could possibly include a club canoe trip, a mock turkey shoot using paper targets, and a post-hunting season dinner and awards night.
He said the executive also wants to investigate the possibility of the club gaining access to a shooting range. There is currently one in Seven Sisters that was briefly discussed.
“Whatever we do, we have to involve the youth,” Arbez said. “There’s a lot of possibilities in that regard.”
Membership fees to the new club have been finalized, and are set as follows:
—Family membership is $45 for 18 months
—Single membership $40 for 18 months
—Youth membership $10 for 18 months
Six-month memberships are also available.
Anyone with questions about the club can contact Arbez at 345-8956 or public relations director Ken MacMaster at 345-2925.
Membership inquiries can be directed to membership director Art St. Amant at 345-2161.
Source: http://www.lacdubonnetleader.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1629819[img]
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Research to target wasting disease
Posted by WpgJim on Thursday, June 18, 2009 (13:14:29) (23 reads)
A researcher at the University of Manitoba is spearheading a first-of-its-kind study into how people are affected by chronic wasting disease.
It is a highly contagious, environmentally transmitted prion disease found in wild animals, particularly deer and elk in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Prof. Stéphane McLachlan of the Environmental Conservation Lab, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources at U of M, has been awarded $400,000 to research the implications of CWD for people most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of the disease, especially aboriginal communities.
The funding is being provided by PrioNet Canada in an effort to address the health-related risks posed by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease), CWD and other prion diseases, and to accelerate discoveries in these areas.
The research, co-funded by the Alberta Prion Research Institute, is part of a total infusion of $1.6 million to support three projects, including two additional Alberta-based projects.
"Although no evidence indicates whether or not CWD is transmissible to humans, it may still have severe socioeconomic consequences for hunters, for those in the tourism and nature industries, and especially for aboriginal communities," said McLachlan.
For example, he explained that many aboriginal communities are concerned about contamination and diseases of wildlife and therefore distrust the safety of wild food, which may undermine traditional livelihoods and lead to stress and compromised health.
Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/research-to-target-wasting-disease-48416967.html
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