Land Guardians Step Into the Spotlight

Introduction by Audubon—Across a myriad of landscapes and conditions around the world, Indigenous leaders with the support of their elders and community, are implementing new programs to protect, maintain, and manage their traditional lands. Across Canada alone, more than 60 Indigenous Nations have initiated Land Guardian programs to do this work, including the Seal River Watershed Alliance Land Guardians in northern Manitoba. 

The Seal River Watershed Alliance is a joint initiative of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, Northlands Dene Nation, Barren Lands First Nation, and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation. Together, they are leading the way to permanently protecting 12-million-acres (or 4,856,227 hectares) of forests, wetlands, lakes, streams, and rivers in Northern Manitoba. Audubon has been working with the Seal River Watershed Alliance Land Guardians on a three-year bird survey, which highlights the importance of the Seal River Watershed for sustaining an impressively diverse and abundant community of bird species. These results are being used to support their proposed Indigenous Protected Area.

In late October, a group of the Land Guardians and Youth Guardians from the Seal River Watershed Alliance traveled to Cali, Colombia to share their stories and exchange ideas with world leaders, conservationists, and local high school students during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP16). Birds like the Canada Warbler and the Blackpoll Warbler breed across the Boreal Forest of Canada and winter in places like Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. These shared birds help connect people across the hemisphere who are working to protect and conserve all the places birds need throughout the year. 

The following Op-ed—co-authored by Manitoba’s Environment Minister and Seal River Watershed Alliance’s Executive Director—was posted in the Winnipeg Free Press on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. It explains the importance of their work and the significance to the entire planet.  

"Land guardians step into the spotlight"

By: Tracy Schmidt and Stephanie Thorassie

Amid fall bird migration this year, a new study found that over 100 bird species rely on the Seal River Watershed in northern Manitoba. Considering North America has lost over three billion birds in the last few decades, this discovery is a bright spot — one that shines far and wide. Many of the watershed’s birds fly to backyards across the province, and some continue south all the way to the Amazon.
This week, a delegation of Indigenous land guardians from the Seal River Watershed is following a similar route. These youths are joining heads of state, ministers and over 14,000 delegates in Cali, Colombia for the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16. And like the migratory songbirds from the watershed, they will bring a message of hope.

They will share how their four First Nations are working to sustain the Seal River Watershed for all people and establish the largest land-based protected area in Canada. And they will describe a model of conservation that advances reconciliation and creates sustainable economic growth.

We are proud they will bring Manitoba into the global spotlight with an example of partnership, prosperity and Indigenous leadership.

The world needs examples like this now more than ever. The planet is losing animal and plant species at alarming rates — as we see here with caribou and polar bears. And climate change threatens communities with extreme weather, like this year’s destructive fire season and flooding.

Protecting the Seal River Watershed can help reverse some of these trends. Spanning 50,000 square kilometres, it is home to 26 species at risk, including almost 200,000 wintering caribou. It holds 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils, wetlands and peatlands. That’s equivalent to eight years’ worth of greenhouse gas emissions from Canada.

Dene and Cree people have been caring for the watershed for millennia. Recently, the Sayisi Dene First Nation launched the Seal River Watershed Alliance with neighbours Northlands Dene First Nation, Barren Lands First Nation and O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation. They have a shared vision of establishing an Indigenous Protected Area that reflects their knowledge, history and cultures.

This includes a plan for sustainable economic growth. The watershed has neither hydro development nor current mining claims. It does have world-class river rapids, thriving cultures and abundant birding and fishing — elements of a strong tourism industry.

Welcoming visitors will not only create local jobs, but will also generate business for equipment dealers, suppliers and hotels across the North.

Since protecting the watershed requires ongoing stewardship, the alliance has created four full-time and eight part-time land guardian jobs. Their work ranges from monitoring seals with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy to gathering traditional knowledge with elders. They partnered with the National Audubon Society to produce the report on the 102 bird species in the watershed and their on-the-ground monitoring, and elders engagement dramatically improved the findings; a previous study that didn’t draw on local knowledge found only 70 species.

These opportunities — to find good jobs, gain professional training and reconnect with language and culture — help close the gap between Indigenous people and other Manitobans. They also respond to root causes of those gaps.

The trauma of residential schools and relocation continues to reverberate in communities, but time on the land brings healing and restores pride and purpose.

That’s why supporting the alliance’s vision for the watershed is an important step in the path to reconciliation. We are working in a nation-to-nation-to-nation partnership to advance that vision.
Last January, the four alliance nations, the Manitoba government and the federal government signed an agreement providing interim protections for the watershed while we study the feasibility of creating a protected area. Since then, people have shared input through stakeholder engagements and public meetings and the findings will be reported in the coming months.

The land guardians who attend COP16 will relay this progress and explain how it could enable Manitoba and Canada to achieve the shared goal of protecting 30 per cent of land and water by 2030. They will talk about the benefits of an Indigenous-led approach to conservation.

At the January signing ceremony, Premier Wab Kinew said he was moved to see the alliance’s work and further encouraged the project and its “development of a spiritual and cultural legacy for future generations, and development of eco-tourism and other economic opportunities.” We are so proud of the land guardians who will share this message with the world and we look forward to continuing to work together to make Manitoba a global leader in Indigenous-led conservation.

• Tracy Schmidt is the minister of environment and climate change for Manitoba.
• Stephanie Thorassie is the executive director of the Seal River Watershed Alliance.