The Peel Watershed is the latest wilderness we're featuring on The Big Wild and, incidentally, the CBC North. Laurie Edward, community programs manager with Mountain Equipment Co-op, recently spoke on air about the importance of the Peel watershed and what it's protection would mean to paddler enthusiasts and Canadians across the country.

World Rivers Day is coming up in late September, so we're thinking about water around The Big Wild offices. As that cliche goes, "the next war won't be fought over oil, it'll be fought over water".

 

So where exactly are the world's water resources? Who has too much, and who doesn't have enough? To answer these questions, we turned to the excellent University of Sheffield resource Worldmapper. They revisualize maps of the Earth based on a particular factor, and create some great educational resources.

 

We explored the site, and found a handful of great maps for water resources. In each case you can click the map to view a larger version of it.

 

For The Big Wild, much of the conservation work we do takes place online. We can better connect Canadians across the country to specific wilderness locations in need of protection and highlight these areas using videos, infographics, soccer brackets and other tools. So it’s always a treat to hear how our campaign partners are connecting offline. Enter aboriginal leaders, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Lower Athabasca in Northern Alberta.

Peter Mather is the photographer who captured the image of kayakers on the Snake River in the Yukon for our Peel campaign. Peter travels to Canada's National Parks and photographs different scenes, often ones that suggest movement and kinetic energy in nature. He has an incredible collection of photographs which you can see online here. Below are a handful of our favourite shots, many of which connect to our past and current campaigns. These are Canadian wildernesses worth protecting and worth capturing on camera. To see more of Peter Mather's work, visit his website at www.PeterMather.com.

 

Back in September, 2009, UNESCO, the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization made the trek to the Flathead River Valley. This week, UNESCO released their findings in a report.

 

The UN is recommending permanent protection of the Flathead River Valley, so that it may become part of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in Alberta and Montana. The Alberta and Montana park areas have World Heritage Site status and the UN recommends that BC and Canadian government assign equivalent ecological protection to the Flathead.

 

The story of the report hit the wire earlier this week and news of the UN’s recommendation has reverberated around the world, including the CBC:

Saturday, July 17th marks Canada’s National Parks Day. It's also the kick-off to the Canadians Parks and Wilderness Society video contest called Celebrate Canada’s Parks. Here's the contest low-down in three steps:

 

 

For the last four weeks, 32 countries have been in the international spotlight as their football teams compete in the FIFA World Cup. Headlines have ranged from player's personal lives to international politics.

 

Here at The Big Wild, we've taken it upon ourselves to measure and compare national conservation efforts in the form of a World Cup bracket. Who is the winner of the Wilderness Protection World Cup? Well, see for yourself! (Percentages represent the amount of protected land within the country. Data courtesy of NationMaster.com)

On June 4th, 2010, more than six months of hard work and campaigning to protect boreal forest came to a climax as SNAP Quebec sent off 4,500 signatures to Quebec Premier Jean Charest.