Muddy Boots is our internal blog where our staff members share experiences getting their boots muddy with on-the-ground conservation research! You can find our contributions to external blogs and Op Eds here.

Entries for ' Kristin Rodrigo'

Singing from the same song sheet: bringing the climate and biodiversity agendas together

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Singing from the same song sheet: bringing the climate and biodiversity agendas together
(December 21, 2023) By Justina Ray, WCS Canada President and Senior Scientist Earlier this month in Dubai at the COP28 climate talks, the world’s countries finally agreed that addressing the climate crisis will require a “transition away” from fossil fuels. Many different interests have jumped on this declaration to call for countries to act quickly on the spirit rather than the somewhat vague language of the commitment.  A similar scene played out last December in Montreal for the ...

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From Milestones to Memories: Celebrating the Remarkable Career of Biz Agnew

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From Milestones to Memories: Celebrating the Remarkable Career of Biz Agnew
(December 19, 2023) By Brad Cundiff, Green Living Communications Apple had just unveiled its first iPhone when Elizabeth (Biz) Agnew heard about a conservation organization just getting its feet on the ground in Canada. Biz had never heard of Wildlife Conservation Society Canada and had never met its co-founder, Justina Ray.  But it didn’t take Justina long to convince Biz that working for WCS Canada was going to be the opportunity of a lifetime. With fewer than half a dozen staff and a ...

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Scouting for Sound in the Arctic Depths

Views: 1004
Scouting for Sound in the Arctic Depths
(November 15, 2023) by Brad Cundiff, Communications Consultant, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada The Arctic Team scouting sites to test the Ocean Glider. Photo by WCS Canada. You may have taken a few spins around the lake tubing or waterskiing this summer.  Our Western Arctic team, on the other hand, took to a lake near Whitehorse, Yukon to track the performance of a new listening device – a “glider” that can roam beneath the water’s surface picking up sounds ...

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Why We All Need a New Plan For Nature

Views: 468
Why We All Need a New Plan For Nature
(November 06, 2023) by Dan Kraus, Director of National Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada A Northern Spotted Owl. Photo by mayoung01 via iNaturalist. Humans have been causing the loss of wildlife for about as long as there have been humans. From the extinctions of mega-fauna in North America and Australia as people colonized the Earth, to the imminent loss of Spotted Owls in Canada, the cumulative impacts of humanity have resulted in an impoverished natural world.  ...

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Reflecting on Canadian Mountain Network’s Knowledge Sharing Summit 2023

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Reflecting on Canadian Mountain Network’s Knowledge Sharing Summit 2023
(October 27, 2023) by Cheyenne MacDonald, BSc, L'nua'tikete'w/Indigenous Relations Associate, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada  Smiling Faces of WCS Staff Cheyenne Macdonald and Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle at the CMN Knowledge Sharing Summit. Reflecting on September’s Canadian Mountain Network’s (3rd annual) Braiding Knowledge Sharing Summit in Parksville, BC, I was in awe of the inspiring leadership and conservation initiatives which I was able to learn about while liste...

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Connecting with Rivers: Reflections from Moose Cree Youth Ocean Skye Phillips

Views: 1033
Connecting with Rivers: Reflections from Moose Cree Youth Ocean Skye Phillips
(September 19, 2023) Written by Ocean Skye Phillips, Moose Cree Youth. Ocean Skye Phillips in the field. Photo: WCS Canada  My name is Ocean Phillips. I’m a 20-year-old Moose Cree youth, living in Kapuskasing Ontario. In 2019, I had a chance to join Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCSC) scientists and staff from the Moose Cree First Nation Resource Protection Unit (MCFN) to study lake sturgeon in the Moose River watershed in the far north of Ontario.    But then COVID happen...

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Making a Home in a Disturbed Landscape

Views: 1828
Making a Home in a Disturbed Landscape
(August 03, 2023) Written by Clara Reid, Avian Field Intern, and Chris Coxson, Avian Field Technician, both with the Northern Boreal Mountains Program based in Whitehorse, Yukon.  Yellow Warbler, found in shrubby habitats in unmined areas and revegetated placer mines. Photo: Chris Coxson  The word “mining” brings certain images to mind: noisy and large machinery, piles of rocks and overturned trees, and stripped away vegetation. These may seem like hostile conditions for wildlif...

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Burning trees: not a good way to solve the climate crisis

Views: 1856
Burning trees: not a good way to solve the climate crisis
(August 01, 2023) By Donald Reid and Hilary Cooke  For several years, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada scientists based in Yukon have been drawing attention to the ecological and climate impacts of the Yukon Government’s proposed expansion of using wood (aka biomass) to fuel boilers to heat large buildings in Whitehorse and other communities. In June 2023, we submitted the following Letter to Yukon News in response to Yukon economist’s Keith Halliday’s analysis of biomass impacts on ...

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Next steps for Canada: Developing a plan to end biodiversity loss

Views: 2064
Next steps for Canada: Developing a plan to end biodiversity loss
(May 31, 2023) By Justina Ray Bighorn sheep in the Canadian Rockies. Photo by Richard Paksi (Canva Pro). Helping steer 196 countries to arrive at a consensus agreement for “halting and reversing biodiversity loss” was no small accomplishment for Canadian representatives at the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) negotiations in Montreal this past December.  But now the even more challenging work of implementing the agreement has begun with the official launch on May 15th of Canada&...

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Big Boots to Fill: The remarkable WCS Canada career of Dr. Don Reid

Views: 1238
Big Boots to Fill: The remarkable WCS Canada career of Dr. Don Reid
(May 01, 2023) By Hilary Cooke, Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle and Justina Ray Don Reid in the field trapping an Arctic lemming. Photo: WCS Canada. When Dr. Don Reid set up shop in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2004 as the founding member of what would grow to become WCS Canada’s Northern Boreal Mountains team, this versatile -- and well-versed -- scientist also brought an expert knowledge of the wildlife and wild places of one of Canada’s most globally important areas – the wild region spanning C...

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Photo credits: Banner | Lila Tauzer © WCS Canada