Eco Tourism

AS she surveys the bountiful boreal forest spreading out in all directions from the boulder strewn shore of Weaver Lake, Sophia Rebliauskas reflects on what this land on the east side of Lake Winnipeg means to her people.

"It is our home," says the resident of Poplar River First Nation, who is the community coordinator for Pimachiowin Aki Corporation (PAC) World Heritage Project.

Weaver Lake, which is located about 280 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg and is only accessible by float-plane or boat, has been home to a First Nations healing camp for the past decade.

I was one of a group of five media representatives invited to spend two days recently at the healing camp meeting with participants and sharing in the opening session of the gathering. The healing camp, which was attended by Ojibwa elders from four Manitoba First Nations, coincided with the first national hearing in Winnipeg of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools.

We were also taken on a boat tour of this proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site -- an area that has been touted as a better route for Manitoba Hydro's new Bipole III transmission line from northern generating stations to Winnipeg than the longer and more expensive west side route.

In 2004, the Government of Canada added the Pimachiowin Aki area to its list of "tentative World Heritage Sites," signaling the launch of the World Heritage Project, explained Gord Jones, project manager since 2007.

"I am opposed to an east side hydro line because this is intact boreal forest," said Rebliauskas, the mother of three adult children and one grandchild.

"But, an all weather road is a necessity. This year, the winter road melted quickly. We were driving through ruts."

In fact, she admitted that meetings are now being held between the First Nations communities and government representatives for an east side road planning authority.

Nevertheless, any sort of development would disrupt the ecosystem and life on the land, added the gregarious Rebliauskas, who mentions that Pimachiowin Aki is Objiwe for "the land that gives life."

Besides Poplar River, the other members of PAC include Pikangikum First Nation, Pauingassi First Nation, Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Bloodvein First Nation, Manitoba Conservation and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

The project area consists of some 40,000 square kilometres and includes Manitoba's Atikaki Provincial Park and the adjoining Woodland Caribou Provincial Park in Ontario -- both are prime canoeing and wildlife areas.

During our boat trip on a mostly sun-splashed afternoon, we stopped at a site containing the faded outlines of ancient rock paintings.

Indigenous people have been here for 5,000 to 6,000 years -- since the last glaciers receded, remarked Jones, as we stood atop a rocky ridge gazing at Thunder Mountain on the distant horizon with Weaver Lake below us and the thick forest extending as far as the eye could see.

"The boreal forest is recognized as a valuable eco-system," he said.

"It's recognized as the lungs of the Earth. It sequesters carbon and is a good place to study climate change. It also sustains indigenous people who have been part of this region for thousands of years. Indigenous people have knowledge and belief systems important for everyone."

There are 890 World Heritage Sites located in 148 countries, according to information from UNESCO. Of these, 689 are cultural, 176 are natural and 25 are mixed properties. Such spectacular sites as the Grand Canyon, the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks (one of 13 World Heritage Sites in Canada), the pyramids of Egypt, and Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia have all achieved the designation.

Both Jones and Rebliauskas believe that having the region declared an official World Heritage Site would help create income for the First Nations communities by stimulating eco-tourism.

"When a place gets recognized as a World Heritage Site people from all over the world will want to visit the land," said Jones, who noted that the formal nomination for a WHS will take place in February 2012 with a further 18 months for review and approval by UNESCO.

Already, some First Nations lodge owners in eastern Manitoba are planning on how they can help create jobs through eco-tourism, observed Rebliauskas, who, along with her husband, runs a lodge in Poplar River.

"For our First Nations, the forests are our heritage," stressed one elder to me back at the healing camp as I nodded my head in agreement.

Indeed, the land that gives life must be protected for all of us.

Martin Zeilig is a Winnipeg writer.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 3, 2010 h6

Re: East side tourism (March 24). I was pleased to read the province will be investing $2.5 million on a new aboriginal cultural centre near Hollow Water -- the gateway to the heart of the boreal forest on the east side of Lake Winnipeg. The announcement also includes a separate fund for a loans program that will kick start local tourism ventures.

Done right, eco and cultural tourism is a tremendous opportunity to create employment by keeping the region healthy and unbroken. With the upcoming World Heritage Site designation, people will come from all over the world to see the world's largest intact section of northern forest. This will be a huge economic boon for local communities in need of jobs.

RON THIESSEN

Winnipeg

A Manitoba conservation group is touting a planned Interlake provincial park as an ideal site for a bat attraction.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society's Manitoba branch pushed the ecotourism opportunity Wednesday when gathering about 30 Fisher River-area children together in Winnipeg to educate them on the little brown bat species, which has a habitat in the area of the future park a few hours' drive north of the city.

University of Winnipeg wildlife biologist Craig Willis was on hand at the Exchange District event to share expertise on the creatures. Many of them reside in a cave in the future park region. He also debunked myths, such as that bats are "mice with wings" and that they're blind.

No bats were brought to the presentation, which used other visual aids to illustrate them.

CPAWS executive director Ron Thiessen said his organization is promoting an alignment of the boundaries of the park -- slated to become official in October -- that would best allow the bats to thrive there.

The creation of the proposed Fisher Bay Provincial Park is an ideal example of how placing natural areas under protection can create numerous benefits for local residents, surrounding communities and the whole province. These benefits include the creation of new wealth and significantly contribute to sustaining a healthy environment in the Fisher Bay area. The establishment of a provincial park creates employment; jobs such as park management and maintenance will help bring prosperity to local residents. Furthermore, provincial parks attract tourists. The money spent by tourists on eco and cultural-tourism goes well beyond park borders as travellers are likely to spend time in nearby communities.

By placing the Fisher Bay area under protection, the natural landscape can stay wild. Undisturbed natural landscapes are integral in keeping a healthy ecosystem as they filter water, stores carbon, produce oxygen and are home to numerous plants and animals.

ERIKA BLACKIE

Winnipeg

The Fisher River Cree Nation could see a net gain of $38 million annually if the province approves new boundaries for the proposed Fisher Bay Provincial Park, according to a study released by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) last Thursday.

The study, conducted by the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, a national non-profit First Nation-directed group, found Fisher River would lose more than $2 million in logging and guided hunting industry revenue through the park's creation, but would gain slightly less than $40 million through tourism spending, cottage and other ecological industries.

"The results of this study were more extreme than we expected," said Ron Thiessen, CPAWS Manitoba executive director. "The benefits of the provincial park, if it's designated as we've proposed, would be 18 times greater than if the area were harvested for logging, mining and non-Aboriginal hunting. That's a huge increase."

The report based its economic benefit estimates on an economic impact model for parks and protected areas and used Turtle Mountain Provincial Park to represent the Fisher Bay park in the study because of the areas' similarities.

Thiessen estimates the park would create more than 100 local jobs.

"They wouldn't be prone to the boom and bust of other industries like natural resource extraction," said Thiessen. "Eco and cultural tourism are dynamic industries with diverse benefits that outweigh their costs."

Fisher River has a 46-per-cent employment rate, according to the report. Of that, 10 per cent of jobs are in the fishing industry and 50 per cent are in local social services. The majority of the employed leave the community for other opportunities.

Chief David Crate estimates the eco and cultural tourism industry would provide the area with work for 12 to 15 years.

"We're in discussion with the Radisson Hecla Oasis Resort to link with their eco-tourism tours," said Crate. "The Leigh Cochrane Memorial Visitor Centre would coordinate a lot of it."

The province, at the Fisher River's request, created the Fisher Bay Park Reserve in 1999 to provide temporary protection to an approximately 89,000-hectare area, which is 70 per cent water and includes the Moose, Little Moose, Tamarack and other islands, shoals, reefs and adjacent mainland. The park's reserve status was renewed in 2005.

A year later, after analyzing the results of an Areas of Ecological Significance study, CPAWS and Fisher River requested the province designate the reserve a provincial park before it loses its protected status in 2010 and expand the park's proposed boundaries to include 160,000 hectares to protect more wetlands and boreal bogs. Earlier this year, CPAWS and Fisher River renewed that plea.

The province, which is currently consulting with local stakeholders and the public, could designate the reserve a provincial park as early as 2010. This latest economic study, commissioned by Fisher River and CPAWS, is part of that process.

The park would exclude potential treaty land entitlement selections by the Peguis First Nation and would likely raise the property value of the cottage development announced by Fisher River and the province Oct. 9, according to Thiessen.

"We commend the Manitoba government for moving forward on establishing the park," said Thiessen. "Now the challenge is to make sure it's designated according to the best ecological and cultural considerations rather than political lines."

Thiessen says the new park would be ideal for tourism because of its proximity to Winnipeg and prohibit industrial activities, except for commercial fishing, while respecting Aboriginal and Treaty Rights such as non-commercial traditional First Nations hunting and trapping.

"The reserve is part of the boreal forest, which is home to trees such as pine, poplar and birch; animals such as lynx, fox, caribou and the Piping Plover; bogs, lakes and rivers," said Thiessen. "It's also the largest terrestrial storehouse of carbon on the planet, which helps slow climate change. I congratulate Chief Crate and his council for their incredible vision to protect the land."

Crate thanked CPAWS and the public for supporting the park initiative.

"I was talking to an elder, Walter Sinclair, who's fished in the Fisher Bay area for more than 60 years, about the changes he's seen," said Crate. "He's seen the return of the eagle. They're nesting there now, which is good. We need to protect the area for the long-term future. Our community wants this park because it makes sense economically, ecologically, and culturally."

WINNIPEG - The creation of a provincial park proposed around Fisher Bay would add $38 million to the Manitoba economy, according to a new study.

Conducted by the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, the study shows current industries in the area of Fisher River Cree Nation — logging, non-aboriginal hunting and mining — generate about $2.2 million annually for Manitoba’s economy.

An industry sustained by park management as well as ecological and cultural tourism would bring in about $40 million per year, the study concluded.

An area around the bay was granted interim protection by the province as a potential park site in 1999. A study done in 2006 recommended those boundaries be expanded "according to the best ecological and cultural considerations, rather than political lines," said Ron Thiessen, executive director of Manitoba’s chapter with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

The most recent study, released today, examined the prospects of that broader area.

The province is in the midst of boundary considerations and has committed to establishing the park by October of next year.

jennifer.pawluk@freepress.mb.ca

Polar boulders. Caribushes. Muskrocks. Victoria-based wildlife guide Andrew MacPherson has seen them all during summer sojourns in the Arctic.

Drift through Wapusk National Park near the west shore of Hudson Bay aboard a slow-moving train and you will too, as wildlife melds with the landscape. A quartz boulder suddenly morphs into a polar bear sprawled in a grove of white birch. All at once a patch of spongy, bleached-yellow moss sprouts a sik sik - an arctic ground squirrel the size of a cat - curious about passers-by.

Wapusk is a national park most Canadians will more likely cross by rail rather than on foot and which was created in 1996 with pregnant polar bears in mind. In fact, wapusk is a Cree word for "white bear." Female polar bears head to dens as far as 100-kilometres inland, MacPherson explained to Pique during a recent visit. The naturalist emphasized the uniqueness of this transition zone at the 60th parallel, where Arctic tundra meets boreal forest. All three North American bear species are found here - black, polar, and barren land grizzly.

The word barren neatly sums up this mantle of peat. Roly-poly is another way of looking at it: summer heat combined with a relentless upswell of the earth's crust causes the tundra to ripple. Across the taiga, Via Rail's Hudson Bay glides delicately over a gravel rail bed layered atop muskeg and permafrost. When warmed, the undulating ground slows train travel to a crawl, not great for business if you're hauling grain to the port of Churchill but a trance-inducing pace for wildlife watchers. Between now and November is prime time to catch the show, both in the national park and Churchill, as polar bears rouse themselves from summer semi-hibernation and gather on the shores around Hudson Bay to await the arrival of shelf ice.

Just as unpredictable as the annual freeze up is the future of train travel in northern Manitoba itself. According to Catherine Kaloutsky, Via Rail's senior communications officer, this may be either one of the last years the Hudson Bay operates or the dawn of a new era, depending on whether or not the U.S.-based owner, OmniTRAX, puts money into upgrades or not. When approached during the 36-hour, 1,700-kilometre journey north from Winnipeg to Churchill, Kaloutsky estimated the cost of repairs at $1 million per mile.

Parks Canada commemorates the construction of the Hudson Bay Railway in the 1920s as a National Historic Event. Before the passenger train service was named Hudson Bay in 1997 - the year OmniTrax took responsibility for the rail line as well as operations at the Port of Churchill - the twice-weekly run was called the Muskeg Express.

In 1964, pianist Glenn Gould drew inspiration from the train trip he took to Churchill for an hour-long radio documentary, The Idea of the North. At the time he was quoted as saying the he had long been intrigued by that incredible tapestry of tundra and taiga which constitutes the Arctic and sub-Arctic of our country.

With one notable exception, not much has changed since Gould's northern journey. In 1999, the creation of Nunavut meant that Churchill became a crossroads for the new federal territory, as it has been for citizens of northeastern Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. As meteorologist Carmen Spiech explained to Pique during a walk along the shore of Hudson Bay, if you want to set foot in Nunavut, all you have to do is wade into the bay's chilly surf. Nunavut is huge, she said, almost a third the size of the whole country. Its land mass includes the ocean floor beneath the bay. A lot of its residents journey here for health care, which means Churchill's population is made up of Inuit, Dene, and Cree, as well as every other nationality that arrived in more recent times.

Arresting sights for visiting southerners are the firearms carried as casually as umbrellas by many northern residents. As a precaution, both Spiech and MacPherson shouldered rifles. One look at the size of polar bears, which range from 400 to 680 kilos on average, is explanation enough.

Long-necked Ursus maritimus makes grizzly and black bears look downright cuddly in comparison. Spiech, who lives on the outskirts of Churchill, wouldn't consider even walking from her home to her car without protection.

Not for nothing are these bears referred to as polar boulders as they silently shape-shift to fool potential prey, whether seals, beluga whales, sik sik or humans, all of whom are featured on the omnivore's menu.

Certainly the most popular way for tourists to explore the taiga is aboard one of the lumbering tundra buggies, enormous fat-tired vehicles designed to inflict minimum imprint on the delicate landscape while delivering maximum visual rewards to riders. Note: travellers prone to motion sickness would be well advised to self-medicate or wear acupressure wrist bands, as tundra buggies rock from side-to-side when crossing creekbeds and pebble beaches.

By far the most enjoyable way to experience this exotic countryside is on foot. Delicate features, such as boletus mushrooms, Labrador tea and cloudberries, which resemble salmonberries and taste like apricots, provide a surprisingly complex ground cover. Just mind those white boulders as you wander.

Access: For information on Wapusk National Park, visit www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/mb/wapusk/index.aspx. Information on Churchill is posted at www.churchill.ca, www.destinationchurchill.com and www.travelmanitoba.com.

Via Rail's Hudson Bay train schedule is posted at www.viarail.ca.

To learn more about Glenn Gould's "The Idea of North" project, visit www.hermitary.com/solitude/gould.html.

Jack Christie is the author of The Whistler Book (Greystone). To learn more, visit jackchristie.com.

Manitoba's provincial parks are experiencing an upswing in reservations, despite cooler temperatures this summer, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers announced today.

According to the parks reservation system, there have been 58,111 reservations to date this year, an 8.6 per cent increase over the same period last year.

"I'm very pleased to see that more people are taking the time to enjoy Manitoba's provincial parks this summer," said Struthers. "Our goal was to increase attendance by waiving park entry fees and I believe that action has had a positive affect on the number of Manitobans and visitors taking advantage of our parks."

The number of occupied campsites is up 2.6 per cent over the same period last year, as well.

The summer months have also seen progress on a multitude of park upgrades and improvements including the completion of new yurts at Camp Morton and Stephenfield, Struthers said.

Construction on a new washroom building at Grand Beach is underway using the rammed earth technique, an ancient, durable and greener method of construction using sustainable building materials such as mud, lime and gravel. Site clearance has already been completed and the foundation and grade beam for the rammed earth wall have been poured. Completion is expected by the end of December.

New washroom construction has also begun at Birds Hill Park and tenders have been awarded for new facilities at Childs Lake and Wellman Lake with both expected to be operational for the 2010 camping season.

The Wellman Lake campground expansion is progressing on schedule with completion expected this fall. Reservations for the campground expansion will be online for the spring of 2010.

Detailed information on campgrounds is available at www.manitobaparks.com or toll-free at 1 800 214-6497 or 945-6784 in Winnipeg.

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