Environment committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee. My name is Len Ugarenko. I'm the president of Wildlife Habitat Canada. I appreciate the opportunity of being invited here to present some ideas for your consideration about a national conservation plan. Wildlife H

Environment committee  At Wildlife Habitat Canada, we fund and support hunter-mentoring programs and programs where they take the children outside and give them a hands-on experience. We find that the hands-on experience stays with them and encourages them to continue participating. We'll have students

Environment committee  You're right. The industry sector is participating more and more in conservation. There are programs across North America started initially by the Wildlife Habitat Council in the United States, but they do work here in Canada. One of the biggest groups they're working with is Ont

Environment committee  Yes, sir. I tell people that my name's Len, and I wear jewellery and glasses. I've got gold and silver fillings, so I rely on the mining industry.

Environment committee  I love to carve. I've got wooden furniture in my house, and it's framed with wood, so I rely on the timber industry. I drive a car, I heat my house, so I also rely on the oil and gas industry. That's the reality. The other side of that reality, again, is connecting what you're

Environment committee  It's interesting that you mention the pine beetle—and there's only so much that we can put into one of these presentations—because the pine beetle is moving farther north and ravaging the forests up the west coast. It has the potential to go across the boreal forest in Canada.

Environment committee  The hunting and angling community has been the major funder of wildlife conservation in North America since the beginning. Many of the conservation organizations you see today were founded by anglers and hunters, and they continue to participate. They provide money through their

Environment committee  Yes. I may be wrong, but I'm saying that we're all part of nature, that it's inside us. We've lost the way of looking at that and connecting with it. I've taken kids who have never hunted before—my own two daughters, for example, years ago—out onto the prairies of Alberta and in

Environment committee  I don't have any figures with me but I can obtain some for you. There have been a number of studies done across North America, for example, on the impact of water pollution on human health. There have been a couple of incidents in Ontario, Walkerton being one that comes to mind.

Environment committee  Thank you very much. It's a good question. There is a lot of green space in urban areas that is really underutilized. I've been talking to some school teachers and principals here in Ottawa because when you go by a school you see a lot of grass. There isn't a heck of a lot el

Environment committee  There's quite a bit it could do. There are a lot of wetlands in Canada that are unprotected, but there are organizations that can be connected through the implementation part of a national conservation plan to work on those wetlands. There are organizations such as Ducks Unlimit

Environment committee  If you are going to use a grants program as a financial incentive, think about what that program can leverage, and perhaps think about the people who will be participating in it and how much money they have to bring to the table. An art grants program would work on a one-to-one m

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for giving Wildlife Habitat Canada the opportunity to present some ideas for your study on habitat conservation. The details of who we are and what we do are in the speaking notes, so I'll just summarize. We were created in 1984 by

Environment committee  I think there are a number of really good programs that are in effect now. For example, in Manitoba through the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation they sign easement agreements with the agricultural community. They do it in such a way that whether they're raising crops or anim

Environment committee  I'll answer the second part of your question, if I may, in terms of provincial-federal work. Many of the provinces have developed their own species recovery plans and biodiversity plans. Then you can go down to the regional conservation organizations and the national ones, which