Northern_Clips' Circumpolar Blog: Loss of Ellesmere Island fossil resources feared

Friday, 15 January 2010

Loss of Ellesmere Island fossil resources feared

RT @Northern_Clips: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology concerned over possible loss of fossil resources http://ow.ly/WV21 on Ellesmere Island #Nunavut

A proposed coal mining project on Ellesmere Island (Nunavut) in Canada's eastern High Arctic is currently under review. The area includes some of the most significant fossil sites in the world, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology is deeply concerned over the possible loss of these valuable resources.

Released: 1/14/2010 9:00 PM EST
Source: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Newswise — A proposed coal mining project by Westar Resources, Inc. on Ellesmere Island (Nunavut) in Canada's eastern High Arctic is currently under review by the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB), an environmental assessment agency established under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement whose objectives are to protect and promote the well-being of the residents, communities and ecosystems of Nunavut. The proposed development area includes fossil sites of a broad range of ages that include some of the most significant sites in the world, and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is deeply concerned over the possible loss of these valuable resources.

These unique, world-renowned sites near Strathcona Fiord include fossil plants and animals that lived during one of the warmest times in all of Earth history, when Ellesmere Island was blanketed in forests inhabited by alligators, turtles, primates and hippo-like animals. Despite over three decades of searching the High Arctic, no sites of comparable age and fossil richness have been discovered elsewhere in the Canadian Arctic.

Younger fossil sites near the head of Strathcona Fiord indicate that this area was home to larch forests, horses and beaver just a few million years ago, and underscore how quickly and dramatically the Arctic can change. In this time of global climate change and ecological precariousness, such knowledge can be invaluable to understanding and predicting the effects of future climate change in high-latitude regions, including its impact on traditional lifestyles of first peoples living in such regions. "Destruction of these fossil sites will strongly affect our ability to understand how global climate change will impact these regions over the coming century," says SVP President Blaire Van Valkenburgh.

Whilst not disputing either the need for finding new sources of energy, or the economic benefits that may accrue from the development of the coal mining, it is the hope and belief of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, as representative of vertebrate paleontologists worldwide, that it will be possible to preserve the invaluable fossil resources in the area alongside other objectives.

ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

http://www.vertpaleo.org/

Contacts

http://www.vertpaleo.org/society/contact.cfm

SVP Headquarters
111 Deer Lake Road, Suite 100
Deerfield, IL 60015 USA
Phone: +1 847-480-9095
Fax: +1 847-480-9282

SVP Staff
Kate VanZanten, Administrative Director, Ext. 249
Liz Freyn, Conference Director, Ext. 230
Greg Schultz, Managing Partner, Ext. 231
Chris Viglione, Administrator, Ext. 240
Christine Meehan, Conference Administrator, Ext. 354
Meagan Comerford, Web Site Liaison, Ext. 246

Founded in 1940 by thirty-four paleontologists, the Society now has more than 2,300 members representing professionals, students, artists, preparators, and others interested in VP. It is organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes, with the object of advancing the science of vertebrate paleontology.