We have just learned that the government of Manitoba has formally extended protections that will keep industrial development out of two million acres of the boreal forests that make up the Poplar-Nanowin Rivers Protected Area.

This tremendous victory is due in no small part to pressure applied by 20,000 BioGems Defenders who sent electronic messages to the Manitoba minister of conservation back in April and May.

The government's decision means that this swath of the boreal will be safe for five years from logging, roadbuilding and other development while our local partner -- the Poplar River First Nation -- completes a land management plan that aims to permanently protect this ecosystem for future generations.

The protected area's evergreen forests, granite outcroppings and pristine rivers contain rich songbird breeding grounds and prime caribou and wolf habitat. This spectacular wildland has also sustained its first inhabitants, the Poplar River First Nation, for at least 6,000 years.

The fight to save the larger Heart of the Boreal BioGem goes on. This victory is one small but very important step in our ongoing campaign to protect the vast, pristine wilderness that straddles the border of Manitoba and Ontario.
Go to http://www.savebiogems.org/boreal/ for more about the campaign.

Thank you for taking action to save our hemisphere's wildest places!

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
President
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council)

BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org