Danger in the nursery : Impact on birds of tar sands oil development in Canada's boreal forest

Many of Sparrows, 96 million Yellow-rumped Warblers, 102 these birds use the Peace-Athabasca Delta directly to the million American Robins, and 73 million Swainson’s north (and downstream) or portions of the river system Thrushes are among the abundant birds that rely on the near agricultural areas along the western and southern edges Canadian Boreal for breeding every year.20 of the tar sands as [...] I 10 Danger in the Nursery: Impact on Birds of Tar Sands Oil Development in Canada’s Boreal Forest Figure 4. Industrial Footprint in Tar Sands Mining Area, 1974-2008 This map shows the change in the industrial footprint of the tar sands mines and tailings ponds from 1974-2008 in the mineable tar sands. [...] An estimated 40 percent of the 740,000 acres of habitat that In September 2008, Alberta’s tar sands industry, will be removed in the tar sands strip-mining process through its representatives the Canadian are wetlands.33 Wetland habitats in the Boreal forest Association of Petroleum Producers and the Alberta Chamber of Resources, was the only where tar sands development is taking place are known s [...] All of these changes could have profound Evening Grosbeak impacts on the hundreds of thousands of birds that are was one of the most dependent on the wetland habitats in the tar sands and common backyard Peace-Athabasca Delta and other parts of the Mackenzie birds in southern Canada and much of River watershed. [...] PEACE-ATHABASCA DELTA: WETLAND OF Tar Sands Toxins Weaken and Kill INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCEa Boreal Birds We are only beginning to understand the current The Peace-Athabasca Delta is one of the and projected impacts on birds from the toxins that largest Boreal deltas in the world and is one of the most important waterfowl nesting and seep into the air and water from tar sands operations.