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What's New
Press Releases
30 October, 2007
Booming Development in Southern Canadian Rockies threatens to squeeze bears and other wildlife report says. Regional planning needed to preserve habitat for wide-ranging species. View in Full. Link to Full Report.
20 September, 2007
Act now to protect northern fisheries, report urges. Ontario's immensely valuable northern freshwater fisheries could be at risk as resource development expands. View in Full. Link to Full Report.
21 May, 2007
CSI: Upstate New York. Criminalistics meets conservation in northern New York’s Adirondack region, home to the elusive fisher.View in Full.
5th July, 2006
NEW REPORT SAYS CANADA'S LEGENDARY NAHANNI PARK IS TOO SMALL FOR WILDLIFE: Park boundaries must be expanded to safeguard grizzlies, caribou and Dall’s sheep Download
News and Events
30 October, 2007
Carnivores in the Southern Canadian Rockies: Core Areas and Connectivity across the Crowsnest Highway
The "southern Canadian Rocky Mountains" -- between Banff National Park and Glacier National Park at the U.S. border -- support an assemblage of carnivores that appears unique in North America for its intact diversity. Due to their particular geographic position, the southern Canadian Rockies also represent one of the most strategically important sections in maintaining broad ecological connectivity in the western mountains of North America. A new WCS Canada report, the third in this series, entitled Carnivores in the Southern Canadian Rockies: Core Areas and Connectivity across the Crowsnest Highway. Written by Clayton D. Apps, John L. Weaver, Paul C. Paquet, Bryce Bateman and Bruce N. McLellan.
Executive Summary -English or French, Full Report (English Only).
19 October 2007
WCS Canada Influences the Expansion of Nahanni National Park Reserve
In 1972, the original boundaries of Nahanni National Park Reserve were established to protect the famed canyons and waterfalls of the South Nahanni River from a proposed dam and reservoir. In early 2003, the Canadian government made an interim withdrawal of 23,000km2 from development, based in part upon Dr. John Weaver’s initial field survey of grizzly bears. However, this withdrawal order left out over 5,000km2 in five separate enclaves with mineral potential scattered across this huge watershed. In response to this, Dr. Weaver targeted his grizzly bear surveys on those five areas specifically to generate data to inform decision-making for the region. Dr. Weaver’s radio-tracking of woodland caribou clearly demonstrated the critical value of several of these areas for caribou as well. Weaver’s discovery of Dall’s sheep using karst caves also provided added impetus for protecting this unique area. Based upon his field research, Dr. Weaver recommended that Nahanni National Park Reserve be expanded to include the entire South Nahanni River watershed and the adjacent Nahanni Karstlands – an area greater than 38,000 km2. Click here.
In his recent (October 2007) Throne Speech, the Prime Minister of Canada noted the Government’s commitment to “massively” expand Nahanni National Park. Several prominent officials have indicated that Dr. Weaver’s research and recommendations clearly influenced that commitment. Expansion of Nahanni National Park Reserve would make it one of the largest National Parks anywhere in the world and constitute a significant achievement for conservation in Canada. View Full report.
19 September, 2007
Freshwater fish in Ontario's boreal: Status, Conservation and Potential Impacts of Development
Introducing a new WCS Canada Conservation Report, the second in our series, entitled Freshwater fish in Ontario's boreal: Status, Conservation and Potential Impacts of Development. This report, by David R. Browne, is a comprehensive review of freshwater fish conservation issues and research gaps with a geographic focus on the northern half of Ontario --the most intact boreal forest/wetland area in North America. It provides important context for impending land use decisions in this region by highlighting the negative impacts development has had on aquatic ecosystems in southern forests, including habitat conversion, over-fishing and pollution, and mercury contamination. It outlines what is known about the fish communities of the far north, while also pointing out the large gaps in our knowledge about northern aquatic systems. And it provides recommendations for ensuring that the mistakes of the past that have led to the degradation of fisheries elsewhere are not repeated in the northern boreal forests.
Executive Summary - English or French, Full Report (English only), Summary Report - English or French.
2nd June, 2007
Furry Fingerprints - Quirks and Quarks, CBC Radio
Following fishers, a member of the weasel family, is full of pitfalls. Conservation biologists generally tell how many fishers are in an area by using tracking boxes, a non-invasive device that will record a fisher's tracks. Unfortunately, if there were several fisher tracks in the same area, it was always impossible to tell whether one or many fishers actually left them. That was until Dr. Justina Ray, the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Canada, and colleagues, were sitting around a campfire and noticed that fisher fingerprints seemed to be every bit as unique as human fingerprints. They wondered, if you could use computer software to identify individual human fingerprints, could you do with the same with fisher fingerprints? The answer turned out to be yes. Go listen to the show....
Human Footprint of the Northern Appalachians
WCS Canada has completed mapping the Human Footprint of the Northern Appalachian / Acadian Ecoregion - a quantitative assessment of the continuum of human influence on the lands surface. The Human Footprint methodology developed by WCS and CIESEN scientists has been tailored to this forested ecoregion by 1) increasing the resolution of analysis to 90m, 2) using regional spatial data and 3) tailoring the assessment of human impacts to the region. This analysis reveals that 16% of the ecoregion still remains wild (Human Footprint score <= 10) that may represent lost cost opportunities for conservation. To find out more click here.
BIG ANIMALS and SMALL PARKS: Implications of Wildlife Distribution and Movements for Expansion of Nahanni National Park Reserve
Too small, too narrow - this is the problem facing Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories. Created in 1972 to protect the spectacular falls and canyons of the famed South Nahanni River, the park is only 8 km wide in some sections. Dr. John Weaver, a WCS conservation biologist who has studied wildlife in the Yellowstone-to-Yukon region for more that 3 decades, has now completed a 4-year study of grizzly bears, Dall's sheep, and woodland caribou throughout the Greater Nahanni Ecosystem. The results of this field research and John's recommendations for expanding the Park's boundaries are presented in the inaugural report of the WCS Canada Conservation Report Series. Download
WOODLAND CARIBOU EXPERT WORKSHOP
A workshop organized by WCS Canada the Canadian Boreal Initiative and was held February 28 and March 1, 2006 at the University of Ottawa with habitat needs of woodland caribou as the central focus. The goal of the gathering was to explore how much consensus there is among caribou scientists about what is and what is not caribou habitat, and on parameters or thresholds for maintaining sufficient woodland caribou habitat in the face of large-scale anthropogenic disturbances. Presently, there is much focus on woodland caribou conservation through the twin vehicles of land use planning (occurring at various scales across the country) and species recovery planning. Therefore, it is an important time for scientists with caribou expertise to contribute to these important conservation decisions. Workshop participants considered how current knowledge might inform woodland caribou conservation and management processes. Limits in current knowledge were also identified and used to develop a future research agenda. Download
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