https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew RSS feeds for Wildlife Conservation Society Canada 60 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/22081/Wildlife-without-boundaries.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=22081 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=22081&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/22081/Wildlife-without-boundaries.aspx This op-ed appeared in the Hill Times. Songbirds from South America travel thousands of kilometres to nest in Canada’s boreal forests. Caribou herds traverse vast tundra distances to find safe areas to calve and then travel back with their young in tow. Whales transit from one ocean to another to reach feeding grounds. Bats make long and perilous journeys to southern forests in the United States to avoid our cold winters.  But where was Canada when it came to discussing the fate of migratory wildlife like these at the recent talks convened by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS)?  Where was this country when other nations were working side-by-side to address the linkage between how to help migratory species and how to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) that Canada signed on to in December 2022? Not at the table. Canada has not signed this important global conservation treaty, which came into existence almost 45 years ago.  And that’s more than a shame because things have certainly not improved for these species over the past half century. In fact, according to the new State of the World’s Migratory Species report issued by CMS a few weeks ago, more than 40% of migratory species are in trouble, with half of that total sliding toward extinction. Canada does have a long-standing agreement in place with the United States, the Migratory Birds Convention Act, to help protect many bird species that transit our two countries. But as our work on unravelling the story of Blackpoll Warbler migration routes demonstrates, this convention is far too limited to address the full needs of many migratory species. These tiny birds make a nonstop, three-day, 3,000-kilometer transoceanic flight to South America every fall, starting from as far away as the Yukon.  It is the same story with many other migratory species: long journeys that take them over continents and oceans and that present a wide array of obstacles and threats along the way.  The sheer number of these challenges – from habitat loss and light pollution to house cats, declining food sources and growing ship traffic  –  are both why migratory species are in decline and why coordinated international action is needed. The KMGBF that Canada recently signed is groundbreaking in its recognition of the need for a wide-ranging suite of integrated actions to stop and reverse biodiversity loss. The framework explicitly requires countries to take action on multiple fronts simultaneously to address the cumulative impacts of human actions, including the additional pressures being put on species by climate change. Canada played a leadership role in shepherding the KMGBF agreement to a successful outcome a year ago in Montreal. Now it is working on a strategy for implementing the agreement on the ground here.  Increasing protected and conserved areas to 30% of our most important lands and waters by 2030 should be a central part of this effort.  We need to make sure that as part of this effort we protect key areas for migratory species, like places where species congregate before or during migration to rest, refuel, and reproduce. Identifying these critical migration stopovers is the focus for our work on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) here in Canada and global efforts map KBAs around the world. But taking better care of places that are critical to the survival of migratory species within Canada is obviously only one part of the solution to reversing the decline of these species. We need to coordinate action with other countries to address the numerous threats facing wildlife. And we need to recognize that it is not just species that transit in and out of Canada that are important to conserve – migration is a fascinating and important global ecological mechanism that helps shape the natural systems we all depend on.  It’s in our own interest to see migratory species everywhere make successful journeys. Migratory wildlife species are a shared heritage and a shared responsibility. We need to coordinate our actions with international partners to help species on the move. A good place to start would be by signing the CMS and then rolling up our sleeves to work out how we can save migratory species before it is too late – together. Dan Kraus is the director of national conservation at Wildlife Conservation Society Canada. He is a transdisciplinary conservation scientist with over 25 years of experience in biodiversity, endangered species, and landscape ecology. Dan has authored reports on topics ranging from Great Lakes islands to freshwater Key Biodiversity Areas to natural capital. Most recently he published papers on nationally endemic species, Canada’s “crisis” ecoregions, ecological corridors, and coastal conservation. Dan is member of Canada’s Nature Advisory Committee, researches and teaches about endangered species recovery at the University of Waterloo, and served on the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario for over a decade. His editorials on nature and conservation have appeared in media across Canada.      admin admin Fri, 01 Mar 2024 13:54:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:22081 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/21979/Public-Policy-Developments-WCS-Canada-is-watching-in-2024.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=21979 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=21979&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/21979/Public-Policy-Developments-WCS-Canada-is-watching-in-2024.aspx In this rundown of upcoming initiatives, we look ahead at some of the big public policy decisions expected in 2024 and explain what outcomes we will be pressing for from each.  From the federal government’s efforts to draft a new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan that can be a cornerstone for efforts to reverse the current decline of biodiversity across Canada to provincial efforts like the commitment by the British Columbia government, in collaboration with First Nations, to create a new comprehensive framework for better protecting nature, these policies, if done right, could be turning points in our efforts to protect nature and curb climate change.  Read: Tracking policy developments is just as important as tracking wildlife At the same time, we will be closely tracking policy changes that could worsen the current biodiversity and climate crisis, such as efforts to weaken the federal Impact Assessment Act or policies that spur mineral development in intact northern areas without putting in place safeguards for carbon-rich peatlands.  Dealing with the constant flow of new laws, policies and regulations from 10 provinces, three territories and the federal government means we have to focus on where we believe we can have the greatest impact and where our science will be the most useful in adding insight for decision makers.  It also means working hard to communicate new approaches and a new vision for how governments can make smarter decisions that will benefit people and nature today and tomorrow.  It is not glamorous work, but it is critical if we want to maintain and restore this country’s tremendous natural legacy. Doing a better job of avoiding and lessening impacts The policies and initiatives in this section represents opportunities to both improve our understanding of the real long-term impacts of development decisions and trends (increased demand for minerals or ship traffic) and ones that pose a potential threat of weakening or entrenching already inadequate mechanisms for ensuring we don’t further harm vital natural systems. AMENDMENTS TO CANADA’S IMPACT ASSESSMENT ACT What it’s about: In October, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) issued an opinion on the Impact Assessment Act (2019) (IAA), finding it to be unconstitutional in part because it infringed on areas of law that are under provincial control. The federal government has responded by saying it will address the issues highlighted by the SCC through amendments to the legislation in early 2024. What we are looking for: Any changes to the act should strictly address clarifying how the act applies to issues or projects that are within federal jurisdiction.  The government should resist pressure to weaken the act in the name of so-called “efficiency” or “streamlining” and instead recognize the urgent need for legislation that provides a modern approach to impact assessment, particularly given the weaknesses of many provincial assessment regimes. MINING LAWS AND POLICIES (INCLUDING CRITICAL MINERALS) What it’s about: The release of the Canadian Critical Minerals Strategy in late 2022 signaled Canada’s interest in positioning itself as a “global leader” in the production of critical minerals and the development of associated supply chains (e.g., smelting, manufacturing) to support the green energy transition. In 2024, we expect to see the introduction of policies that will enable implementation of the many commitments (including budgetary) included in the Strategy, including (but not limited to) updating the Critical Minerals list. We are also tracking emerging provincial and territorial critical minerals strategies, as well as efforts to reform century-old mining legislation in Yukon and changes to mining regulations in Ontario under its similarly antiquated legislation. What we are looking for: Our input on the Critical Minerals Strategy led to some improvements, most importantly an acknowledgement of the risks associated with mineral resource development in globally-significant peatlands. But the strategy is still too focused on short-term economic interests instead of creating a sustainable framework for Critical Minerals development. We will continue to call for increased attention to be paid to preventing mining development from exacerbating climate and biodiversity problems. In Yukon, a modernized mineral exploration and development approach must recognize and be compliant with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In keeping with the spirit and intent of the Umbrella Final Agreement (land claim settlement), resource development processes need to include Indigenous co-governance of all non-private lands in the territory. The new mining exploration regime must replace the badly outdated free-entry staking system with one that requires consent from Indigenous governments and full input from Yukon citizens. The new regime must also establish rigorous requirements for the use of environmental best practices at all mining stages and provide the financial and other means to enforce these. Recognition by the Ontario government that obtaining First Nations’ free prior and informed consent for proposed mineral development is vital and that the true barrier to mineral development in the province is a lack of good regional planning processes that can improve the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of project planning and decision-making. OCEAN NOISE STRATEGY What it’s about:  With noise increasingly recognized as a key stressor for marine life, the federal government committed several years ago to develop an Ocean Noise Strategy. According to news reports, Fisheries and Oceans Canada says the long-delayed strategy will be published “before the end of the 2023-2024 fiscal year with an associated period of public engagement to immediately follow”. What we are looking for: Ensuring that the Ocean Noise Strategy includes measures tailored to the Canadian Arctic, with elements that reflect the unique conditions present in the Arctic marine environment (ice cover, etc.), while also addressing the impacts that underwater noise will have on Inuit subsistence and cultural activities. This work should include assessing vessel noise against current Arctic baseline noise levels, rather than against thresholds developed for other noisier marine environments, and a commitment to further research to better understand the effects of noise from different vessel classes on different species under different behavioural and ice conditions in the Arctic marine environments. WCS Canada’s research on underwater noise in the Arctic can inform this work. We have helped to identify current baseline noise levels and the impacts of underwater noise on marine mammals in the western Canadian Arctic, and are supporting work on developing local management strategies to reduce impacts on marine mammals and Inuit subsistence activities. PREVENTING FOREST DEGRADATION What it’s about: Canada is one of the world’s leading exporters of wood products, while insisting it is dedicated to the principles of sustainable forest management.  Concerns about the health of Canadian forest ecosystems and their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing climate are growing, however.  Fortunately, there are important opportunities on the horizon to enhance some provincial/territorial forest management policies (e.g., in Ontario and Yukon) that are up for review. At the same time, in response to a new EU regulation aimed at restricting the sale of products contributing to deforestation and degradation, Natural Resources Canada is coordinating the development of a domestic definition of “forest degradation,” promising to deliver a “robust, science-based, and transparent reporting framework”. What we are looking for: Any definition of forest degradation must focus on ecological and not economic indicators, using ecological integrity as the proper benchmark of forest degradation. It should reflect the commitments Canada has made through the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to address forest degradation and retain ecological integrity.  The definition should apply to all forests, not just those that are “managed” for forestry, which form just a part of Canada’s forest landbase. In fact, it should be designed to ensure the retention of large, undisturbed forests that are not currently part of the managed forest landbase while also preventing further degradation within logged forests. Yukon’s updated Forest Resources Act and its associated regulations need to include a new forestry licensing regime that recognizes that different planning and operational approaches are needed for harvest of live trees (greenwood) in old conifer forest areas and deadwood from recently burned forests.  It also should include regulatory tools and updates of existing standards and guidelines to incorporate new regional knowledge and adopt an ecosystem approach to managing forestry. Updated Resource Road Regulations in Yukon that mandate the phased decommissioning of resources roads, including forestry and mining roads, to limit human disturbance after operations are finished. Properly value nature and natural systems When only short-term economic interests are considered in decision making, the process ignores the tremendous costs of further compromising natural systems and climate stability. These policies represent opportunities to take a more holistic and informed approach that properly integrates an understanding of what is at stake in wild areas and the importance of reversing biodiversity loss. REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS UNDER THE FEDERAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ACT What it’s about: In 2020, the federal government committed to conduct a regional assessment for the Ring of Fire area in the far north of Ontario. This year, we expect to see the Terms of Reference for this important assessment, which will consider the issues at stake in an area with significant mineral potential but also massive peatlands and important headwaters.  The government has committed to “co-develop and co-lead” the development of the Terms of Reference with Indigenous leadership.  This initiative also dovetails with a process to develop an overarching policy framework for all regional assessments conducted under section 92 of the IAA, which is nearing completion and should be released in 2024. What we are looking for:  As one of the three parties that recommended a Regional Assessment for the Ring of Fire, we have long advocated for a regional-scale assessment prior to the start of significant mineral development in the area to properly safeguard its biodiversity and climate values (including the second largest peatland complex in the world) and manage cumulative impacts effectively. The assessment must truly focus on sustainability for both nature and the communities of the region and not just follow the usual pattern of looking for ways to mitigate impacts. We will be looking for meaningful co-leadership of the process by the First Nations, who represent the only communities located in the region.  We also hope that the Government of Ontario will see this as a valuable opportunity to meet its constitutional obligations related to respecting Indigenous rights and to recognize the value of proactive management of cumulative impacts. For the broader framework for regional assessments, we are seeking clear alignment with the purposes of the Impact Assessment Act, i.e., to foster sustainability; protect components of the environment within federal authority; ensure impact assessments strongly consider all effects based on science and traditional knowledge; respect Indigenous rights; and meaningful attention to cumulative effects. THE NATURE-CLIMATE AGENDA What it’s about: Canada is starting its final push to achieve its 2030 GHG emissions reduction target of reducing GHG emissions to 40% below 2005 levels and get on track for net-zero by 2050. In the past two years, starting with the release of its Emissions Reduction Plan in March 2022, the federal government has taken significant steps to enable nature-based climate solutions. Funding and resources are being provided for natural solutions to climate change, such as the protection of forests and wetlands. At the same time, the federal government is advancing various initiatives to encourage an energy transition in support of climate objectives. For example, it is expected to finalize the oil and gas sector emissions cap by mid-2024. For us, 2024 will be the year of assessing the performance of Canada’s recently implemented nature-based policies for climate and keeping an eye on further climate-relevant policies coming down the pipe. What we are looking for: As energy transition policies begin to take effect, it is critical that unintended and counterproductive climate policy outcomes are avoided or significantly mitigated, e.g., not undermining the carbon storage role of forests and peatlands via mineral development and reducing the impacts of renewable energy projects on species such as bats through careful siting, monitoring and management efforts. Making the protection of large, intact carbon-rich landscapes like peatlands a formally recognized priority and enabling Indigenous-led stewardship of these landscapes to help ensure any development does not lead to major sources of GHG emissions that undermine Canada’s ability to meet climate targets. For new provincial and territorial climate plans (e.g., Newfoundland and Labrador) to include robust actions and objectives that acknowledge the essential role of nature in addressing climate change. Improving regulations to address the impacts of wind power development on bats that address where projects can safely to be located and how they can be operated in a way that lessens their impact on bats, particularly already at-risk migratory species. PROTECTING SPECIES AT RISK What it’s about: As the 2023 Report on Species at Risk by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD) pointed out, the federal government is not using its full authority to protect species at risk and their habitats under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA).  The commissioner called on Environment and Climate Change Canada to complete and implement policies on use of the safety net and emergency order tools found in SARA. These legislative powers can be used when provinces and territories fail to protect species at risk and their habitat. Unfortunately, these powers have rarely been used to benefit imperiled species. We anticipate that efforts will accelerate in 2024 to complete several key SARA policies, including “Assessing Imminent Threats” and “Critical Habitat Protection” on non-federal lands. What we are looking for: The addition of Eastern Red Bat, Hoary Bat, and Silver-haired Bat to the public registry of federal species at risk. These are all migratory species that have experienced significant impacts from wind power development and fast action is needed to address and reduce these harms. With wind power development on the cusp of huge expansion, more attention must be paid to issues such as siting and habitat destruction. A greater willingness from the federal government to provide meaningful leadership and use the tools at its disposal to track the extent to which provinces and territories are effectively protecting species at risk and their habitat.  The federal government can use its resources (including, but not limited to Nature Agreements) to spur effective collaboration with the provinces on species protection. Accelerate the process of acting on recommendations from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and end delays that can lead to species declining even more while lingering in listing limbo, thereby further delaying any meaningful recovery actions for years.  Address how changes to provincial and territorial resource policies, such as exemptions for forestry and proposed exemptions for mineral exploration in Ontario, could negatively affect species at risk, e.g., caribou and wolverine.  More broadly, governments must consider impacts more carefully on species at risk in all resource development decisions, whether that is new waterpower development (lake sturgeon) or wind power development (bats). Think Big – and Transformative To tackle something as big as the combined biodiversity-climate crisis, we require much more than tweaking business-as-usual approaches. It is well past time to adopt much more ambitious and farsighted approaches to ensuring we act now to reverse climate and ecosystem damage and put in place measures that create healthier future directions for nature and people. CANADA’S 2030 BIODIVERSITY STRATEGY What it’s about: Thanks to the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) in Montreal last December, Canada is obliged to complete a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) by COP16 in late 2024. In late 2023, the federal government released what it calls a “Milestone Document” laying out how it intends to frame the 2030 Strategy in line with all four goals and 23 targets of the KMGBF. Following consultation (most importantly with provincial/territorial governments and Indigenous organizations) the finalized 2030 Strategy will serve as its NBSAP. While the full KMGBF is undeniably complex and the task of implementing it effectively is challenging to contemplate, the requirement to develop the NBSAP presents an opportunity for the federal government to display the leadership that is so necessary for addressing the biodiversity crisis in coordination with action on climate. What we are looking for: Actions that represent an integrated approach whereby policies and actions of one federal department do not undermine those of another and promote policy coherence rather than conflict. This will require formal coordination mechanisms that can help ensure that all provincial and territorial government departments and agencies are pulling in the same direction to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Full recognition (with robust funding commitments) of the critical role of Indigenous leadership in protection and monitoring of important areas throughout Canada. Transformative actions that collectively elevate biodiversity as a priority, including the deliberate consideration of co-benefits and trade-offs between biodiversity and climate actions and safeguarding of high-integrity, carbon-rich ecosystems in keeping with Canada’s global responsibility. A true “whole-of-government” approach that engages all federal ministries in the coordinated task of reversing biodiversity loss instead of the current siloed approach that puts the responsibility of addressing this “all-of-society" crisis on the shoulders of just one or two ministries. A strong role for Key Biodiversity Areas, which can help us reach targets for species recovery and ecosystem protection among other things, and an overall emphasis on ensuring that new protected and conserved areas are protecting the most important places for nature.   Long-needed improvements to the quality and availability of biodiversity information across the federation including clear and measurable objectives and indicators that can be used to track and report on progress on each CBD target and support the federal government’s proposed Nature Accountability Bill. LARGE-SCALE INDIGENOUS-LED CONSERVATION IN YUKON AND NORTHERN BC What it’s about: Thanks to land claim settlement agreements under the Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement, there are a number of land use planning initiatives underway in Yukon that are being led by self-governing First Nations. This presents an important opportunity to significantly increase areas protected from industrial disturbance in the territory. The Dawson regional plan encompasses 39,854 square km -- a large and diverse area that covers 10% of the Yukon territory. A land-use plan for the region has been under development for several years and a final plan is expected within the next year. WCS Canada staff are working intensively with the Tr’ondëk Hwëchìn (TH) First Nation Government in a partnership to improve conservation outcomes in the Recommended Plan. The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun  (FNNND) is also preparing for regional land use planning in their Northern Tutchone traditional territory, which is the next biggest planning region in the Yukon. Our staff are providing technical and scientific support to FNNND to promote and secure new protected areas as well as help finalize the Beaver River sub-regional plan. Meanwhile, the Kaska Nations of Yukon and northern BC have steadfastly declined to cede rights and title to their combined Traditional Territories and instead have proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas covering over ~100,000 square kilometers of ecologically diverse and mostly intact landscapes. WCS Canada staff provided technical support and scientific expertise to the development of the IPCA proposals of Ross River Dena Council and the BC Kaska. What we are looking for: Protection for at least 50% of the landbase in both planning areas and more holistic management approaches for areas where industrial use will still be allowed.  These approaches should address conserving migratory and mountain caribou herds across their entire range; carefully limiting the development footprint so it is kept within ecological limits; removal of mineral tenures (claims) from all protected areas; and a focus on maintaining climate function and refugia within all areas. A commitment by territorial, provincial, and federal governments to work with the Kaska Nations on the implementation of their proposed Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. In all planning processes, integration of First Nations approaches to conservation and co-governance models for better implementation of land use plans as well as Indigenous rights being upheld through land agreements and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. LEGISLATION AND POLICY CHANGES TO PROTECT BIODIVERSITY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA What it’s about: British Columbia has the greatest diversity of species at risk and globally threatened ecosystems and species in Canada. However, it also  lacks modernized legislation to protect these natural riches. Recently, the provincial government has begun to address this disconnect with a number of important policy initiatives, including the “collaborative development” with rights holders and stakeholders of a draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF) in response to Recommendation 2 of the 2020 Old Growth Strategic Review. Indeed, the mandate letter for the Minister of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship issued in late 2022 includes explicit direction to “protect wildlife and species at risk…and….protect and enhance B.C.’s biodiversity” and implementation of the BEHF that "commits to the conservation and management of ecosystem health and biodiversity as an overarching priority…[to be formalized]…...through legislation and other enabling tools”. Moving in this direction will require, among other things, reform of existing provincial legislation (e.g., Wildlife Act and Forest & Range Practices Act), which we expect to start seeing progress on this in 2024. What we are looking for: These initiatives provide BC with an opportunity to address its weak and outdated legislative framework for safeguarding species and ecosystems and to begin to develop a proactive approach to conserving the province’s tremendous biodiversity and be a leader in Canada for transformative change.    A shift from a narrow focus on “habitat features” of individual species to incorporation of multi-species and large-scale habitat protections, including for old growth forests. We and our partners have identified numerous Key Biodiversity Areas throughout the province that can provide building blocks for ambitious protected area commitments. A FRESH START FOR MANITOBA BIODIVERSITY AND CLIMATE POLICIES What it’s about: Environmental concerns have received little attention in Manitoba in recent years, with key biodiversity and climate laws and regulations remaining unimplemented or unimagined. With a new government elected in late 2023, there is a fresh mandate for the new environment minister to take action. Priorities of particular relevance to WCS Canada include work with Indigenous communities to achieve the goal of protecting 30% of Manitoba’s diverse landscapes by 2030 and creating a “roadmap to meet net-zero targets by 2050”.  What we are looking for: We have identified numerous Key Biodiversity Areas in Manitoba, many of which are inadequately protected. This is an opportunity for Manitoba to address its protected areas goal in a scientific manner. Manitoba is the only province to have legislation to conserve and protect ecosystems through its Endangered Species and Ecosystems Act. This provides an opportunity to expand ecosystem-based approaches in Manitoba, which can serve as a model for other jurisdictions. Manitoba contains the third largest peatland area (and associated carbon storage) in Canada.  (Manitoba’s peatlands are exceeded in size and carbon content only by those in Ontario and the Northwest Territories.) As part of its roadmap for achieving net-zero targets, the province must address safeguarding these critical carbon storage areas. Many emerging Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) in the province overlap with these carbon and biodiversity rich areas, making action on adopting IPCAs a potential win-win for the province.     admin admin Mon, 05 Feb 2024 23:15:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:21979 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/21978/Tracking-policy-developments-is-just-as-important-as-tracking-wildlife.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=21978 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=21978&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/21978/Tracking-policy-developments-is-just-as-important-as-tracking-wildlife.aspx See also: Public Policy Developments WCS Canada is watching in 2024  Releasing a wolverine from a live trap can really get your heart pounding. Providing comments on a government policy, a lot less so.  But helping make government policies better for nature is a big and important part of the work we do here at WCS Canada. That’s because these official laws, policies and regulations (and their implementation) matter – a lot.  The right policy can make a major difference in reducing or reversing environmental harms, such as policies to ban the pesticide DDT that saved many bird species (including peregrine falcons and bald eagles) or policies to eliminate the use of ozone-depleting chemicals. On the other hand, weak or ineffective policies can entrench practices that promote continued environmental degradation.  Too often, current policies are the latter – fragmented, out-of-date, and narrowly focused laws and regulations that are not equal to the task of reversing the rapidly escalating biodiversity and climate crisis. If our societal approaches to decision making on everything from resource development to protected areas are not in step with an ongoing commitment to ending biodiversity loss and addressing the climate emergency, our scientific work at WCS Canada is going to continue to turn up evidence of the steady worsening of these combined crises.    The need for new approaches  If there is one theme that runs through our policy work on everything from reforming mining laws to developing a comprehensive national biodiversity strategy it is the need for a fundamental shift in current approaches. This means re-thinking business-as-usual approaches to decisions like where to build mines and the roads that service them or how to ensure that massive natural carbon storage areas are still able to provide their essential services for generations to come.    This transformation ultimately requires a shift away from piecemeal and short-sighted development processes that rely on reducing environmental and cultural impacts one project at time, and toward proactive planning at larger and more comprehensive scales with an eye to anticipating and managing cumulative effects. It also requires firm recognition of the need for resource development decisions to go beyond only assessing short-term economic return and to instead fully consider the sustainability of proposed projects for current and future generations. That includes ensuring that benefits are maximized for people, nature and the climate.  There are three major components to changing our current failing approaches that are steadily driving species and ecosystems into deeper and deeper trouble (trends we have started tracking through our Shape of Nature initiative).    Three steps to change  The first is to do away with the ill-informed but all too common assumption that all environmental harms can be mitigated or offset, or that they can be justified in the name of short-term economic gains. In particular, there is a need to change the overwhelming focus on “doing less harm” that is often central to  individual project planning and development processes. It is now widely accepted that the impacts of multiple small projects can combine to create overall ecological harm that tends to be greater than the collective sum of individual impacts. In fact, severe ecological damage rarely has a single cause, so striving to avoid impacts in the first place is key.   We often point out that cumulative impacts and broader sustainability considerations must be taken seriously at the outset of planning with full consideration of how individual projects add to existing and other potential impacts -- including the effects of climate change.  As scientists, we try to draw attention to the fact that human economic growth and development is constrained by natural limits and we need to plan accordingly.  The second step is to evaluate development plans over a timeframe of generations – not the life of the project or a government term in office. Adoption of a true multigenerational perspective requires appreciation of the full of value nature in decision making (and our society) and far better recognition of the benefits nature provides to people. Too much of the current focus is placed on short-term raw resource values (trees, minerals, water, fish), instead of on the irreplaceable life support and human health services provided by nature, whether that is filtering and storing water, capturing and storing carbon or providing sustenance for communities.   We know that high-integrity ecosystems, along with robust genetic and species diversity collectively strengthen human wellbeing, yet nature continues to be undervalued and weakened by short-sighted decision making. We are calling for a shift to approaches that properly assess and value natural services before considering what level of industrial disturbance is tolerable in order to protect ecosystem services that are fundamental to our economy, society and well-being.  The third is to think big – and be transformative. “Transformation” is first and foremost an acknowledgment that status quo approaches are failing to address continuing ecological degradation. It also means “doing things differently – not  just a little more or less of something we’re already doing.” Ambitious goals for retaining the globally important wild areas that Canada is still fortunate to contain are a good start.  Boldly integrating Indigenous-led conservation and worldviews that prioritize reciprocity and gratitude for nature into broader conservation efforts will pay significant dividends, both in terms of environmental outcomes and reconciliation. Similarly, policymakers must recognize the interconnectedness of the climate and biodiversity crises and the increased benefits that can be realized by developing transformative and fully integrated responses.  All of this will require a much stronger “whole of government” approach to replace current siloed decision making.  What’s in the policy pipeline  In a rundown of upcoming initiatives, we look ahead at some of the big public policy decisions expected in 2024 and explain what outcomes we will be pressing for from each.  From the federal government’s efforts to draft a new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan that can be a cornerstone for efforts to reverse the current decline of biodiversity across Canada to provincial efforts like the commitment by the British Columbia government to create a new comprehensive framework for better protecting nature, these policies, if done right, could be turning points in our efforts to protect nature and curb climate change.    At the same time, we will be closely tracking policy changes that could worsen the current biodiversity and climate crisis, such as efforts to weaken the federal Impact Assessment Act or policies that spur mineral development in intact northern areas without putting in place safeguards for carbon-rich peatlands.    Dealing with the constant flow of new laws, policies and regulations from 10 provinces, three territories and the federal government means we have to focus on where we believe we can have the greatest impact and where our science will be the most useful in adding insight for decision makers.  It also means working hard to communicate new approaches and a new vision for how we can make smarter decisions that will benefit people and nature today and tomorrow.  It is not glamorous work, but it is critical if we want to maintain and restore this country’s tremendous natural legacy.  Click here for a summary of policies we are currently tracking and the outcomes we are seeking for each.  By WCS Canada Staff admin admin Mon, 05 Feb 2024 23:08:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:21978 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/21947/What-we-all-lose-as-more-of-Canadas-wildlife-disappears.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=21947 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=21947&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/21947/What-we-all-lose-as-more-of-Canadas-wildlife-disappears.aspx By Dan Kraus, Director of National Conservation Canada officially has less biodiversity than one year ago.  Without much fanfare, the meter that measures the number of extinct wild species in Canada ticked down. Twice.   You’ve probably never heard of the Enos Lake Stickleback pairs. Over the last few thousand years they evolved in an isolated lake on Vancouver Island north of Nanaimo BC. They were an example of evolution in action and were becoming two different species, each occupying a different part of the lake.  The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife (COSEWIC), the group that assesses extinction risk of Canada’s flora and fauna under the federal Species at Risk Act first designated the Enos Lake Stickleback pairs as threatened in 1988 and then endangered in 2002, warning of their increasing extinction risk. The tiny fishes were nationally endemic to Canada and occurred nowhere else on the planet. Their loss is not just a loss for Canada, but another chip that’s fallen from our planet’s collection of wild things.  Last year the number of species assessed as at risk by COSEWIC grew to 875. Last year, there were 869. Ten years ago, that number was 676. Since Canada’s Species at Risk Act was enacted over two decades ago, we’ve seen an annual increase of at-risk species of about 4%. We also know that the actual number of species in need of conservation action is much higher and one in five Canadian species is at some level of risk. While past threats to animals such as Humpback Whale, Plains Bison, and Trumpeter Swan was over-hunting, today wildlife are faced by a myriad of threats including habitat loss, invasive species, and increasingly, climate change.  Other species now assessed as at risk by COSEWIC in 2023 include four plants that are very rare in Canada. Ontario’s Cleland’s Evening-primrose, a prairie wildflower not seen since 2001, and California Sword Fern, with a Canadian population in BC that is down to 48 individuals. Plants and animals with small populations and few locations are vulnerable to extinction because one disturbance, either natural or from people, can quickly wipe them out.   But extinction is more than about rarity. Identifying species that are rapidly declining is critical to getting ahead of their extinction. As we’ve witnessed through the extinction of species like the Passenger Pigeon, Great Auk, and Rocky Mountain Grasshopper, human activities can make even once abundant wildlife disappear. Species that were once secure but are now disappearing were also assessed as at risk of extinction in 2023. These include the Mudpuppy (a completely aquatic salamander) and Horned Grebe (a diving bird that is closely related to flamingos). The last year also saw more bats added to Canada’s list of at-risk species. Eastern Red Bat, Hoary Bat, and Silver-haired Bat were all assessed as endangered because of rapid declines resulting from habitat loss and poorly sited wind turbines.  Tracking risk to species is not just about who’s been added to the list, but also how their status changes. In some ways this measure is more critical because it tracks extinction probability when we have full knowledge of risk. In 2023, two species that COSEWIC has previously assessed increased in extinction risk. The extinction risk of the Gulf of St. Lawrence Aster was nudged upward from special concern to endangered because of the increasing threat that rising sea levels and more frequent storm surges will wash it away along with its coastal habitat. Just as extinction of Enos Lake Sticklebacks showcases our willingness to be passive witnesses to extinction, the ‘uplisting’ of these species are another small failure of both Canada’s Species at Risk Act and our collective ability to act.  It’s too late to save the Enos Lake Stickleback, but there are hundreds of other species that this generation can stop from going extinct. Knowing which species need our attention is critical. Species assessed by COSEWIC and those protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act are a good start but will always be incomplete. Across Canada, Key Biodiversity Areas are being identified and mapped for all globally and nationally threatened species that have small ranges or populations. For species such as the California Sword Fern, local ecosystem-based efforts to protect and steward habitats can quickly halt and reverse the threats and prevent extinctions. For wide-ranging species that are declining, such as bats, caribou, monarch, actions will require rethinking how we manage lands and water.  I don’t want my children to inherit a planet that only knows extinction. On a planet that only bleeds wildlife, we are also losing clean water, climate security, and our ancient connections to life around us. Recovering wildlife is more than just biodiversity. It’s building a secure foundation for our society and economy and rebuilding our relationship with nature. There is a world waiting for us where nature and people thrive.  Tue, 30 Jan 2024 15:10:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:21947 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18883/Worth-the-wait-Encountering-bowhead-whales-in-Canadas-Arctic.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=18883 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=18883&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18883/Worth-the-wait-Encountering-bowhead-whales-in-Canadas-Arctic.aspx By Morgan J. Martin,  WCS Canada postdoc at the University of Victoria in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada working on behavioral responses of bowhead whales to shipping noise. The pandemic kept me grounded for two years, the research conditions were challenging, but when I finally did make it to Igloolik in Nunavut, it was an experience I will never forget. When I started a three-year postdoctoral researcher position at WCS Canada in June 2020, I was supposed to hit the ground running and immediately begin my postdoc with a summer Arctic field season attempting to tag bowhead whales. But the world was a bit upside-down at that time and the local Inuit communities had closed their doors to any outside visitors. This continued through 2021 as the pandemic unfolded, so I missed a second summer Arctic fieldwork season and I began to wonder if I would ever get to visit the Arctic communities. That’s why I was very excited to learn that my summer 2022 Arctic fieldwork season was going to happen. On June 18, 2022, I traveled to the community of Igloolik, located on Igloolik Island in Nunavut, joining a fieldwork team with three scientists from the federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s Arctic program. We arrived in Igloolik hoping to find community members with boats to hire to take us out to find bowhead whales. On our second night in town, we met with the Igloolik Hunters and Trappers Association (HTA) who are responsible for approving any research proposals in the area. Our meeting with the HTA lasted three hours with the HTA members asking lots of good questions about our research plans. That’s not surprising because the Arctic is changing rapidly thanks to climate change and the people living in Igloolik have experienced these changes firsthand. They are therefore keen to closely monitor how climate change stands to further impact their community.   The members of the HTA approved our research and kindly offered for us to stay in their hunting shelters located near the ice floe edge. The purpose of our fieldwork was to tag bowhead whales with satellite tags as well as with non-invasive suction cup tags that contain hydrophones (underwater acoustic recorders) that can record the whales’ movements in three dimensions underwater. Our aim was to collect bowhead whale behavior data in a pristine Arctic region where vessel traffic has increased and is anticipated to continue to increase primarily due to mining on Baffin Island (a proposal to expand the Baffin Island iron ore mine was recently denied due to its environmental impacts, but the company has now revived a different proposal for shipping more ore from the mine). We need a better understanding of how bowhead whales react to vessels and underwater vessel noise to understand the impacts of this growing ship traffic. Three experienced hunters from Igloolik joined our team with two small, motorized boats as we set out to try to find and tag bowhead whales. Tagging the whales with the suction cup tags proved to be difficult due to the ice conditions and the whales’ behavior. The whales were spending most of their time hanging out in the pack ice, where we were unable to drive the boat to get close enough to them to apply the suction cup tags. We resorted to standing on the edge of the ice floe and waiting for the bowheads to travel in and out of the pack ice to reach them. Next summer, we are going to take a bit of a different approach by using a second type of tag that does not need to be retrieved once it falls off the whale and can be deployed from slightly farther away, which we hope will help increase the number of whales we can tag. We also plan to play back underwater recordings of vessel noise to the tagged bowhead whales in order to measure how they respond to noise underwater. This will give us the ability to assess how the whales’ behavior changes in response to vessel noise and to try to determine what noise level causes the whales to react. Arctic fieldwork is not glamorous. It is cold and exhausting and unbelievably beautiful at the same time. We spent 12 consecutive nights in the shelters provided by the HTA. There was no indoor plumbing, no bathroom and no one showered during that time. We collected snow every day to melt for our drinking water. We left our campsite around 8 a.m. each morning to launch the boats at the edge of the ever-changing floe edge and we were usually not back in our camp until around 10 p.m. each night. I ate a lot of pop-tarts, and ramen noodles were an absolute staple for everyone during the day. We ate dinner together around midnight, and then we all crashed because we had to repeat everything the following morning. The sun never set and just circled around us overhead. It was mentally and physically one of the more challenging things I have done. Todd, Levi and Travis, the Igloolik community members who were working with us to find the bowhead whales, worked non-stop and they kept things moving smoothly. We shared many laughs on the boat and around the dinner table at night. Our research would not have been possible without them because they knew the local waters and navigated around sea ice with ease.  My experience in Igloolik shaped me in ways that I was not expecting. I came home with an extreme sense of gratitude for everyday luxuries like running water and fresh produce. I am no stranger to living in remote places. However, the Arctic climate is harsh and I have a newfound respect for the people who call it home. The opportunity to see bowhead whales up close is something I will never forget. These are the second largest creatures by mass that live on planet Earth. After two years of studying about bowheads, finally seeing them in person truly was a life highlight. They made me feel small, mortal, and left me revering at the same time. I am proud to have been part of a research team at WCS Canada working to protect these animals from the impacts of shipping in the Arctic. Check out a Story Map about our work with Bowhead whales. Lynsey Grosfield Mon, 20 Mar 2023 23:05:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:18883 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18884/A-Bake-Sale-for-Wildlife.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=18884 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=18884&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18884/A-Bake-Sale-for-Wildlife.aspx On a late summer afternoon in Whitehorse, Hilary Cooke was sorting through the mail not really looking for anything in particular, when she came across an interesting hand written letter. It isn’t too often that we receive hand written letters, and almost never coming from a community school. She opened it diligently, and inside to her surprise she found a hand written cheque addressed to the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada for $450 addressed by St. Elias Community School in Haines Junction. With some digging around, the Whitehorse-based field office discovered that students from grade 8 had organized a bake sale to raise funds for wildlife research and the conservation and preservation of Yukon’s wild spaces. St. Elias Community School is a small northern community school within the Yukon First Nations School Board with approximately 142 students from Kindergarten to grade 12.   Down the hall – St. Elias Community School We were so thrilled that these students wanted the proceeds to go to wildlife conservation, that we started conversations with the teacher for an opportunity to visit the class. With students on summer break, teachers changing classes, and navigating our own field seasons and other commitments, our opportunity didn’t come until this February, but nevertheless, our excitement was still HIGH!  The day finally arrived, and a few members of the Northern Boreal Mountains (NBM) and Western Arctic team were ready to make the close to two-hour drive from Whitehorse to Haines Junction. Luckily, the roads were clear after a heavy snowfall, and even a couple of coyotes made a quick appearance along the way. Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle, Conservation Planning Biologist and Co-Director of the NBM program, and Maya Chartier, Arctic Wildlife Technician for the Western Arctic program planned a presentation for the students of the class. Chrystal showcased the NBM Canary in a Gold Mine field video and highlighted a Weston Family Boreal Research student’s contributions on the Yukon River Chinook Salmon. There even were some videos of bears doing their best back scratch and booty bear shake that was captured by trail cameras in the field as part of a research study on the impacts of human development on species at risk. Maya played some marine mammal audio clips from hydrophones in the Arctic, and showed a few videos of field work tagging ringed seals in the Arctic and drone footage from the Arctic team field site. At the end of the presentations, students were given an opportunity to ask some questions. One of the students really wanted to know what classes they needed to take in order to be a Marine Biologist and if we needed any volunteers!   The drive to Haines Junction, Yukon At the end of the presentation, students were given some WCS Canada swag and left with a better understanding about the work that we do and an impression that they truly did make a difference with their kindness and warm gesture. And just by chance, some maybe were left with a spark that may bring them one day into the incredible work that we do for wildlife research and conservation. The next generation of conservations scientists, Ella and June (middle) were the organizers of the bake sale, with their teacher, Albert Surroca (far right). From WCS Canada, Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle (and her two kids, Aurora and River who came along for the ride), and Maya Chartier. The two students that arranged the bake sale were asked why wildlife and conservation are important to them. “[Wildlife and Conservation] is important to me because I spend a lot of my time outdoors and with wildlife and I feel it’s really important for ecosystems, because we learn a lot of that in school, and if we don’t have wild places, the world wouldn’t be a beautiful or happy place.” - Ella “Wildlife and Conservation[ is important because if there are animals that disappear, the whole ecosystem becomes out of balance.” - June ] Lynsey Grosfield Wed, 08 Mar 2023 23:16:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:18884 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18177/A-powerful-new-approach-to-nature-conservation-in-Canada.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=18177 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=18177&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18177/A-powerful-new-approach-to-nature-conservation-in-Canada.aspx by Lina Cordero, Conservation Communications Intern, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada Canada is a big place. There are tens of thousands of lakes in this country, including some of the largest in the world. It is home to forests with a combined area larger than India and has the world’s longest coastline at more than 200,000 kilometres, including along the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans. This much space means Canada is blessed with a huge abundance and richness of nature and human cultures. Canada’s landscapes can be divided into ecozones that are shaped by climatic and landform differences that lead to often quite different characteristics.  It is no wonder, then, that Canada is home to more than 80,000 species of plants and animals. The country’s varied landscapes are also the homelands of Indigenous Peoples, with many different languages, traditions, and a deep history of interacting with nature that has helped shape the landscapes and ecosystems we see today. The sheer size of Canada alone makes it very important to the planet’s biodiversity and climate regulation. For example, boreal forests and peatlands in Canada are among the world’s largest intact (roadless) ecosystems and are one of the world’s most important carbon storage areas. But while conserving Canadian nature is important to the entire world, it is very challenging to decide where action is most needed within the 10 million square kilometres of Canada’s lands and inland waters. A global partnership of scientists, governments, and conservation organizations has come up with a global standard for identifying the most critical places for the retention and safeguarding of nature. The Key Biodiversity Areas (KBA) standard helps us zero in on places that are of high importance to maintaining biodiversity and often at risk of disappearing. KBAs can vary in size from small patches of undeveloped land in some of our largest urban areas, which may represent the best remaining habitats for highly endangered species, including lichens or insects, to huge expanses of northern land that are vital for enormous bird aggregations and for species such as caribou and polar bears. They are a way of steering conservation attention to areas where impact will be greatest thanks to a scientifically rigorous assessment process. The KBA Canada Coalition, a collaboration involving many organizations and sectors, is proud to have developed one of the world’s first comprehensive national programs to identify KBAs. Canada is the first country in the world to adapt the global KBA standard to a national level to identify sites of both global and national significance, leading the way for many other countries. Here is just a glimpse of some of the 73 approved KBAs in Canada so far (with more than 900 other sites still being assessed), and some interesting facts about them. Read the rest of the story here. Lynsey Grosfield Mon, 03 Oct 2022 21:57:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:18177 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18072/WCS-Canada-comments-on-Canadas-Critical-Minerals-Strategy-to-Natural-Resources-Canada.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=18072 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=18072&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18072/WCS-Canada-comments-on-Canadas-Critical-Minerals-Strategy-to-Natural-Resources-Canada.aspx By Justina Ray, President and Senior Scientist at WCS Canada The federal government’s draft Critical Minerals Strategy is structured around colonial ‘new frontiers’ mindset that leads to a focus on expediting extraction instead of understanding the real consequences of opening up some of the world’s last remaining ecologically intact areas and carbon-rich stores to industrial development. Map from Canada’s critical minerals strategy: Discussion paper Our comments on the draft strategy point to the need for a more holistic approach to determining when and where mining for these minerals may be appropriate and how Canada can ensure greater long-term benefits for local communities – particularly the Indigenous communities whose homelands will be most affected -- and society at large. Perpetuating current approaches and proceeding with an “extraction first” mentality is going to have massive climate consequences as many of the most promising mineral deposits are located in areas that are also hugely rich in stored carbon.  If mineral development results in the release of far more stored carbon than it saves through the creation of things like EV batteries or solar panels, then we will be racing backwards on climate action instead of forward.  However, the federal strategy does not even address this massive climate risk and has little to say about how to also ensure globally important intact ecosystems are not deeply damaged by new resource projects. We believe the Strategy needs to be redrafted to better reflect the trade offs inherent in opening up globally important remote areas to mining.  Current planning and assessment systems are inadequate to deal with the cumulative ecological and climate consequences of a new mining rush in these areas.  We see little effort, for example, to address the critical need to protect the massive amount of carbon stored in many areas being targeted for mining or even to properly account for this impact.  Even a rough calculation shows that the end results of mining, particularly in peatlands, will result in increased land emissions in the name of advancing “green” solutions that could undermine the achievement of Canada’s emission reductions targets. There is certainly a need to advance things like electric vehicles, renewable energy generation and energy storage, but a truly sustainable approach (unlike what it is in the draft strategy), would adopt a clear hierarchy of reducing demand and massively increasing reuse (e.g., recovery of minerals from waste tailings) and recycling (e.g., of consumer electronics) before embarking on ecologically and climatically high-risk new mining ventures.  Canada has a long history of focus on the exploitation of critical natural resources in the name of economic development.  We should learn from our own history that the boom-and-bust cycle of poorly planned resource extraction is highly damaging to communities – human and natural.  A better strategy would be to recognize and integrate the broad spectrum of globally important resources that exist in Indigenous homelands within the northern reaches of Canada into resource extraction planning. These include, but are not limited to, massive stores of carbon, critical habitat for biodiversity, cultural keystone species, copious freshwater and world-class wetlands. Lynsey Grosfield Fri, 23 Sep 2022 05:08:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:18072 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18178/Learning-from-the-biggest-and-smallest-animals-in-the-river.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=18178 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=18178&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/18178/Learning-from-the-biggest-and-smallest-animals-in-the-river.aspx Most of our research is on the biggest animals in the river — the lake sturgeon — because they are important to Moose Cree, and because they can teach us a lot about the health of the river. Lake sturgeon are big, long-lived, and migratory, and so they need intact rivers to thrive. Seeing healthy populations of giant lake sturgeon tells us that the overall river is also healthy. However some of the smallest animals in the river can also tell us a lot about the health of the river. There are a lot of small bugs, and other little creatures like clams, that live in the rocks and silt at the bottom of the river. Some of these creatures can only survive in clean and unpolluted waters. However, other types of creatures are tough, and can live in almost any water. By counting the number and type of these bugs and other creatures — called “benthic invertebrates” by scientists — we can learn about how how healthy and clean the water is. We can also measure levels of contaminants in these small creatures, which can tell us even more about how much pollution is in the river. This past week, our research team travelled to the North French River, and to the nearby James Bay estuary, and collected many samples of these benthic invertebrates. Next step is to take them back to the lab, and see what they can tell us about the health of the river, and the overall ecosystem! Read the rest on the Learning from Lake Sturgeon website. Lynsey Grosfield Thu, 18 Aug 2022 23:56:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:18178 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17513/Ontario-wants-to-develop-the-RingOfFire-a-WCS-Canada-thread-for-WorldWaterDay.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=17513 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=17513&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17513/Ontario-wants-to-develop-the-RingOfFire-a-WCS-Canada-thread-for-WorldWaterDay.aspx Ontario wants to develop the #RingOfFire. What is WCS Canada's response? Read our Twitter thread posted on World Water Day 2022! Fri, 06 May 2022 14:27:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:17513 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17287/PEATLANDS-Massive--but-often-overlooked--wetlands.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=17287 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=17287&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17287/PEATLANDS-Massive--but-often-overlooked--wetlands.aspx For  World Wetland Day 2022, we created a three-part thread on why #Peatlands are hugely important for both wildlife & climate, and why they need our immediate attention. Mon, 28 Feb 2022 18:14:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:17287 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17279/A-Pandemic-of-Virtual-Conferences.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=17279 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=17279&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17279/A-Pandemic-of-Virtual-Conferences.aspx Keeping up with the WCS Canada Western Arctic Team! Niki Diogou gives a summary of the Western Arctic team's current research (presented at the 2021 ArticNet meeting) and shares her experience with virtual scientific conferences, the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Fri, 25 Feb 2022 16:26:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:17279 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17116/This-is-our-decision-decade.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=17116 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=17116&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/17116/This-is-our-decision-decade.aspx The next 10 years will be our decision decade for nature and our relationship with the planet. From peatlands to One Health to Key Biodiversity Areas, Dan Kraus, Director of National Conservation, is inspired by what WCS Canada does and is going to accomplish in 2022!  Fri, 14 Jan 2022 06:28:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:17116 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16932/One-Health-for-Watersheds-Wildlife-Well-being.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=16932 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16932&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16932/One-Health-for-Watersheds-Wildlife-Well-being.aspx In our modern world we’ve largely separated environmental health and human health. Unfortunately, in our efforts to separate the well-being of people and that of the natural world, we’ve created cracks in our ecosystems that both nature and people fall through. But there is growing recognition of the new One Health approach, which can help nature and people to thrive.  Wed, 24 Nov 2021 20:53:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16932 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16851/Bison-Day-QA-with-WCS-Canadas-new-Director-of-National-Conservation.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=16851 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16851&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16851/Bison-Day-QA-with-WCS-Canadas-new-Director-of-National-Conservation.aspx  Dan Kraus, WCS Canada’s new Director of National Conservation, gives us some FAQs about bison and their conservation, just in time for #NationalBisonDay. Fri, 05 Nov 2021 20:03:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16851 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16809/Its-a-boom-and-bust-world-for-snowy-owls.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=16809 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16809&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16809/Its-a-boom-and-bust-world-for-snowy-owls.aspx Intact and fully functioning ecosystems can be remarkably unstable and apparently inefficient, but snowy owls have evolved to cope with the ups and downs. Thu, 28 Oct 2021 13:30:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16809 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16771/WorldRiversDay--Working-with-Moose-Cree-youth.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=16771 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16771&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16771/WorldRiversDay--Working-with-Moose-Cree-youth.aspx WCS Canada scientist Claire Farrell gives an update on working with Moose Cree Youth on #WorldRiversDay. Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:18:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16771 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16757/The-places-we-protect-for-nature-must-be-connected.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=16757 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16757&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16757/The-places-we-protect-for-nature-must-be-connected.aspx The loss of wildlife connectivity is the result of fragmentation by a thousand cuts. Dan Kraus, our Director of National Conservation explains the need to restore connectivity and create a robust network of nature corridors in Canada. Sat, 09 Oct 2021 16:54:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16757 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16610/I-am-inamew-i.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=16610 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=16610&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/16610/I-am-inamew-i.aspx Special guest blogger namew, a.k.a. the living fossil/ the dinosaur fish, writes about her experience being born and raised in the North French river.  Thu, 26 Aug 2021 14:14:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:16610 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/15706/Bats-are-superheroes-of-the-night-Their-superpowers-could-help-us-protect-them.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=15706 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=15706&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/15706/Bats-are-superheroes-of-the-night-Their-superpowers-could-help-us-protect-them.aspx Bats' ability to echolocate is an incredible innovation. It's also one that can help us protect them. Mon, 28 Dec 2020 06:04:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:15706 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/14955/First-evidence-of-double-brooding-by-a-Yukon-bird-the-barn-swallow.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=14955 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=14955&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/14955/First-evidence-of-double-brooding-by-a-Yukon-bird-the-barn-swallow.aspx Don Reid and Maria Leung have been following the nesting success of barn swallows - a threatened species - at farms in Yukon each year. For the past two years, they've observed evidence that some birds are successfully raising two sets of fledglings in a single summer! This is the first well-documented evidence of double brooding by a migratory bird in Yukon. Mon, 21 Sep 2020 03:26:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:14955 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/14802/Taking-different-paths-How-WCS-Canada-scientists-have-adapted-to-the-challenges-of-COVID-19.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=14802 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=14802&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/14802/Taking-different-paths-How-WCS-Canada-scientists-have-adapted-to-the-challenges-of-COVID-19.aspx Usually, at this time of year, many of our scientists would be deep into their field seasons. But current circumstances have required both adopting some creative solutions and simply accepting that some field work is not going to happen this summer. We decided to check in with a few of our scientists to get a glimpse into their new normal and how they are adapting to current (and ever changing) conditions. Mon, 24 Aug 2020 05:31:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:14802 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/14061/Animals-take-to-the-streets.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=14061 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=14061&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/14061/Animals-take-to-the-streets.aspx The recent increase in wildlife sightings in our cities and waterways during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a ray of light, but is a far cry from wildlife recovery. These signs of resurgence will be temporary, unless we can take this opportunity to change our approach to the natural world. Tue, 21 Apr 2020 14:49:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:14061 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13966/Northern-Inspiration-Bringing-science-and-youth-together-in-the-Moose-Cree-Homeland.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=13966 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13966&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13966/Northern-Inspiration-Bringing-science-and-youth-together-in-the-Moose-Cree-Homeland.aspx By Claire FarrellYouth voices around the world are calling loudly for action on climate change and biodiversity loss, including voices from Indigenous youth such as Autumn Peltier and international voices like Greta Thunberg.  But this urgency really became tangible for me as I travelled north to Moose Factory on the edge of James Bay over winter roads that were quickly becoming impassable. Conditions on winter roads (ice roads) connecting far north communities are particularly poor this year -- slushy and impassable in some areas -- because of unseasonably warm temperatures. Winter roads, unlike all-season roads are temporary access roads made of ice and snow that are built over lakes, rivers or sometimes stretches of frozen wetlands. These roads are critical for connecting far north communities and many communities rely on winter roads to get the bulk of their supplies for their year delivered affordably. Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the representative organization for some of the First Nation communities in northern Ontario, reported in mid-February that only five communities had roads that were in good enough condition for freight hauling. As climate change continues to increase global temperatures, especially in northern regions, these already isolated communities will have less and less reliable use of winter roads. On this slushy winter road, I was on my way north to Moose Factory to attend the Moose Cree Career Fair and represent Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada in my role as a scientist studying lake sturgeon in rivers running through Moose Cree traditional territory. WCS Canada’s lake sturgeon research program is a collaboration with the Moose Cree First Nation (MCFN) Resource Protection Unit. Recently, our joint research project received funding to develop Indigenous youth programming as an integral part of the work we do in the Moose Cree Homeland. In Moose Factory, I joined our partner and research lead from MCFN, Jennifer Simard, to recruit youth for fieldwork and events for this coming year (some of these activities may now be delayed due to COVID-19).  Overnight low temperatures create better conditions for early morning crossings of the winter road connecting Moosonee and Moose Factory (left) compared to later in the afternoon (right) when slushy puddles begin to form. Credit: Claire Farrell, WCS CanadaWhen people ask me about what we do, I explain how we tag and study namayo (lake sturgeon) in the Moose Cree Homeland; how we are assessing the impacts of hydroelectric dams on these ancient fish; and how this will demonstrate the importance of the intact North French River in the Moose Cree Homeland as a globally unique area where sturgeon have seen few changes over the last couple of centuries, unlike the heavy human impacts that have happened or continue to happen in almost every other place lake sturgeon are found. A new part of our project includes a Moose Cree youth program, where we hope to give Moose Cree youth the opportunity to reconnect with different parts of their Homeland, learn about impacts on rivers, and about how researchers go about assessing lake sturgeon populations. We hope this will, in turn, inspire them to think about potential environmental careers and empower them to become leaders exploring solutions for the combined climate and biodiversity crises. Our research recognizes the sacred wisdom held by Indigenous people and hopes to find ways different knowledge systems can complement each other towards achieving effective actions to protect lands and waters. The Moose Cree Elders advisory group, which helped develop and inform this research project, identified youth involvement as a priority. In practice, this means engaging youth in learning about what is happening with the rivers that flow through their traditional territory as well as developing youth stewardship initiatives for these waterways. MCFN Elders value the passing on of teachings through actually being out on the land, learning from the land, and giving youth a chance to share their insights. In Moosonee and Moose Factory, we were hoping to sign up more youth to work with us on lake sturgeon fieldwork this coming spring and fall (pending a decision that is safe to proceed), and to attend Elder-Youth Gatherings made possible by Ontario Indigenous Youth Partnership Project funding and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk. While there, we also did some classroom presentations on the project to tell both youth and community members about what we were doing and what we were seeing. This type of face-to-face interaction is important as a way to explain what our goals are for the project and how youth can get involved. We also get to hear from the youth. This past fall, we had two Moose Cree youth join us for the first time to help with our fieldwork. I was lucky enough to be able to again experience the first joys of fieldwork through the eyes of Denika and Ocean, our two Moose Cree youth assistants. Who knew how much fun demonstrating waterproof paper or modelling chest-wader-fashion could be? Waders, lifejackets and mud: fieldwork fashion essentials. Moose Cree youth gain hands-on field experience while accompanying WCS Canada and MCFN Resource Protection Unit researchers in October 2019 maintaining underwater acoustic telemetry receivers in the Lower Mattagami river. (From left, Jacob Seguin (WCS Canada), Claire Farrell (lower, WCS Canada), Jennifer Simard (upper, MCFN Resource Protection Unit), Jonathan Rickard (MCFN Resource Protection Unit), Denika and Ocean (MCFN youth))As we travelled down the Lower Mattagami River, community members on our field crew stopped the boat and, using a depth-finder, showed the two youth the enormous drop-off in the riverbed below. They explained to the astonished pair that we were floating above an 80-foot waterfall that community members used to visit and fish at -- now underwater due to flooding caused by hydroelectric development on the river. Denika and Ocean told us that some of their classmates were astounded that they wanted to do fieldwork and spend two whole days in the field without cell service! However, Denika and Ocean are eager to continue learning and looking forward to gaining new experiences from our research project.  Now, we are working hard to get more youth involved, including in future Elder-Youth gatherings. And while it’s a good start to provide youth with opportunities to participate in gatherings, trips and hands-on learning, what we are really aiming for is to keep youth engaged in stewardship in a lasting and meaningful way. As I took my last taxi over the winter road back to Moosonee to catch the train, slowly manoeuvring   around large slushy puddles, the taxi driver stated that part of the road would soon be closed.  The urgency of preparing for climate change couldn’t have been clearer.   The vast expanses of intact forests and networks of rivers in the far north in Ontario are highly vulnerable to the cumulative impacts of climate change and industrial development. This makes it all the more urgent for youth to be involved and informed about environmental issues facing their homeland. Engaging youth in our research has been inspiring – for us as project leaders and for them as youth leaders – and I hope it becomes a much more widespread part of scientific research everywhere.Denika shows off a temperature logger: one of many we use to measure underwater river temperatures in lake sturgeon habitat in the Moose Cree Homeland.Author’s Note: This Muddy Boots blog post, and the activities and travel described in it, was written before the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario. Fieldwork activities, youth programming, and gatherings, now and in the coming months, are being delayed/cancelled/modified according to the recommendations and decisions of Indigenous, provincial and federal governments. Tue, 14 Apr 2020 18:09:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13966 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13862/The-remarkable-50-year-conservation-journey-of-Dr-John-Weaver.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=13862 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13862&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13862/The-remarkable-50-year-conservation-journey-of-Dr-John-Weaver.aspx John Weaver packed a formidable number of accomplishments into his adventures across the wild landscapes of western North America. Here, we celebrate his successes as he retires after a 50-year career in wildlife conservation! Thu, 27 Feb 2020 15:17:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13862 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13722/Unlikely-allies-work-together-to-save-wolverines.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=13722 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13722&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13722/Unlikely-allies-work-together-to-save-wolverines.aspx Wolverine at live trap in Rainbow Lake, Alberta. Credit: Matt Scrafford/WCS Canada By Matt Scrafford I was living in Rainbow Lake, Alberta and studying wolverine ecology for my PhD at the University of Alberta when I got a call from a local trapper. He told me that he had something to show me and that I needed to get out to his cabin quickly. I finished breakfast, gathered my gear and drove the snowmobile out to his trapper cabin, which was situated in a large open area where two old logging roads crossed. He was outside when I arrived, readying his gear for checking his traps that day. He smiled and motioned for me to look inside the shed next to his cabin. I walked up to the shed and peered in but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He said I should look a bit closer. I walked in further and heard a rustle behind an old barbecue. I then heard the deep guttural grumble of a wolverine. The local critters like the trapper’s cabin because there is always something stinky around – whether it be beaver carcasses, moose bones or lure. This wolverine followed his nose into the shed. We went into his cabin to discuss the situation over a cup of coffee – this is how we did some of our best thinking in the field. We could tag the wolverine for our research project, but we had no idea how long it had been in the shed and didn’t want to extend its confinement. So we instead finished our coffee and made a path for the wolverine to get out of the shed. We left the cabin to check his traps and by the time we got back the wolverine was gone. It’s not every day that you find a wolverine hanging around your shed. Wolverines are a naturally rare species that exists at densities of 4-8 individuals/1000 km2. Wolverines populations appear to be healthy in the core of their range in places like Rainbow Lake, Alberta. But as you move away from that core to the southern boreal forests and mountains, wolverines are struggling to persist in the face of ever expanding human activity. Wolverines have been put forward for listing in the contiguous U.S. under the Endangered Species Act. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, meanwhile, considers wolverines to be a Species of Special Concern because their naturally low densities are threatened by climate change, industrial development, and trapping. Wolverines in Ontario are listed as Threatened under the Ontario Species at Risk Act because of their low numbers in the province. Matt Scrafford (WCS Canada), local trapper Mark Sobchuk, and Josh Woods (WCS Canada) with a wolverine captured at Red Lake, Ontario. Credit: WCS Canada Trappers and wildlife biologists are not the most likely partners in wolverine conservation efforts. Trappers kill wildlife for their fur whereas wildlife biologists study them. Trappers value bush skills and physical work whereas wildlife biologists place value on reading, writing and analytical skills. However, it is my experience that trappers and wildlife biologists have much in common. Both share a passion for wildlife and the outdoors, both value wildlife diversity, and both are concerned about changes they are seeing in wildlife populations as a result of human activities. Trappers and wildlife biologists bring different skills to wolverine research. Trappers have fine-tuned local knowledge from years (often decades) of traveling around their trap line. They are considered by many to be the “eyes and ears of the bush”. Wildlife biologists often do not have this local knowledge, but they do have a broad understanding of wildlife ecology and ecosystem function across wider areas. Moreover, they know how to design studies to evaluate changes identified by trappers so that problems can be pinpointed and conservation solutions developed. Matt Scrafford (while a PhD student at the University of Alberta) and trapper Neil Kimmey discuss how to get to a new site to establish a wolverine bait station in the Birch Mountains of northcentral Alberta. Trappers and wolverines have a complicated relationship. Wolverines are scavengers that will often raid a trapper’s set and steal bait or the animal that was caught in the trap. Many trappers tell me tales of wolverines destroying long lines of marten boxes they put in trees because the wolverine is trying to get the scraps of beaver meat in the box. Despite this, trappers like having wolverines around and are invested in their conservation. Trappers value the attributes of wolverines - they are a self-reliant wilderness species that makes a living in a landscape that few others are able to survive in. Reminds you of trappers, eh? Trappers have helped my wolverine research efforts in four main ways: finding wolverines, moving around on the landscape, collecting data, and connecting with the local community. The rest of this blog will expand on these ideas. Finding wolverines I will often bring a set of maps to a meeting with the trapper. The maps provide a backdrop for the many stories that trappers have to tell – whether about getting a snowmobile stuck in the slush, shooting a bull moose, or seeing a caribou. I like when the trappers mark different trails and spots on the map. I then take notes so I can understand later what all the points mean. The trapper’s stories provide hours of entertainment, but the stories I like best are about wolverines.  Trappers will point to a map and tell you where they trapped a wolverine or where they consistently see fresh tracks. This information is generally confined to their trap line, but if you talk to enough trappers you acquire a good understanding of wolverine distribution across large areas. This is critical information to have when starting a research study. Wolverines are not always spread evenly across the landscape. Acquiring local knowledge on wolverine “hotspots” can make our research much more successful. Wolverine at a run pole in Rainbow Lake, Alberta. Credit Matt Scrafford/WCS Canada Trappers are also not biased by the published scientific literature that details where wolverines should be found, e.g. remote wilderness areas with very little human disturbance. When I started my Ph.D. work in Rainbow Lake, Alberta I wanted to understand how industrial activities influenced wolverine ecology. However, Rainbow Lake had such a high-density of roads, pipelines, well sites, seismic lines, and cutblocks that it made me wonder if I would ever detect a wolverine. Local trappers put my mind at ease though. They had seen wolverines, a wilderness species, running along roads and across well sites and cutblocks. They said I would be successful if I used the local road network to live trap, which would allow me to cover a large area quickly. I followed their advice and was able to track 44 wolverines (23 males and 21 females) with GPS collars during my Ph.D.   When I was researching wolverines in the Birch Mountains of Alberta, I stayed in a trapper cabin that was tiny and cluttered but cozy nonetheless. The trapper even boarded up all the windows to keep the heat in. The trapper and I spent countless hours during the evening pouring over maps to help me figure out how to establish the study area and where to find wolverines. I learned a substantial amount about wolverines and other boreal wildlife during these sessions, information I will carry with me for the rest of my career. Moving around on the landscape These same maps also can be a lifesaver for wildlife biologists. The boreal landscape is challenging to move through without local knowledge. There are no trail signs or mountain peaks that orient you. Lakes and streams are important travel corridors for researchers but they come with many hazards. Because trappers know these areas so well, I often rely on them to show me how to get around safely. Before me or my crew go to any new part of the study area, I first sit down with the local trapper and some maps. They will point to a lake and identify the outlets, inlets and narrows between islands that have current and thin ice. Often, they bring me out on the lakes to show me for themselves. A local trapper even put on an ice-safety course for the crew. These trappers do not ask for pay to do this -- they are excited to share their knowledge and care about the crew’s safety.  Wolverines have large ranges and need large areas of undisturbed habitat. One wolverine WCS researchers have been tracking in northern Ontario has ranged as far west as the Manitoba border. Credit: Matt Scrafford/WCS Canada Collecting data Trappers are not just providing wolverine researchers with knowledge – they also are active participants. WCS Canada is currently live trapping and tracking wolverines in Red Lake, Ontario. We are investigating wolverine ecology in a landscape with extensive forestry and that is at the southern and eastern extent of wolverine range in North America. The information we collect can be used to manage human activities in this already challenging habitat for wolverines. Although wolverines can’t be trapped here due to ESA protections, local trappers are still heavily invested in our research. There are four trappers that are maintaining their own wolverine live traps on their trap lines. This involves visiting live traps every few days to check that the trap is working and letting non-target species out of the traps, such as pesky martens. This saves us a considerable amount of time and money and allows our research to cover areas we might not be able to access alone. Field work in the Birch Mountains of Alberta. Credit: Matt Scrafford/WCS Canada   Community involvement  Trappers often have a reputation as curmudgeons but I have not found that to be the case. Trappers are generally very easy to talk to and have a lot of information they want to relay. Moreover, I have found that trappers are very active in their communities and many sit on the boards of local organizations. Over time, some trappers I have worked with end up being ambassadors for the research projects within the local community. Disinformation is a powerful thing in small communities, and trappers can be vital in helping get the community on-board for research projects.    How do we pay them back? For all that trappers do for wolverine research projects, what do we do for them? There are small things like inviting trappers to live traps when we capture a wolverine or providing trappers with maps of where the wolverines are moving on their trap lines. We have recently started sending interested trappers Google Earth files with wolverine GPS locations. We also send trappers project reports and make an effort to present project updates at local trapper dinners and other events. Wolverine at run pole in Red Lake, Ontario. Credit: Matt Scrafford/WCS Canada But above all, trappers want us to provide data that can be used for informed management of wolverines and other wildlife on their trap lines. They understand that our results might not always support what they want or see, but they would rather decisions be based on evidence and data than on nothing at all. WCS Canada abides by the same belief.  Trappers and wolverine research go together like coffee and cabins. Trappers enjoy our company in the bush and we enjoy theirs. We both share a passion for the outdoors and wildlife and we need to use that common ground to help wolverines in the face of significant changes to their habitats. Wolverine tracks in Red Lake, Ontario. Credit: Matt Scrafford/WCS Canada Mon, 20 Jan 2020 09:45:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13722 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13696/Working-in-the-wild-world-of-biodiversity-conservation.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=13696 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13696&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13696/Working-in-the-wild-world-of-biodiversity-conservation.aspx Jaime Grimm, WCS Canada's 2019-2020 Conservation Intern reflects on her experience working on various elements of wildlife conservation. Thu, 09 Jan 2020 14:55:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13696 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13555/Canadas-invisible-biodiversity-crisis.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=13555 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13555&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13555/Canadas-invisible-biodiversity-crisis.aspx Far from being a vast untouched wild landscape, Canada’s northern expanses are being relentlessly exploited for resources. Add the effects of climate change to the impact of human activities and you have what could be called a “threat cocktail” – a wicked combination of impacts that often reinforce and amplify each other. If we act now, future generations may still have a chance to experience “wild Canada” firsthand. Mon, 02 Dec 2019 15:40:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13555 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13213/High-tech-and-elbow-grease-a-winning-combination-for-wildlife.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=13213 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=13213&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/13213/High-tech-and-elbow-grease-a-winning-combination-for-wildlife.aspx By Jacob Seguin Lake sturgeon used to be so plentiful in the Great Lakes that steamboats crossing the waters would burn their dried carcasses in their boilers to supplement their coal supplies. Then, because of caviar’s sudden popularity, lake sturgeon were fished out of much of the Great Lakes watersheds in a matter of decades –  less than the lifespan of an individual fish. When the fish you are catching only spawns once every four to six years, and even then only maybe 1% of their eggs survive, and those 1% take 20-25 years to reach breeding age themselves, the population is bound to plummet when harvesting pressures grow. While we now better understand these long survival odds, we still have a lot to learn about this ancient fish. Fast forward to today. Now we have the benefit of not just hindsight, but new technology to help us better understand the behaviour and threats to sturgeon survival.  Today, we’re deploying advanced fish tracking technology in the watersheds of Hudson’s Bay, which represent sturgeon’s last stronghold of intact habitat in Ontario.  Fortunately for the fish, Ontario’s far north is one of the few places left in North America where their passage upriver is rarely blocked by dams or other human-made obstructions, with five major intact watersheds supporting lake sturgeon in the region. Here sturgeon travel hundreds of kilometers upstream to spawn, meaning it is not easy to follow their movements. Since 2016, WCS Canada has been participating in a joint lake sturgeon research project with Moose Cree First Nation: tracking sturgeon health, habitat use, and behaviour in the Moose River basin. This includes the Lower Mattagami River, with its four hydroelectric dams, and the North French River, which flows unimpeded as it has for centuries. We catch sturgeon in nets and make a small incisions to insert smooth transmitters the size of an AA battery into the fish’s body cavity. We then suture the cuts closed and release the fish (Figure 1). These implants transmit data remotely to receivers rather than storing it, which means there’s no need to re-capture the sturgeon to gather the information we need. The transmitter can remain in the sturgeon without harming them, so we don’t need to bother them again! Figure 1: A lake sturgeon being given an acoustic transmitter, a type of biologger that will teach us how this fish uses its habitat over time, and in relation to disturbances like hydroelectric facilities. Photo credit: Alex Litvinov This June, I was lucky enough to join the WSC Canada and Moose Cree First Nation team in time to tag nine lake sturgeon in a section of river between two hydroelectric generating stations on the Lower Mattagami River. We deployed receivers, anchored to the river bottom with heavy pieces of granite. These receivers will listen for the messages that each implanted fish is sending. Whenever a sturgeon swims by, the recorder captures the sturgeon’s identity and the time and date, so we know what fish was where and when. Twice a year we visit all our receivers to change their batteries, check their seals and download the stored data. With this work done, we now have fish teaching us about how they use different types of river habitat: segments of river in between dams, above dams, below dams, and in intact (dam-free) rivers. This means we can make a full set of comparisons of how fish are moving and behaving in these different river segments and understand how dams may alter sturgeon behaviour (Figure 2). Figure 2:  This sturgeon is going off to teach us about its species and their needs without even knowing it.  Photo credit: Jennifer Simard. This kind of remote monitoring technology allows us to measure characteristics that we simply had no way of measuring before – everything from fish swimming in a river to songbirds flying across North America. These small devices that animals carry, including our sturgeon transmitters, are known as biologgers, and they allow us to learn more from wildlife with smaller devices that are less intrusive or bulky for wildlife to carry. But it takes skill and care to make sure we employ these pieces of technology without harming the animals that we are learning from. Prior to my work with WCS, I had a chance to deploy similar technology in the southeast Yukon. This project focused on lynx, and was developed by Ally Menzies at McGill University and partially funded by WCS Canada through its W. Garfield Weston Foundation Fellowship program. Ally was investigating how lynx use their body’s energy and how they may cope with changing conditions such as those driven by climate change. For example, changing snow conditions could alter how much energy it takes for lynx to move and hunt, ultimately influencing how profitable (in terms of energy gained) hunting is for them. We placed implanted biologgers in lynx to record their heart rate and body temperature and better understand their metabolism and energy expenditure as they move through the landscape. However, in this case, we had to recapture the lynx four weeks after deploying the biologgers to get the information back (Figure 3). This could sometimes prove difficult, as was the case with Tony the Tiger, a male lynx who was particularly difficult to recapture (Figure 4). We were finally able to catch Tony, along with his data, but only after we concocted a special lure that my family used for trapping. Figure 3: Tony the Tiger receiving a heart rate and body temperature logger to teach us how northern mammals regulate their energy use as the conditions around them change. Lots of brown disinfectant, a tiny incision, and a little white capsule. Such a similar procedure as with our sturgeon, but such different data to answer a unique conservation question. Photo credit: Ally MenziesFigure 4: Tony the Tiger (the lynx) goes free after being caught a second time to remove his implanted body temperature monitor. He doesn't even know it, but he's taught us more about his species and his ecosystem than we could have ever come up with on our own. Photo credit: Ally Menzies Another high-tech research method is becoming increasingly popular in fieldwork: remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs.  The most well known of these are aerial drones that are now being used for everything from aerial mapping to counting animals. But ROVs can be used in underwater research as well. We were fortunate this fall to be a part of DeepTrekker’s Ambassador Program, through which the company let us borrow one of their ROVs. Not only was it an incredible experience to learn to pilot this type of novel technology, but it gave us a small glimpse into the future of scientific research, where, for example, robot-esque technologies help us find and maintain the lake sturgeon receivers at the bottom of a hydroelectric dam reservoir (Figure 5). Figure 5: Moose Cree First Nation youth and WCS Canada piloting a submersible ROV in the reservoir of the largest of four hydroelectric dams on the Mattagami River. We were also fortunate to be able to share this technology with Moose Cree youth during our fieldwork, and with a science class at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School, as a part of our lake sturgeon research project’s youth program. As researchers, we can now use everything from underwater sound recorders left under the ice in the Arctic for an entire year, to light sensing backpacks on birds to better understand wildlife behaviour, population trends and health.  Whether it is crawling into bat caves to deploy temperature and humidity loggers, netting tiny songbirds deep in thick boreal forest to solve a migration riddle or wading into cold, fast flowing northern rivers to retrieve receivers loaded with data on the underwater movements of sturgeon, it’s a brave new world of high-tech solutions, but it still requires plenty of legwork. As a field technician with WCS Canada I get to use my outdoor skills to navigate around some very remote places and deploy cutting-edge technology. The real reward, however, is seeing a sharper picture of what wildlife need to survive emerge thanks to our hard work in the field. Check out our project website at learningfromlakesturgeon and the WCS freshwater story-map at The Water We Share to see what we are learning. Mon, 21 Oct 2019 14:53:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:13213 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12364/Ontario-turns-Endangered-Species-Act-into-an-empty-shell.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12364 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12364&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12364/Ontario-turns-Endangered-Species-Act-into-an-empty-shell.aspx By Justina Ray A UN scientific report detailing the growing global biodiversity crisis says that the Earth could lose one million species over the decades ahead. It confirms that we are in the midst of the sixth great wave of extinctions to have swept the Earth, but this time, the wave is the result of human activities and will require a major change in direction from human societies to save species.The Ontario Government chose this inauspicious moment to introduce major revisions that fundamentally weaken the province’s Endangered Species Act (ESA). They have done this through a sweeping set of changes buried in an omnibus bill about housing (Bill 108). This is not good news for species in Ontario. At 1 million km2, Ontario is bigger than many countries, which makes the health of biodiversity in Ontario critically important for the health of the planet. And some of the most intact wild areas left on earth can be found within Ontario’s borders, remaining strongholds for species at risk of extinction elsewhere. There is a lot at stake here.The ESA is meant to help the animals, plants, insects, fish and other wildlife that are on the decline despite all of the legal frameworks found in the province’s resource development policies, land-use planning rules and environmental assessment processes that are meant to “balance” economic interests and environmental protections. As such, the ESA is really the last resort for helping species that can’t be sustained under other planning regimes, often due to ongoing habitat loss. And, unfortunately, the list of such species continues to grow.One key reason Ontario’s act was initially considered an example of “best practice” when passed in 2007 was its scientific impartiality – the decision whether to list a species was meant to be based strictly on a scientific assessment by COSSARO (Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario), not political or economic imperatives. Species listed under the ESA received automatic habitat protection, because action to help species was often long overdue by the time a listing decision was finally made.  Under the 20 pages of ESA amendments in the process of being quickly passed by the Ontario government, this kind of clarity and requirement for action will be gone. Two of the biggest changes will be an added requirement to assess whether a species is faring better in places outside of Ontario, and enhanced powers for the Minister to question scientific assessments.  The first change will particularly affect species in the Carolinian band along the north shore of Lake Erie and around the western tip of Lake Ontario – one of our most biodiversity-rich but heavily developed landscapes, where there are also significant concentrations of species at risk. And it could also apply to species that are in poor condition compared to in the rest of their range because they face greater threats in Ontario, like American eel, which is threatened in eastern Canada, but in serious decline in Ontario, primarily due to hydro-electric developments and habitat deterioration. By spending time revisiting numerous assessments to examine species status outside Ontario, protection for these species within Ontario could be critically delayed to the point where recovery is no longer an option.  Developers, meanwhile, are being given even more options for ensuring developments proceed.In fact, finding ways to make all the protections provided by the Act optional – from listing to recovery planning – seems to be at the heart of the government’s changes. The collective set of amendments provide a series of “off ramps” if protecting a species is going to interfere in any way with land development, resource harvesting, or other economic interests. Almost gone is the need to demonstrate “overall benefit” as a condition for permitting harmful activities – a hallmark of the original Act. The rationale for this has been that if an activity is going to harm a species or its habitat, then the only way it can justifiably proceed is if the proponent agrees to take some protective action that will provide a “net gain” to the species. Most changes in Bill 108 have gone in the other direction, creating a lower bar for industry and developers to clear in order to go ahead with harmful activities – or at least claim to have cleared, given the lack of any resources dedicated to monitoring of outcomes. This, in spite of the mountain of evidence demonstrating that species recovery cannot be achieved by making each individual project less harmful.  Making things “less bad” leads to bad outcomes overall.Added is the ability of the Minister to “temporarily suspend” (or “delay”) protections or prohibitions on activities that harm species for as long as three years after a species is listed for a whole suite of reasons, few of them to do with the urgency of a species’ situation. Gone are any requirements to consult with independent experts on permitting conditions, which is an effective and trust-promoting way of resolving contentious situations. Habitat regulations that provide species-specific habitat protection in certain areas remain in the legislation, but any requirement or timeline for producing these regulations has been removed, making these provisions a largely empty gesture.  Now, on top of the considerable delays that a species may face before receiving mandated protection, there is a new option for a proponent is to pay into a new “Species at Risk Conservation Fund.”  However, any recovery actions enabled by this fund will have little to do with -- and may in fact be completely disconnected from -- the immediate impacts proponents are paying to inflict.Despite government rhetoric about cutting red tape, the new bill has introduced quite a bit of complexity that may promote more of the dreaded tape, not less, with new instruments like “landscape agreements” and a brand new agency to distribute the proceeds from the new conservation fund. The Ministry will have procedures to design, a set of regulations to devise, and a very different implementation regime to construct. In the media, the government has insisted that these changes “ensure” “best-in-class” protections to endangered and threatened species (note, not to species of special concern, which already receive almost no protection, despite the fact that about 50% of such species are known to eventually become threatened or endangered). They point to “enhance[d] government oversight and enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the act” and “improve[d] transparent notification of new species’ listings” as evidence for this. But there are no meaningful additions to the already extensive enforcement section of the existing act and one is left wondering, what will be left to enforce? And what good is enforcement without an accompanying investment in monitoring and protection?  In its initial discussion paper leading up to these changes, the Ministry of the Environment articulated a need to move away from a “case-by-case and species-specific policy approach” to more “strategic” “landscape approach that enables planning and authorizing activities at a broad scale”. Although this sparked optimistic visions of ecosystem-based protection and broad-scale management of multiple proponents and activities affecting multiple species, what was actually put forward was just a new “landscape agreement” provision that will authorize “a person” to engage in activities that would harm species/habitats in a specific geography.  It is telling that these amendments were stuck in the middle of a bill aimed at accelerating urban development.  Despite the government’s rhetoric about remaining committed to protecting species at risk, the actual language of the amendments is almost universally designed to weaken our endangered species regime.  That may be good for land developers in the short term, but as the UN report has made clear, it will lead to great harm in the long term.Scientists join WCS Canada in calling for greater - not less -- protection for endangered species  Fri, 10 May 2019 18:39:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12364 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12388/Whats-that-sound-What-underwater-listening-can-teach-us-about-the-Arctic.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12388 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12388&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12388/Whats-that-sound-What-underwater-listening-can-teach-us-about-the-Arctic.aspx Large whales can communicate over hundreds of kilometers, something unheard of for a land mammal.  Think of being able to send a signal using only your voice to someone on the other side of your city or even town – impossible.  But underwater communication is different: Sound travels more than four times faster underwater than it does in air, which means sound also travels much farther underwater than it does above the surface.   Tue, 04 Jul 2017 14:32:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12388 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12442/Up-Close-and-Personal-Polar-Bear-Research-in-Hudson-Bay.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12442 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12442&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12442/Up-Close-and-Personal-Polar-Bear-Research-in-Hudson-Bay.aspx A bear had been spotted in the distance and we needed to leave the area to avoid disturbing her. As you can imagine, this announcement had anything but the desired effect on the group of eager young ecologists who defiantly clambered for their binoculars to catch a glimpse of this emblematic Canadian species. The bear kept her distance, remaining not much more than a speck on the horizon to the naked eye. Still, I was captivated not only by my own reaction to being in her presence, but the excitement and awe she generated in my fellow students, my professors, and even our seasoned bear guards. Tue, 07 Apr 2015 19:42:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12442 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12443/Frozen-Toes-Wet-Sock-and-Icy-Boots--Studying-Bats-in-the-Canadian-Winter.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12443 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12443&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12443/Frozen-Toes-Wet-Sock-and-Icy-Boots--Studying-Bats-in-the-Canadian-Winter.aspx As the pouring rain changed almost instantly to snowfall, I wrung out my mitts and watched the water dent the snow.  I was soaked to the bone but had to keep moving to stay warm.  The bats didn't seem to mind the hideous weather. Thu, 26 Feb 2015 19:45:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12443 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12391/Unexpected-Gifts-What-the-Christmas-Bird-Count-taught-me-about-Science-Conservation-and-Community.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12391 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12391&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12391/Unexpected-Gifts-What-the-Christmas-Bird-Count-taught-me-about-Science-Conservation-and-Community.aspx ~ Contributed by Hilary Cooke, Associate Conservation Scientist, Whitehorse, YukonCanada 1973 Christmas Dove StampI stayed in my northern home of Whitehorse, Yukon this past holiday season. It was the first of 41 years that I hadn't spent Christmas with family and, with no plans aside from Christmas dinner, I was feeling conflicted about spending it alone. I was, however, participating in the Christmas Bird Count and what I didn’t realize was the sense of community I would experience, and the impact the day would have on my perspective of the importance of citizen science for bird conservation in Canada.Citizen science engages members of the public in the collection and/or interpretation of data. The power of citizen science comes from harnessing the collective effort of volunteers recording and sharing their observations of species, places, and events. As a field scientist, one of my biggest challenges is having the time and resources to cover a large geographic area and to collect long-term data. Both are highly valuable for answering questions about wildlife and ecosystems, and consequently for our ability to make informed decisions about wildlife management and conservation. Citizen science projects can reach across boundaries and decades, and the implications for science and conservation are tremendous.In North America, two citizen science initiatives are critical for understanding the distribution, abundance, and long-term trends of bird populations: Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). The CBC is the longest-running citizen science survey in the world. Started in the United States in 1900, it takes place annually between December 14th and January 5th. In 2013, 1,863 counts were conducted in the United States, 438 in Canada, and 107 in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Pacific Islands. In that year a record 71,659 observers participated, including 13,636 in Canada. Even more amazing are the count tallies: 66,243,371 individual birds were counted of 2,403 species! In Canada, just over three million individual birds were counted across 291 species. The North American BBS was initiated in 1966 by the United States Geological Service to collect long-term data on bird populations. Today, 500 40-km roadside routes are surveyed by 300 observers in Canada; 2,300 routes are surveyed across the United States. Long-term population trends are available for over 420 bird species.Survey locations for the North American Breeding Bird Survey (left) and Christmas Bird Count (right). Credit:North American Bird Conservation Initiative, U.S. Committee. 2014. The State of the Birds 2014 Report. U.S. Department of Interior, Washington, D.C. 16 pages (http://www.stateofthebirds.org/approach).Anyone that studies bird populations relies on this citizen science. CBC and BBS data have collectively been used in over 650 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Both are also used by government agencies to determine the health of bird populations. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) relies almost entirely on this information to determine whether a species should be recommended for listing as Endangered, Threatened, or of Special Concern. For example, the Rusty Blackbird, a species that breeds in boreal wetlands across Canada and Alaska, was assessed as a Species of Special Concern. BBS and CBC data suggest a decline of 85% of the total population since the mid-1960s. Knowing the conservation needs of species like the Rusty Blackbird guides my work on birds breeding in boreal wetlands in the Yukon. Rusty Blackbirds breed in boreal wetlands across Canada.Population trends for the Rusty Blackbird based on the North AmericanChristmas Bird Count (circles) and Breeding Bird Survey (diamonds)for 1966-2003(Source:COSEWIC Assessment and Update Status Report for the Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus) in Canada).Building networks of citizen scientists and gathering large amounts of citizen science data is increasingly easy, inexpensive, and accessible. A hallmark of citizen science projects today is that the data are free and can be explored by anyone using online mapping and graphing tools, which adds tremendous value for participants. For example, the eBird project compiles observations of thousands of birders globally, and provides a range of tools for exploring species maps, birding hotspots, migration arrival and departure dates, personal checklists, and even a real-time map of observers uploading bird sightings!Thousands of citizen science observations on eBird track Tree Swallows throughout their migratory cycle across North America: Dec-Feb (far left); Mar-Apr (middle left); May-July (middle); Aug-Sept (middle right); Oct-Nov (far right). Downloaded from eBird by H. Cooke, 11 January 2015.My first contribution to the global database of citizen science was the CBC on December 26th, 2014 – Boxing Day. My count area was my Whitehorse neighbourhood – a small treed suburban area adjacent to a forested green space. Luckily the day was not too cold, with a low temperature of -10C, but I still bundled up knowing I’d be outside for several hours. I started at my feeder where four Common Redpolls were feeding on nyjer seeds and several Black-capped Chickadees were chattering to each other. I wandered down my street recording three Common Ravens and two Black-billed Magpies in the first block. After 2.5 hours and 4 km on foot, my final count was 7 species: Common Raven (5-15 individuals), Gray Jay (4 individuals), Black-billed Magpie (6), Black-capped Chickadee (6), Boreal Chickadee (1), Pine Grosbeak (4), and Common Redpoll (37). Not a high count of species or individuals, or any unusual sightings, but with very little effort and quite a lot of enjoyment, I had just added a data point to a 114-year-long database!Black-capped Chickadee (top) and Pine Grosbeak (bottom) puffed up on a winter day.After my lovely day counting birds at Christmas, I was curious whether other WCS scientists volunteer their time for non-WCS citizen science projects. An informal survey of a handful of colleagues working in North American programs identified 18 projects that eight people volunteer for annually. They participate because they know the value of citizen science to conservation and public outreach, particularly when it’s part of a widespread and long-term project. Most WCS scientists volunteer for bird surveys. However, they also volunteer to monitor odonates (dragonflies and damselflies), hemlock woolly adelgid (an introduced insect past that attacks hemlock), feral cats, and road kill! This eclectic list is just a glimpse into the diversity of citizen science projects across Canada and the United States. Today you can volunteer to collect information on everything from plant leaf-out (PlantWatch and National Phenology Network) to ice freeze up (IceWatch), from worms (WormWatch) to watersheds (Watershed Watch), and from bears and bobcats (eMammal) to bumblebees (Bumble Bee Watch), butterflies (eButterfly) and backyard birds (Great Backyard Bird Count)!I also asked my WCS colleagues whether they have used citizen science in their work. For over 10 years, the WCS Adirondacks program has conducted the AdirondackLoon Census, an annual survey of Common Loons on 200 lakes by 500 volunteers. WCS Canada Arctic Scientist Steve Insley works with others to coordinate a community-based monitoring program, BeringWatch, which engages local citizens to record and track wildlife sightings and environmental events in the Bering Sea. In interior British Columbia, WCS Canada Conservation Scientist Cori Lausen is engaging the public to monitor bats in a project called Upside Down and Underground. Finally, WCS Conservation Scientist Sarah Reed works with local recreationists to use a smartphone app to track trail use and its impacts on reptiles and mammals in conservation reserves in San Diego county, California.To my recollection, in the 17 years I have conducted field research on birds I have not contributed to a citizen science project. I certainly knew about them but for several reasons I had not gotten involved. In part the reason is because the BBS survey period overlaps with my field season and the CBC overlaps with holiday and family commitments. But I may have failed to contribute because I focused too much on the "science" part of citizen science, thinking that I don’t need to participate because I already contribute through my own research. Or, perhaps, I focused too much on the "citizen" part, with the misguided notion that these initiatives are for amateur biologists, not professional scientists.My first Christmas Bird Count, Whitehorse, Yukon, December 26th, 2014.Participating for the first time was a revelation. I learned that contributing to citizen science is an obligation I have as a scientist AND a citizen. As a trained ornithologist and conservation scientist, it is my obligation to contribute my expertise and time to the long-term data sets that are so critical for bird conservation. I learned that it can be incredibly inspiring to be part of the longest-running citizen science project in the world. I learned that participating in an international citizen science initiative gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction. I learned about the collective power of globally-connected individuals. And, importantly this past holiday season, I learned that participating in the CBC brought me into the community of dedicated birders that are making a significant contribution as both scientists and citizens.After my first personal experience with citizen science and doing background research for this blog, I revisited the question, why do people contribute their observations to citizen science? For people that enjoy watching wildlife and observing the natural world, why not just enjoy the observations personally? My conclusion is that it’s about belief in the power to make a difference – a feeling rare these days in the face of so many seemingly insurmountable environmental threats. It’s about believing in the power of information, knowledge, and science to make a difference. It’s about joining a community of citizens who care about the natural world, want to make a difference, and believe that collectively our observations and the science that emerges from them can affect our world positively. It’s about all of these things while doing something you love.The post-Christmas Bird Count social in Whitehorse on December 26th, 2014.The day of the Whitehorse Christmas Bird Count ended with a social gathering at the home of one of the participants. Nearly 20 people gathered to compile the species list, share stories of the day, and drink mulled wine and cider. Before the evening was over I was recruited to return to the forest near my house to search for the resident Boreal Owl since no owls had been counted yet that day. When I went out again it was 10 pm and the weather had turned, with dropping temperatures and blowing snow but I suited up again and armed myself with a headlamp and a baggie of Christmas cookies. After a quick drive around the block from my house, I parked and started along a snowy trail into the forest. The snow that had been blowing across my line of sight while driving was falling more gently in front of my face after it passed through the forest canopy. I walked a few hundred metres into the forest and picked a spot to stand and listen under the snow-covered branches of a mature white spruce tree. The snow and winter night was a blanket of quiet. There were no owls calling, and no other birds moving. I was alone in the dark winter forest, but I still felt the warmth of connection to the birds and community of citizen scientists I had shared the day with. I may have spent this holiday season without family and close friends, but I did not spend it alone.Interested in joining the citizen science movement? Start this weekend (February 13-16, 2015) with the Great Backyard Bird Count! Count the number and kinds of birds you see in any location for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. For more information and to register online, go to gbbc.birdcount.org. Thu, 12 Feb 2015 14:48:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12391 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12441/Happy-New-Year-from-WCS-Canada.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12441 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12441&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12441/Happy-New-Year-from-WCS-Canada.aspx Dr. Sue Lieberman, Chair, WCS Canada, reflects on our conservation programs from the past year and looks forward for an exciting year of biodiversity conservation to come. Mon, 05 Jan 2015 19:35:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12441 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12440/Reindeer--an-Enduring-Holiday-Icon--Face-Increasing-Threats.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12440 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12440&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12440/Reindeer--an-Enduring-Holiday-Icon--Face-Increasing-Threats.aspx Reindeer are an enduring and beloved Christmas icon. Although Dasher and Dancer only slightly resemble their wild cousins, caribou are strong and graceful. Letting our imagination run wild, we might be forgiven for thinking that reindeer – or caribou as they’re called in North America –seem to “fly” as they run across frozen lakes. Tue, 16 Dec 2014 19:33:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12440 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12439/Field-Journal.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12439 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12439&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12439/Field-Journal.aspx I was always a curious child, interested in new places and new adventures. I didn't travel much as a child but instead went outside and explored ─ in the nearby pond, under logs, up a tree.  The natural world didn't scare me; in fact, unexpected observations and encounters were the most exciting parts of exploring. The more I looked around, the more questions I had: why does moss grow only on the north side of those trees, what do those tiny frogs eat, who makes that high-pitched repetitive call late in the night, what is that goo on the underside of that leaf…My inquisitive tendencies and interest in the natural world didn't change as I grew older. I found happiness and fulfillment in biological field research because it forced complete immersion and required rapid learning about species and ecological interactions. The dedication of researchers I work with is motivating but my primary source of inspiration continues to come from exploring the unknown. I still treasure unanticipated events and surprise encounters, and make an effort to create adventure every day ─ an easy task where I live in southern Yukon.For our field research with WCS Canada, I conduct breeding bird surveys in the boreal forest.  In the mountainous terrain of southern Yukon, old stands of white spruce are found in narrow bands along streams, lakes and wetlands. These riparian forests provide important habitat for many wildlife species such as birds, wood frogs, beaver, river otters and moose.  Although the population of Yukon is small, valley-bottom habitats are threatened by human development because they are easily accessible and highly valued for agriculture, forestry, and residential development. The goal of our research is to provide information about habitat needs of bird species found within these valleys, with the purpose of guiding best management practices. It seems shocking but, for many of the animal species found here, even basic information about their distribution and habitat-associations is incomplete.  As the field co-ordinator and crew leader, I am responsible for developing safety plans, considering logistical challenges and anticipating problems that could arise during field data collection.  Yet, even after years of doing this work, I don’t know exactly what to expect on a given day. I can’t anticipate how many branches will hit me in the face, if I am going to spring a leak in my rubber boots, or what animal I might encounter. Until I’ve visited them, I don’t know if the study sites identified as wetlands will actually be wetlands. I never know exactly when it will start to rain.  Remaining still for 10 minutes is sometimes VERY aggravating!Here is a sample of this year’s unexpected events:June 4th: June is the season for bird surveys. Although we work alone for most of the season, today my colleague and I are working together to get a feel for the work and practice the point count survey methods. Half way through a silent 10-minute survey, and without warning, we hear a loud grunt from nearby. It comes from behind a curtain of thick willows so we can’t tell which animal is upset with us (moose? bear?) or even how close it is. We don’t need to find out. Point count cancelled. Field technician Matt Timpf being dive-bombed by defensive Mew Gulls.June 13th. I am out for an evening stroll enjoying the sounds, smells and long, low light of summer. Although I am exhausted from waking up early (2:30 AM every morning!), sleeping in tents is difficult during the 24 hours of daylight in Yukon’s summer. Mid-June is the peak of a short breeding season and everything is lush and alive (read: noisy). As I walk along the shore, Mew Gulls, Arctic Terns and two Caspian Terns (casual in Yukon ─ what are they doing here?) scream, swirl and dive at me, collectively defending their bulky, conspicuous nests so obvious at the high water line. Later, a female Killdeer does an elaborate broken wing display to lead me away from her simple scrape nest. Even from directly above, her four beautiful, perfectly-formed eggs are hard to distinguish from the surrounding gravel. I drift to sleep wondering at these two very different nest strategies, and at the ingenuity and diversity of life.I could hear Mew Gull chicks peeping from inside these eggs!June 19th. At one of our study sites, we have regularly heard a Swamp Sparrow, an uncommon bird in Yukon. We are excited to document this “eastern” boreal species because this may be the furthest west breeding record for Swamp Sparrow, but our observation leads to more questions. This is the first time we have been here so we don’t know if this species has always been present, if this single individual is here only this year or if, perhaps, the range of Swamp Sparrow is shifting over time. This type of observation highlights the importance of our bird research in Yukon, where so few datasets on birds are available. Without standardized survey like this, population trends or range shifts are difficult, if not impossible, to deduce.Killdeer nest in the gravel parking lot near our campsite.July 25th. We are finishing dinner inside our mosquito-netted camp tent. We look up to see a creature sitting on the road approximately 40m away, watching us casually. A dog would be strange because we are in a remote area, far from any houses or towns. A coyote perhaps? No, it is a lynx! We are reaching a peak in the snowshoe hare cycle and regularly see lynx scat and tracks as we work, but this visual encounter is thrilling. The lynx notices our attention, slowly and very deliberately rises then slips off into the shadows and out of sight.  September 15 and 16th: We are collecting vegetation data at the sites previously visited for bird surveys. The leaves are changing color, the nights are now cold, and birds are flocking in preparation for migration. My co-worker notices with confusion that the needle on his compass is pointing south when it should be facing north (!) so we assume a device failure and replace the compass. The following day, however, when a second compass malfunctions, we investigate further. My co-worker was attaching his compass too close to the small magnet on his hydration pack and it demagnetized the compass needle. Apparently, even small magnets can affect the functionality of a compass, and quickly! Reverse polarity can happen when a compass is exposed to articles with high iron content, even for a short while, so it is important not to store (or carry) compasses near other metallic items, such as scissors, knives, microwaves and fridges, or even other compasses. Lesson learned.The compass on the left is pointing ~180°in the wrong direction!Even after these years, and despite all its challenges, field research keeps me on my toes. Most of the time, I enjoy it; sometimes I am ambivalent; and occasionally I do question my career choice (so many mosquitoes!). But regardless, my mind is kept active by constantly assessing the options and conditions and finding the best way forward. Being outside will always lead to unexpected events and will continue to bring me personal fulfillment because it is here, in the natural world, that I feel most alive physically and mentally.  No matter how much I have learned, field observations lead to more questions ─ about animal behaviors, habitat-associations, ecological interactions, etc. The challenge now, as I mature in my career, is learning to focus my enthusiasm and refine these general observations into appropriate research questions that will, ultimately, conserve the species and wild places that I value so much. Mon, 01 Dec 2014 19:31:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12439 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12438/A-picture-paints-a-thousand-words-but-a-map-paints-a-million.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12438 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12438&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12438/A-picture-paints-a-thousand-words-but-a-map-paints-a-million.aspx Today is International GIS Day!  A day to celebrate geography and geographic information systems (GIS) around the world by show casing real-world GIS applications to students and the general public. You can find more details on events occurring around the world (displayed, fittingly, on a map). Wed, 19 Nov 2014 19:29:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12438 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12437/Lessons-learned-in-not-being-such-a-scientist.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12437 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12437&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12437/Lessons-learned-in-not-being-such-a-scientist.aspx Some months ago, in a meeting with First Nations leaders, I was asked what the difference between a reindeer and caribou was. Pleased at this invitation to share my knowledge, I naturally launched into a concise speech about their genetics being the same even though behaviourally they were quite different.  When I was politely told it was because reindeer could fly, I knew I'd been caught talking like a scientist in public again.   Thu, 30 Oct 2014 19:27:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12437 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12436/Is-Ontarios-Live-Bait-Industry-Worth-the-Risk-to-our-Lakes-and-Rivers.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12436 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12436&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12436/Is-Ontarios-Live-Bait-Industry-Worth-the-Risk-to-our-Lakes-and-Rivers.aspx About a year ago, I read something on a fisheries blog that piqued my curiosity: Ontario anglers were being fined on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River for fishing with live bait. I was surprised to learn that it wasn't just Quebec that placed restrictions on the use of live bait – most provinces and all territories prohibit or restrict its use. Ontario and Nova Scotia are the exceptions. Thu, 09 Oct 2014 19:23:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12436 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12390/Sachs-Harbour-Diary-August-2014.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12390 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12390&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12390/Sachs-Harbour-Diary-August-2014.aspx ~ Contributed by Steve Insley, Sachs Harbour, NWTIt’s mid-August and I’m flying in to Sachs Harbour in the ISR (the Inuvialuit Settlement Region), a small hamlet in the western Canadian arctic. As the twin-engine turbo-prop’s drone finally changes pitch with our descent, I’m jumping from window to window scanning the ocean for any sign of my buoy. What I’m really after is the several-thousand dollar instrument attached to it. Not a thing. Two weeks earlier I had heard that it was no longer visible from shore. There had been a serious summer storm and afterwards no sign of it. Had the float sank? Line broken? Anchor dragged? Anything was possible. That it occurred shortly following the storm was definitely suspect.Storms during the ice-free season are becoming more of an issue up here. As average sea temperatures rise, the summer sea-ice deteriorates, and the amount of open water, what mariners call “fetch”, gets larger. The larger the fetch, the more space there is for waves to build in size. The larger the waves, the faster sea-ice (and shorelines) erode, in turn creating greater fetch and larger waves. This is part of the larger complex picture of how a changing climate is affecting the arctic. Warming temperatures set into motion a number of cascading affects that positively feed back upon each other. Where it’s going is anyone’s guess but there are many people, including myself, working on aspects of that question. At stake are all the species of iconic wildlife that call the arctic home and the long-term food security of those dependent on that wildlife.Map showing Sachs Harbour on Banks Island in the ISR. Maybe I should back up a little and explain why I’m here in the first place and what I’m trying to do.I’m a behavioural ecologist, and worked most of the past two decades on problems involving marine animal behaviour and sound. As part of an arctic conservation program for WCS Canada I am focusing on how ice loss affects animals through habitat change and increased human (anthropogenic) activity. One of the big concerns is that shipping, set to dramatically increase in the arctic as sea ice retreats, will result in serious direct and indirect impacts on marine mammals, including ship strikes, pollution, and noise. In response, I have been developing a program with locals to acoustically monitor marine mammal and shipping activity in the eastern Beaufort Sea. By monitoring the underwater acoustic environment I can get a clearer “picture” of what the local whales and seals (particularly bowhead and beluga whales and ringed and bearded seals) are doing, predict how human activities such as seismic exploration and shipping may cause problems, and develop ways to minimize or altogether avoid such impacts.               As soon as the ice moved offshore from Banks Island in early July, I was here in Sachs Harbour working with local hunters, anchoring an acoustic datalogger with hopes of retrieving it in 4-6 weeks. Autonomous dataloggers are now widespread in many scientific fields and nowhere more so than in animal ecology. Using dataloggers that record underwater sound, a set of techniques referred to as passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), can be an effective means of monitoring marine mammals and ships over long time periods. Sachs Harbour is a key area to monitor because of its position at the entrance/exit to the Canadian Arctic archipelago and the North-West Passage where shipping activity is expected to rise. This is why I now find myself in Sachs Harbour searching for a lost buoy.Mooring an expensive piece of hardware tethered on a line from the ocean floor to the surface is not ideal. It doesn’t allow you to deploy very deeply, limiting your locations, and if anything happens to the mooring – the anchor, line or buoy – it is very likely you will have lost everything. Losing an acoustic datalogger is a big loss for two reasons. First, they’re really expensive. Second, you need to retrieve the unit to get any data. That’s right, 4-6 weeks or more of data gone. All the effort and money spend for naught, not to mention the time spent away from my kids. Now you can begin to imagine how I felt when I heard that my first mooring in this region was no longer visible. Was there an alternative? Yes, of course, there are always alternatives. You could hardwire your recorder to shore, or transmit to shore via a radio link. There are problems with these techniques too though. Perhaps the best alternative is to anchor it to the bottom and then release it automatically with a remotely detonated acoustic release – like a TV remote. When it works properly your datalogger is released from the anchor upon command, the datalogger floats to the surface, you retrieve it, and, as they say: “Bob’s your uncle”. Although these systems are far more reliable than was the case not long ago and are good future candidates, they are not currently in the budget and so not part of this year’s trial season. Consequently, there is a great deal riding on retrieving my datalogger. Hopefully you can now understand my anxiety and hopping from window-to-window as we approached Sachs Harbour with a good aerial view of where my mooring was last seen.Preparing to deploy the acoustic datalogger in July. (Photo: Steve Insley)Within an hour of landing I was on the water with Wayne Gully skippering his 18-foot aluminium open-haul runabout, the craft of choice in the north, powered by a 50 HP four-stroke outboard. Wayne, a big guy with a constant smile, was the local hunter who I was directed to by the HTC (Hunters and Trappers Committee). Like many locals, he was very good at a lot of things. That is the way of the north. It was Wayne who had been keeping an eye on my buoy and who had called to tell me of its disappearance.Wayne’s 18 ft. runabout with the Hamlet of Sachs Harbour in the background. (Photo: Steve Insley)As we set out the weather was perfect: glassy calm. We had both taken independent GPS waypoints of the datalogger when it was deployed so we immediately went to that location. Wayne had already independently searched and dragged the area twice with no luck but the weather had not been as good as it was today. As soon as we reached the coordinates of the drop-point, we began a systematic survey looking for anything just below the surface. I had used floating rope with a generous amount of length or “scope”, so if the line was cut or had broken near the buoy there could be line floating at the surface. No such luck, so we began the painstaking task of trying to snag the sunken gear by dragging hooks along the bottom. We had two drags. Wayne was using a large cod jig. I had a grapple hook fabricated out of rebar that I had brought with me. Methodically we dragged the area in systematic patterns, slowly moving back and forth in concentric circles, then a grid pattern, and finally a star pattern, all centred on the coordinates of the drop point.After an hour of dragging over and around the drop spot and hooking nothing, I was disappointed but certainly not ready to give up. If it was here, I felt we should have snagged it by now but I could also understand it being easy to miss. After two hours of dragging I was beginning to believe it wasn’t where it had been dropped. If it was, certainly we would have at least hooked the rope by now. The GPS tracks of our drag pattern had completely covered the search area at this point. But if the storm had bounced the anchor along the bottom, it could be anywhere and the chance of snagging it in 25-30 metres of water vanishingly remote. Where to even begin dragging if it wasn’t where we’d dropped it? It was tedious work and getting late in the evening.As we continued, it appeared more and more likely that it wasn’t here. If the line had broken near the anchor, the buoy along with the datalogger would have drifted away. The storm had been an onshore wind so there was a chance that the gear had washed up on the shore of Banks Island somewhere. At least that possibility allowed some prospect of finding it compared to if an offshore wind had taking it out into the open Beaufort. The question at the moment then became: at what point to abandon the drag search at the last known location and begin a new search along the shoreline? The GPS drag tracks suggested any time would be good. Despite being late in the evening there was still plenty of light and most importantly, still no wind. We kept going and extended the reach of our search effort to cover an ever-greater area. But after dragging and pulling up nothing for the third hour it was definitely looking as though it were time to change strategies.Suddenly, both Wayne and I got a tug on our lines. At first it seemed likely that we had snagged each other’s lines - it would not have been the first time. But my line continued to get heavier the more I brought it up. Then, when my hook was about 3-4 metres from the surface we both saw the rope on it. I had the anchor line! In a second I had a hold of it. The anchor seemed to take forever to haul up. (I had set a fairly heavy anchor – another reason to believe it would not have moved.) At last I saw yellow – the datalogger – and let out a whoop! In a minute it was in the boat and my eyes wide with disbelief. Then we began pulling in the other end of the anchor line – the end with the buoy on it. It was heavy suggesting that at least some of hardware was still there if not the whole float. In a minute we were pulling a water- filled (rather than air-filled) float over the rail and into the boat.One very happy camper having successfully retrieved the datalogger. (Photo: Steve Insley)So the float had failed, but how? As soon as it was suspended out of the water, we had our likely answer. Two large puncture marks on the side, about 10-15 cm apart, spewed out water. Wayne’s immediate response: “it’s been bitten by a polar bear”. There had been three bears close to town over the past three weeks and two had been seen swimming in the vicinity of my mooring. Sabotaged by a polar bear - that’s a first for me. I had prepared for quite a few things but that wasn’t one of them.Evidence! (Photo: Steve Insley)So it’s time for a mooring redesign obviously – something less appealing as a polar bear chew toy. But first and most importantly, time to download the acoustic data and then begin the long, but exciting task of analysis. All said, it has been quite a day.Sounds:Bowhead whale: http://www.dosits.org/audio/marinemammals/baleenwhales/bowheadwhale/Beluga whale: http://www.dosits.org/audio/marinemammals/toothedwhales/belugawhale/Bearded seal: http://www.dosits.org/audio/marinemammals/pinnipeds/beardedseal/CFID=2174433&CFTOKEN=44917550Ringed seal: http://www.dosits.org/audio/marinemammals/pinnipeds/ringedseal/Ship noise: http://www.dosits.org/audio/anthropogenicsounds/ship/Seismic exploration (airgun) noise: http://www.dosits.org/audio/anthropogenicsounds/airgun/  Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:38:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12390 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12435/How-does-a-scientific-society-stay-relevant-in-Canadian-conservation.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12435 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12435&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12435/How-does-a-scientific-society-stay-relevant-in-Canadian-conservation.aspx No mud, no boots. Yet just like a field expedition, I’m primed for discovery, and I know my eyes will be opened by what I observe. But this time I’m approaching the conference as I would a trip to my study sites – with a research question in mind. Or rather, a series of related questions I’ve never thought to ask, but questions I think need asking.  Wed, 20 Aug 2014 19:19:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12435 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12434/Getting-it-Right-in-the-Ring-of-Fire.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12434 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12434&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12434/Getting-it-Right-in-the-Ring-of-Fire.aspx How does Ontario "get it right" in the Ring of Fire?  How does Ontario hope to meet its responsibilities for the environment and to First Nations?  How does it plan to balance the initial high costs of development, particularly at remote mine sites, with the boom and bust economies anticipated and the long-term protection of the natural environment in this remote region? Thu, 19 Jun 2014 19:15:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12434 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12433/Finding-F8.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12433 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12433&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12433/Finding-F8.aspx We were fully aware of our intrusion into the still winter forest as we traipsed along with the loud clatter of our snowshoes. Branches breaking and grouse flushing, she would surely hear us coming, but we needed to keep pushing ahead to find F8 and her den before sunset. It was already 6:00 pm when we came to a forest clearing. The sun was beginning to fade from us behind the dense spruce forests, the resulting shadows an unwelcome change from the pleasant March sun. I raised the telemetry antenna above my head. The sound that came from the receiver caused my heart to race. The signal was coming in loud and clear, F8 was no more than 500 metres away. Fri, 23 May 2014 19:07:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12433 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12432/Morning-Reflections-on-the-Pelly-River-Floodplain.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12432 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12432&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12432/Morning-Reflections-on-the-Pelly-River-Floodplain.aspx The Pelly River follows the Tintina Trench northwest on its path to join the Yukon River. Extending from the Liard River basin in southeast Yukon through Dawson City in the west, the fault line started forming ~190 million years ago. Moving tectonic plates forced fragments of the Earth’s oceanic crust beneath the western margin of the continental shelf, and then 450 km northwest. Today the Trench ranges in width from 2 to 12 km. It is an important migratory flyway for ducks, geese, raptors, shorebirds, and songbirds. In spring, an estimated ¼ million Sandhill Cranes pass through the Trench on their way to breeding sites farther north. Approximately two thirds of the Yukon’s 219 regularly occurring bird species use the Trench for breeding or during migration. Mon, 17 Mar 2014 19:02:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12432 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12431/New-twists-and-turns-the-ongoing-dance-for-protection-of-the-Peel-Watershed.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12431 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12431&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12431/New-twists-and-turns-the-ongoing-dance-for-protection-of-the-Peel-Watershed.aspx The campaign for conservation of the Peel watershed in northern Yukon has recently shifted from the courts of public and political opinion to the courts of law. Across Canada, and especially in Yukon, the justice system is increasingly being asked to rule on controversies over environmental concerns and aboriginal rights and title. The fight for the future of this large and magnificently wild boreal landscape is now in the hands of the lawyers and judges.     Wed, 05 Mar 2014 18:58:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12431 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12430/Introducing-Our-Muddy-Boots.aspx#Comments 0 https://programs.wcs.org/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=20118&ModuleID=41427&ArticleID=12430 https://programs.wcs.org:443/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=12430&PortalID=96&TabID=20118 https://programs.wcs.org/canadanew/Muddy-Boots/ID/12430/Introducing-Our-Muddy-Boots.aspx We thought it was time we invited people into the world that drives our science and our passion. The world of long days flying over vast snowy landscapes, of waking at dawn in a tent by a river, and of bushwhacking through dense forests. The world of rain and snow and mud and heat, of black flies and mosquitoes, of black bears and moose, of leaky boats and tangled nets, of inspiration and awe and excitement. The world of Muddy Boots. Mon, 10 Feb 2014 18:52:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:12430