(February 21, 2018)  With new all-weather roads, transmission lines, and mines planned for Ontario’s Far North, ecological monitoring and baseline information collection will be critical to help communities understand the impacts of changes to the water, land and wildlife. Our new report, Watching, Listening, and Learning to Understand Change, explains that communities need to be empowered to track these changes along with the changes being brought about by a rapidly changing climate through Communi...

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(February 20, 2018) On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected a plan by the former government of Yukon to open up a huge swath of the PeelWatershed – an ecologically intact area the size of Nova Scotia -- to industrial development. This is a monumental win that would not be possible without the on-going support of conservationists like you. The Supreme Court's decision on this matter is proof that by working together, we can help to hold decision-makers accountable to do their part to protect critical l...

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(February 20, 2018) Check out our latest Muddy Boots Blog where WCS Canada President and Chief Scientist Dr. Justina Ray discusses how a good federal plan to save caribou has become stuck in the mud of provincial inaction.  In this blog, Dr. Ray debunks the myth that the science behind the federal recovery plan needs further review and explains why caribou simply can’t wait another five years for provinces to act.

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(February 15, 2018) By Cheryl ChetkiewiczOntario is a Canadian province built on mining and mineral exploration. Over the past two decades, the provincial government has encouraged and facilitated new mines in Ontario’s Far North—a large, remote and largely roadless region that is the homeland for nearly 40,000 First Nations.The “Ring of Fire” mineral belt, located approximately 350 km north of Thunder Bay, is a massive, ore-rich area, including the largest chromite deposit in North America,...

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(February 14, 2018) Wolverine biologist Matt Scrafford spent three winters capturing a number of these wily predators in northern Alberta. The wolverines were then fitted with GPS collars and tracked across an area of the province crisscrossed with logging and oil and gas service roads.Scrafford, who joined Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada in 2017, had a strong hunch that the wolverines would do their best to stay away from the roads, but he sought to create a more detailed picture of how w...

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(February 09, 2018) Today (Feb. 8, 2018) the federal government unveiled a new “Impact Assessment Act” that will repeal and replace the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (2012).  Together in one bill with the new Canadian Energy Regulator Act, this is an important – and massive – piece of legislation that sets out the conditions under which “major” development projects get built in Canada (or, rarely, not).  At first glance, the inclusion of a whole new section...

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(February 07, 2018) The Arctic is often viewed as a silent landscape, with few human inhabitants and several populations of hardy polar bears. But while winters are cold, dark, and quiet, summers are bright and noisy, with major migrations of birds and marine mammals.Our research group at Wildlife Conservation Society Canada studies a lesser-known aspect of Arctic complexity: the underwater soundscape.Our research group at Wildlife Conservation Society Canada studies a lesser-known aspect of Arctic complexity: the ...

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(February 07, 2018)  WCS Canada is investigating whether bats could benefit from the same probiotic approach that has taken foods like yogurt by storm.   The idea is relatively simple.  Bats are dying by the millions due to a fungal disease called White-nose syndrome (WNS).  If a “good bacteria” to fight the WNS fungus could be applied to bats, it might be possible to reverse at least some of the devastation being caused by the disease. WCS Canada bat researcher Dr. Cori Lausen ...

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(February 07, 2018) Nelson, BC (Sept. 18, 2017) – Research efforts aimed at identifying bat species or individual populations that may be able to survive the arrival of deadly White-nose Syndrome (WNS) received a boost this week with the announcement of $100,000 (U.S.) in new funding for cross-border bat science.WNS is a devastating fungal disease that has wiped out millions of bats in eastern North America, triggering what is thought to be the fastest decline of wild mammals in histo...

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(February 07, 2018) Canada needs stronger environmental laws that help restore science and knowledge – and public input -- to our decision making processes around landscape altering projects such as roads, mines and pipelines.The good news is that the federal government has been pursuing a plan to reform, among other things, the Environmental Assessment Act (EA).  WCS Canada has been very active in helping to frame what a renewed act should include, including a strong commitment for putting science front...

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