Pukaskwa National Park wolves threatened by new logging road A proposed logging road to be built by forestry giant Domtar Inc. in the White River Forest threatens Pukaskwa National Park's wolf population. The road will cut through an extensive wilderness corridor along the park's northern boundary and will intersect the territories of four wolf packs and an important Woodland Caribou Recovery zone. Caribou, a provincially threatened species and wolves depend on large tracts of contiguous roadless wilderness to survive. Along with increased traffic of logging trucks, this road will open up a previously remote area to public motorized access. TAKE ACTION NOW: To take action on this issue, please send a quick email: See below for instructions. To send an email just follow these easy instructions: 1. Please read the letter below. 2. Edit the letter to reflect your own views. Consider adding a personal introduction about why you care about endangered species protection and environmental issues. 3. Enter your contact information. This is required information for you to use this service and to get a reply. 4. Be sure to enter your name and full mailing address in the second box before sending. (Netscape users: You may have to copy and paste the text of the message into your email program.) Premier Dalton McGuinty Dalton.McGuinty@premier.gov.on.ca CC: Honourable David Ramsay, Minister of Natural Resources minister@mnr.gov.on.ca CC: Honourable Laurel Broten, Minister of Environment Email: minister@ene.gov.on.ca Dear Premier Dalton McGuinty Please ensure that your government keeps its commitment to wolf conservation. A proposed logging road to be built by forestry giant Domtar Inc. in the White River Forest threatens Pukaskwa National Park's wolf population. The road (referred to as “Road 770”) will cut through an extensive wilderness corridor along the park's northern boundary and will intersect the territories of four wolf packs and an important Caribou Recovery zone. The range of Woodland Caribou, a nationally threatened species, has receded dramatically due to logging, development and other forms of habitat degradation but there is a remnant population in the park. Nearly half of the park's wolf population will be threatened by this road. Along with increased traffic of logging trucks, this road will open up previously remote wilderness to hunters, trappers, snowmobilers and ATV users. Premier, permitting the construction of this road violates three of your conservation commitments to the Ontario public: 1) Protecting Ontario’s wolves 2) Protecting Ontario’s biodiversity 3) Strengthening Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, helping ‘species at risk’ recover and providing meaningful protection for their habitats. The Ministry of Natural Resources’ recently released Strategy for Wolf Conservation in Ontario should ensure that wolf populations are protected in both Provincial and National Parks. Research has shown that Pukaskwa’s wolf population has been in decline and a significant proportion of wolf mortality (47%) can be attributed to human activities. This is comparable to the experienced population declines in Algonquin Provincial Park. Pukaskwa is the only National Park that exists within the wolf’s Ontario range and it is one of the few protected areas large enough to protect mammals with vast territories. If we cannot protect wolves in our parks, where can we? Please stay true to your government’s commitments to improve wolf protection in Ontario by halting the construction of Road 770 in the White River Forest until a thorough review has been conducted. Thank you for your attention to this issue, I look forward to your reply. Enter your name and full postal mailing address here: This message will be sent through your email program. Once you approve sending it, the message will be sent in the background. You can check your email program's outbox to ensure the message has been sent. If you use web-based email like Yahoo or Hotmail you will need to cut and paste the above message into a new message. Links Effects of Proposed Road 770 on Wolf Population Persistence in the Pukaskwa/White River Forest Ecosystem More on Pukaskwa National Park Pukaskwa National Park wolves threatened by new logging road Did You Know...   Noted wolf biologist, L.D. Mech stated that "wolves can hear as far as 6 miles [9.6 kilometres] away in the forest and ten miles [16 kilometres] away on the open tundra. Learn More About Wolves