From: Glenna Munro [g.munro@sympatico.ca]
Sent: December 4, 2008 8:29 PM
To: lpayette@nirb.ca
Subject: Uravan application

I am seriously concerned about the fate of the Beverly caribou herd. Threatened by severe reductions in their number, the additonal pressure exerted by mining activities in their habitat could push them to extinction. Please register my strong opposition to Uravan’s plans for mineral development on the calving grounds of the Beverly caribou. And in your deliberations, please take note of the following:

    a.. At the NWT Barren-ground Caribou Summit in 2007, delegates voted overwhelming in favour of establishing their first priority as “Protect the calving grounds in the NWT and Nunavut” and directed the GNWT to “Meet with Nunavut to begin discussions about protection calving grounds.” 

    b.. Two weeks ago the GNWT revealed their evidence at a meeting of the BQCMB that “the numbers of adult female caribou (cows) seen on the Beverly calving ground during June systematic reconnaissance surveys dropped from 5,737 in 1994 to 93 in 2008, and that very few calves were seen during the 2008 survey – only 15 calves for every 100 cows. (In comparison, usually about 80 calves for every 100 cows are seen on the calving grounds of healthy barren-ground caribou herds near the peak of calving, as was the case with the Bathurst herd in June 2008.)” 

    c.. As reported by CP, the CBC, The Globe and Mail, and elsewhere today, “The massive Beverly herd, which roams the tundra from northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and well into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, once numbered about 276,000 animals. But a just-released survey suggests the number of caribou cows on the calving grounds of the massive Beverly herd have fallen by a stunning 98 per cent over the last 14 years.” 

    d.. In the past few years, while caribou numbers have been dropping, disruptive mineral exploration activity on the calving ground and the adjacent post-calving aggregation areas has risen dramatically.  As of this month, there are 727 active mineral tenures (permits, claims and leases) on the Beverly calving ground.  This level of industrial activity is clearly not sustainable. 

    e.. Major mining companies – De Beers, Areva, and Cameco – have declared that they will no longer conduct activities on caribou calving and post-calving grounds in Nunavut, because they understand the implications of this activity. 
NIRB should now declare that the Beverly herd's habitat will not be permitted to be taken over by industrial activity– the only way to do that is to deny Uravan’s application. 

Yours sincerely,
Glenna Munro