Canada Warbler Conservation featured at Conservation Workshop in Edmonton
Ted Cheskey
Senior Conservation Manager
Late in October, Nature Canada’s Ted Cheskey led a workshop session on conserving Canada Warbler on its northern breeding grounds with forest company representatives and biologists as part of a larger workshop on birds and forest management hosted by the Boreal Avian Modelling Project (BAM), supported by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. The workshop was in Edmonton, and as a result was mainly attended by representatives from companies operating in western Canada. Nature Canada was delighted to be able to support the participation of Liz Kejick of the Lac Seul First Nation in northwestern Ontario. Big forestry operations occur widely on the traditional lands of First Nations, some of which operate their own forestry operations, but most of whom rarely have the capacity to participate in initiatives like this one. The fact that Liz was the only First Nation representative at the workshop underlines this point.
Participants at Birds and Forestry Workshop in Edmonton this fall – photo by Ted Cheskey
My take away learning was that there are already many logging companies that incorporate Canada Warbler conservation practices into their daily operations in western Canada. Many conduct pre-operational surveys, for example. BAM’s interest in getting the scientists and forestry companies talking was in part to apply the BAM products (e.g. predictive models for bird presence and abundance) to support improve forestry practices that support conservation. They also look to improving their models, which always require field-testing and revision. At some point in the workshop, I noted that, the overall workshop title could have been “forestry, modelling and the Canada Warbler.
