Wolf Lake, the world’s…

Wolf Lake, the world’s largest remaining old-growth red pine forest—some 300 years old and 15 stories high—is essential to Ontario's biodiversity and needs immediate protection.

The natural variety of life forms on Earth is plummeting at an alarming rate: according to the World Wildlife Fund, the planet’s population of vertebrates is about half of what it was 40 years ago, and steadily declining.

To take action against rapidly depleting global biodiversity, Canada has endorsed the United Nations target to protect at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas by 2020. The Ontario government responded with its own Biodiversity Strategy, which outlines 37 actions and 6 strategic directions to protect the province's at-risk ecosystems.

The unique ecosystems created by Wolf Lake's red pines are crucial havens for biodiversity to flourish. These old-growth pines are extraordinarily resilient; a sampling of tree cores in the area has shown that many have survived numerous forest fires. These ancient pines give us the keys to understanding biodiversity in the present so we can protect it for the future.

Protecting Wolf Lake is crucial to fulfilling Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy, but the area is currently under threat by active mining exploration that puts this precious ecological gem at great risk. The stakes are high. I am calling for Wolf Lake to become part of the Chiniguchi Waterway Provincial Park so that it receives permanent protection.