Environment committee  It can be even smaller than an ecosystem. It really depends on the conservation scale you're working at.

Environment committee  Let me add that what is also intended, behind that, is a focusing comment, in terms of what DU sees as an important focus for this plan, because there are other outcomes—for example, healthy wildlife populations in general, or a carbon strategy. We feel that a focus on habitat is a really good way to achieve all of those other benefits.

Environment committee  It's really not a short answer. I would recommend that we convene a national discussion on this with relevant industry sectors and the conservation community, and that we really think about what might be a helpful approach. DU has done a lot of research in the last little while into the realm of ecological goods and services, and this is basically providing the basis, or the background, for a whole variety of different incentives that could be developed.

Environment committee  It's a great question, absolutely, and I think it's really both the challenge and also the potential great achievement of this plan. I'd like to—and maybe my colleague Karla can help me a little bit—draw the example of the North American waterfowl management plan, which involves Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and has been one of the most successful conservation plans or strategies potentially ever.

Environment committee  I won't address anything specifically about marine protected areas, but on the topic of the Fisheries Act, everything right now is speculative from our standpoint, so I'm not going to make any comment about what may or may not change. But I will say that fundamentally when you're trying to look after any species, be they terrestrial or marine, it's really important that habitat is a consideration.

Environment committee  I agree. I think it needs to be both, and it needs to be targeted at major issues, opportunities, and barriers within the private landscape and the public landscape. We need to have a lot of good minds working on things like developing incentive programs—that's the private-land piece that we really need to put our thinking caps on about.

Environment committee  Oh, that's a very big question. How much time do we have? I think you need to look at goals and what some of the barriers to conservation might be on both bases, and I think we need to approach the different circumstances differently. If we're looking at crown land, grazing tenure, for example—I'm from the interior of British Columbia where there's lots of forestry and lots of ranching—looking at ways to enhance conservation there, you're going to be looking at a different regulatory mix, a different set of stakeholders, and a different set of interests.

Environment committee  Would you like me to answer that?

Environment committee  In putting together this presentation, we went from 30 pages down to five because of the 10 minutes. It's absolutely implied in terms of our organization, and perhaps it should have been underscored, but absolutely we need to provide due credit to our core supporters. On the question of how to engage more conservation agents in Canada, I would really look to our existing core supporters, who are often hunters and anglers, and try to grow that and acknowledge the impact and the conservation gains that are directly attributable to that group of individuals.

Environment committee  Absolutely.

Environment committee  I think generally speaking a good national conservation plan is going to be about using the right tool in the right circumstance. In some cases that's going to be a protected area and in a lot of cases—if you're asking Ducks Unlimited in terms of our core mandate—absolutely it's about the working landscape.

Environment committee  From what I've seen so far in terms of what's already been put together, I think that as overarching themes, the goals of protect or conserve—however you want to conceive that—connect, restore and engage the Canadian public are fundamental. From a conservation perspective, as Karla indicated in our discussion of measures and metrics, we're interested in habitat change on the landscape and the impacts that has in terms of wildlife population.

Environment committee  Thank you very much for that question. It's a fantastic question, and it leads into something that I think is a very important part of this plan, which is interjurisdictional coordination, because when you're looking at wetland protection, depending on the impact and the location, we're often dealing with different levels of government.

Environment committee  Good afternoon, and thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Andrea Barnett, and I am the national policy analyst for Ducks Unlimited Canada, located here in Ottawa. l'd like to introduce you to my colleague, Karla Guyn, our director of conservation planning, who is based out of Winnipeg.