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This Community Conservation Plan for Manitou Lake was prepared as part
of Saskatchewan's Important Bird Area (IBA) Program. In this program,
special areas are awarded an Important Bird Area designation for
conservation purposes if the areas are used by large concentrations of
birds, if the birds present are at risk, or if the sites represent intact
biomes and their natural bird inhabitants with restricted ranges.
Manitou Lake area lies in the Aspen Parkland ecoregion west-central
Saskatchewan. This area includes Manitou, Freshwater, Reflex
(locally known as Artland and Salt lakes), and Wells Lakes, and the
sand hills between them. The diverse aquatic systems ranging from
freshwater to saline are critical in the lives of many species of
shorebirds, waterfowl and terrestrial species. Shorebirds use the site
for breeding or only briefly to refuel while en route from their
South or Central American wintering areas to Canadian Arctic breeding
grounds. Changes in water quantity and quality influence this semi-arid
ecosystem.
Manitou Lake area satisfyies the IBA 'congregatory' and
'threatened' criteria and is ranked 'globally significant'. The area
includes four lakes (Freshwater, Manitou, Reflex, and Wells), three of
which are saline. These lakes lie in a 14,000 year old glacial lake plain,
near Marsden, Saskatchewan. The southern part of the area consists of sand,
silt which has been moved by wind, and may origionally have been located at
the mouths of rivers feeding into the glacial lake.
Bird species present include the endangered Piping plover which
breeds in the area. Up to 1999 pairs have been counted within the last
decade. Other IBA species include Red-necked Phalaropes, Sanderling and
Stilt Sandpiper, which stop to feed during spring migration. As many as
81,000 shorebirds have been counted there at a time. Other prominent
birds include geese and ducks, and grass land and parkland species in the surrounding area.
The objectives of this plan are specified in this paln to draw
attention to the importance of these lakes for the birds, the objectives
discourage any disrupion of the ecosystem, the recognize that these lakes
have little economic value but are aritical for wildlife. The plan bring
stakeholders togather to chart a future course and to intervene in the
event of future threats. Specific recommendations involve:
- maintain or enhance parkland habitat other permanent cover and their sustainable uses aroud the lakes
- facilitate locally driven sustainable tourism potential area
- assist schools and other organizations in quality nature-related education
- continue or increase monitoring of bird numbers and reprodcution, and related ecosystem parameters
- conduct research in those specific areas that satisfy information needs or relate to future management and potential threats, such as documenting the type of invertebrate food used by birds
The IBA Program was launched initially by BirdLife International in the UK.
Today there are BirdLife Partners in over 100 countries. In Canada the
national partners are Canadian Nature Federation and Bird Studies Canada.
In Saskatchewan, the conservation component of this program is being
delivered by Nature Saskatchewan. Funding partners of the Community
Conservation Plan for Manitou Lake includes Canadian Adaptation and
Rural Development Saskatchewan (CARDS), the University of Saskatchewan,
Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM), and the Canadian
Millennium Partnership Program.
VISION
Our vision is to integrate bird and ecosystem needs with grazing, recreation and aboriginal values
INTRODUCTION
Bird
conservation is not 'just for
the birds'. In a widely acknowledged
and visionary treatment of the
causes, human uses and state
of decline of diverse life forms
on Earth, E.O. Wilson (1992)
suggests that certain species
will will and should receive
special attention. Wilson points
out that individual species
which may be large and colourful
or otherwise charismatic, often
are conservation favorites even
though they represent a small
fraction of living things. Such
species, Wilson claims, can
motivate conservation at many
levels, from individual to government.
Since no species exists in isolation
from other species or its environment,
such conservation efforts already
in the first instance serve
to protect elements of a fuctioning
life support system. If human
economics, cutural and social
values are adapted in addition
to species and systems concerns,
the conservation efforts will
come 'full circle' and have
gone well beyond the birds.
It is hoped that this report may provide a significant impetus for
further conservation by:
- explain why Manitou Lake is 'important',
- describing the lake's ecosystems of which the birds are a part,
- reviewing appropriate literature, considering what is known but also
speculating as to the potential impact of what is not known,
- anticipating opportunities and concerns across as many elements of the natural system as possible, and
- outlining opportunities and challenges for conservation and listing potential stakeholders and contact people
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