Just after delivering our piles of letters to the Premier, we went up to Conservation Minister Blaikie’s office, where we had been invited for a quick meeting. Originally we had been scheduled to have our second meeting with Minister Blaikie next week, but it had been cancelled, and he took the opportunity to see us while we were at the legislature. Our meeting ranged over a long list of activities and regions around the province.

We talked about the Conservation Hotspots briefly, and Minister Blaikie mentioned that the Saskatchewan River Delta was high on the list of areas for future protection. Discussing Manitoba’s threatened woodland caribou with the Minister was a top priority. We mentioned the need for a proper census of caribou to better understand the pressure from development that the animals are under. We mentioned the need to enforce a development deferral for the NAOSAP caribou range, which we had previously asked the government to do. And we also discussed the legal requirements of the provincial and federal government to ensure that caribou populations have the available habitat they need to thrive. As we said in the Hotspots news release earlier, “Does anyone want to tell stories to their grandkids about the animals and plants and beautiful wilderness we use to have, but lost?”

It was a quick yet productive meeting, and hopefully the Minister will have a chance to examine the issues we brought to his attention.

Photo: Small isolated ridges of trees in the the Saskatchewan River Delta are threatened by logging plans