| Wildlife Habitat Canada is pleased
to announce the recipients of the 2007 National Forest Stewardship
Recognition Award. The
Forest Stewardship Recognition Program (FSRP) recognizes outstanding
stewardship in Canada's forests. The forest stewardship award
is intended to promote good forest stewardship; recognize the accomplishments
of forest managers; encourage the use of innovative practices to
conserve biodiversity and increase public awareness of stewardship
efforts in Canada's forests.
Recipients of the forest stewardship
award receive a limited edition print of a painting entitled New
Morning, by BC artist Don Li-Leger. The founding partners of
the Forest Stewardship Recognition Program are Wildlife Habitat
Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Canadian
Forest Service and the Forest Products Association of Canada.
Her Excellency the Right Honourable
Michaëlle Jean, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., Governor General
of Canada is the Patron of Wildlife Habitat Canada's National Stewardship
Awards.
The 2007
recipients of the Forest Stewardship Recognition Awards are:
Hardisty
Creek Restoration Project, Hinton, Alberta
Hardisty Creek is
a small tributary of the Athabasca River that flows through the
community of Hinton in central Alberta. In 2003, the Hardisty Creek
Restoration Project (HCRP) was undertaken to restore fish passage
and wildlife habitat along the creek.
Many partners – government,
industry, conservation organizations, community groups and individuals
– are involved in the HCRP. Fish passage has already been
restored through a railway culvert at Hinton, and other barriers
to fish along the creek are being removed. Several species have
returned to Hardisty Creek, including bull trout and whitefish.
As well, many of the HCRP's
innovative methods to improve fish passage and habitat can be used
to educate land-use managers in the forestry and energy sectors
about stream protection and restoration. Public events and school
activities fostering watershed stewardship are an ongoing part of
the project.
Upper
Canada Woods Co-operative, Quinte Region, Eastern Ontario
The Upper Canada
Woods Co-operative (UCWC) is the only co-operative of its kind in
Ontario. Formed in 2002, the for-profit UCWC provides forest management
services, value-added marketing services and educational information
to its 60 members in Quinte Region. The result has been improved
forest stewardship and a healthier local forest economy. Co-op members
are now managing sustainably more than 10,000 acres of private woodlands
under professionally prepared management plans.
The UCWC promotes value-added marketing of
forest products, not the sale of standing timber. Member-owned equipment
such as sawmills, kilns and planers is shared. Many of the co-op
members have smaller woodlots, which yield high-quality forest products,
but in relatively low volumes. The co-op allows members to pool
these products so that sales of larger volumes can be achieved.
The co-op has also significantly increased
the knowledge of forestry principles and woodlot management among
its members. These ongoing UCWC education programs continue to promote
good forest stewardship.
Steve
Pitt, Kingston, Ontario
Steve Pitt, a forest
technician with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, has dedicated
more than 25 years to the advancement of private land forestry in
eastern Ontario. He has been a tireless advocate of forest stewardship.
Steve Pitt led the development of the Lennox
and Addington Stewardship Council. He helped establish the Limestone
Chapter of the Ontario Woodlot Association and the Upper Canada
Woods Co-operative. He also started the Trees for Peace Program.
For the past ten years, students involved in Trees for Peace have
planted about 25,000 trees each year to restore wildlife habitat.
In addition to his professional responsibilities,
Steve has contributed hundreds of hours of volunteer time to the
promotion of forest stewardship in eastern Ontario.
Warren
and Bruce Cook, Deep Bay, Vancouver Island, BC
Warren Cook and
his son, Bruce, operate a selective logging and aquaculture business
on the family's 86-hectare oceanfront property on Vancouver
Island. Five generations of Cooks have lived on the property, and
the family has a strong tradition of stewardship and conservation.
The Cook's legacy of habitat protection
began when Warren's father gave the Department of Fisheries
and Oceans full access to streams on the property to conduct fisheries
research. As a result, Warren Cook assisted DFO and its partners
in 1997 with construction of a side channel pond to Chef Creek.
The Chef Creek restoration project has been a great success, resulting
in more than 5,000 square metres of new spawning and fish-rearing
habitat in a forest environment. These habitat improvements have
also contributed to healthy local waterfowl and amphibian populations.
Chef Creek is an excellent demonstration project. Warren Cook
continues to host numerous educational field trips and stewardship
events.
Additional information about WHC's National
Stewardship Awards can be found at www.whc.org/EN/stewardship/stewardship_awards.htm
or by contacting:
Mr.
Lynn McIntyre,
Director of Stewardship Programs
Wildlife Habitat Canada
800-669-7919 ext. 234
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