WCS Canada

Boreal Caribou

WCS Canada scientists helped the government develop the National Recovery Strategy for boreal caribou and we are continuing field research to track and study Canada's imperilled caribou herds.

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Boreal Birds

Canada's boreal serves as the breeding grounds for thousands of birds every year, including this blackpoll warbler. WCS Canada is studying population trends and habitat requirements of boreal birds in the Northern Boreal Mountains.

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Crown of the Continent

WCS Canada recently published an assessment of critical habitat and landscape linkages for six iconic and vulnerable species as part of a series of reports focused on the Crown of the Continent ecosystem.

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Bats in western Canada

WCS Canada is tracking bats, including this Keen's Myotis, in British Columbia and Alberta. We are collecting scientific information on the likelihood and possible impacts of the deadly white nose syndrome spreading further westward.

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Arctic Beringia

WCS Canada and WCS North America Program work together to gather important data and support conservation work across borders in the Arctic, from Russia through Alaska and Canada's western Arctic.

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Keeping Ontario's Boreal Wild

Ontario's north is a vast and remote region, and holds the world's largest intact boreal forest. In addition, there is as much water as there is land in this large area, providing important wetland habitat for many wildlife species.

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WCS Canada Annual report 2016

Have a look at our wild world and find out more about how WCS Canada works to protect wildlife and wild places in our annual report

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Publications

Potential Impacts and Risks of Proposed Next Generation Hydroelectric Dams on Fish and Fish Habitat in Yukon Waters

Author(s): Al von Finster and Donald Reid
Year: 2015

A plan for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat)

Author(s): Loeb, S.C., T.J. Rodhouse, L.E. Ellison, C.L. Lausen, J.D. Reichard, K.M. Irvine, T.E. Ingersoll, J.T.H. Coleman, W.E. Thogmartin, J.R. Sauer, C.M. Francis, M.L. Bayless, T.R. Stanley, and D.H. Johnson
Year: 2015

Future development in Ontario's Far North

A Fork in the Road, Future Development in Ontario's Far North

Author(s): Cheryl Chetkiewicz and Matt Carlson
Journal: Wildlife Conservation Society Canada Collaborative Report
Year: 2013

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Latest Feature

WCS Canada Annual report 2016

At WCS Canada, we are working to help wildlife survive – and thrive – across our huge country. Our gorgeous new annual report captures both the beauty of wildlife and the challenges we face in ensuring their survival across Canada. From caribou to ice seals, we explain how WCS Canada scientists are using the insights gained from long hours in the field to shape conservation and land-use plans and to help species survive. We also look at how we can take action now to prevent big problems later, such as designing cutting-edge conservation networks for the still-wild Northern Boreal Mountains in Yukon or helping bats in Western Canada survive and recover after the arrival of a deadly disease that has already swept through eastern North America. Have a look at our wild world and please share this important work with your friends and colleagues!

Naturally Resilient: A strategy to adapt to

climate change or business-as- usual?

The Ontario Government has developed a couple of important plans for reducing the province’s climate change impact and preparing the impacts already baked in by our rapidly changing climate.

Its Climate Change Action Plan identifies a number of actions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These range from the creation of a low-carbon and zero emission transportation sector to reducing fossil fuel use in buildings and homes to developing carbon offset programs using managed forests and agricultural lands.

Because many of the impacts of climate change cannot simply be stopped in their tracks, the province has also developed a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy identifying a number of actions to increase the resilience of water, energy, waste, and infrastructure systems to extreme events, while also increasing the resilience of natural systems including the Great Lakes and managed forests.

WCS Canada scientists offered a number of recommendations to strengthen the Adaptation Strategy, including:

· Proactively conserve and protect habitat and expand existing conservation areas

· Reduce the impact of non-climate stressors such as forestry, mining, roads and other developments

· Address the cumulative effects of multiple developments and human impacts on ecosystems

Read more about our response here.

Top wildlife protection charity in Canada. Read more.

Latest News

Naturally Resilient: A strategy to adapt to climate change or business-as- usual?

To address climate change in Ontario, Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) developed a Climate Change Action Plan identifying a number of actions, across multiple ministries aimed at reducing the magnitude and/or rate of greenhouse gas emissions. Because climate change is already impacting human communities and natural systems, MOECC also developed a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy identifying a number of actions, across multiple ministries. The Strategy

focuses on a 5 high level goals that acknowledge MNRF’s responsibilities, includes a commitment to science and research through partnerships, and prioritizes MNRF’s mandate areas that are at risk due to climate change impacts (e.g., forest management, wetland conservation, water management, species at risk). WCS Canada scientists offered a number of recommendations to strengthen the Strategy.

Enhancing the protection of fish and fish habitat in Canada: A critical opportunity to breathe new life into failing policy

Although fish and fisheries are an integral part of Canada’s history, culture, and economy, protection for fish and fish habitats has been declining in Canada for at least a decade. The Fisheries Act is Canada’s oldest environmental law and an important piece of legislation that gives the Government of Canada the authority to manage fisheries and protect fish habitat. However to be effective, the Fisheries Act must be modernized, include evidence-based approaches to protecting fish and fish habitat, and restore provisions that were removed in 2012. In June, 2016 the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans were asked to lead a comprehensive review of the Fisheries Act and solicit input from the public and experts. WCS Canada’s freshwater scientists were among the many voices providing recommendations to the committee. We were also signatories to a joint letter outlining common priorities for the Act’s revitalization to Minister LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

Big Bat Find in Alberta’s Boreal Forest

A joint effort between WCS Canada’s BatCaver and Alberta Environment and Parks has led to the discovery of the largest bat hibernation cave ever recorded in Alberta, outside the Rocky Mountains. This newly-discovered cave is being used for hibernation by several hundred Little Brown Myotis bats, listed as Endangered under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. It is now more important than ever to discover new hibernation sites since the arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS) to Washington State in March 2016.This discovery demonstrates that large hibernation sites do exist outside the Rocky Mountains, and similar caves may exist in other non-mountainous areas throughout the boreal forest.

WCS Global News

Study Finds Congo’s Miners Often Resort to Hunting Wildlife for Food (source:WCS News)

South Sudan Wildlife Surviving Civil War, but Poaching and Trafficking Threats Increase (source:WCS News)

Study on Impacts to World Heritage Sites Receives International Award (source:WCS News)