From: Karsten Heuer [karsten@necessaryjourneys.ca]
Sent: December 3, 2008 10:08 PM
To: lpayette@nirb.ca
Cc: Strahl.C@parl.gc.ca; Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca; DShewchuk@gov.nu.ca
Subject: Uravan Garry Lake Project, NIRB File 08EN037

To Whom it May Concern,

My name is Karsten Heuer and I am writing to urge the NIRB to deny Uravan Mineral's application for mineral development (of uranium) on the calving grounds of the Beverly Caribou Herd. I am writing this as a wildlife biologist who knows barrenground caribou and their needs for undisturbed calving grounds intimately.  In 2003 my wife and I followed the Porcupine Caribou Herd to their calving grounds on ski and foot for five months and watched, from our tent, as they gave birth around us for ten days. It was an amazing and sacred experience and one that has since moved literally millions of people that have been touched by our film (which aired numerous times on CBC's Nature of Things and across the
States) and books about the experience (please see www.beingcaribou.com).

And although my experience in the central and eastern Arctic is limited, I did canoe through part of the Beverly Qamaniruaq herd's range in summer 2007 and saw very few animals, perhaps an indication of the latest survey results which suggest a catastrophic decline in numbers.

These animals are already dealing with a lot of natural and unnatural stresses (climate change among them). Please, for the sake of our wildlife and all the wonderful elements of humanity that they inspire (and, for many northern communities, feed directly) DO NOT ALLOW DEVELOPMENT IN THE HERD'S CALVING GROUNDS.

Sincerely,
Karsten Heuer, B. Sc.  Ecology

*********
K. Heuer
637 3rd Street
Canmore, Alberta
T1W 2H9
CANADA
www.necessaryjourneys.ca
(email checked infrequently)