WCS Canada uses a unique combination of field science, conservation planning, and policy outreach to make the case for how to protect wildlife and wild places across Canada. Whether it is measuring the growing impact of noise on whales and other marine mammals in the Arctic, racing to help bats survive a deadly disease in Western Canada, or highlighting the importance of the intact area in northern Ontario for everything from cold-water fish and caribou to people, our research is designed to develop scientifically-grounded solutions for conservation problems.

In fact, WCS Canada research has laid the groundwork for a massive expansion of Nahanni National Park, protection of Yukon’s intact Peel Watershed, creation of the Castle Wildlands Park in Alberta and for recovery plans for endangered species such as caribou.  We are using our scientific insights to urge governments to meet commitments to expand protected areas and to better protect species at risk by addressing the many different impacts that can combine to push species to the brink.

Our work to reform Environmental Assessment legislation and to implement Key Biodiversity Areas in Canada are examples of the national work we do to improve environmental conditions for wildlife and people. We are also tracking the many impacts of climate change and developing recommendations for how we can help species adapt and survive in the face of rapidly changing conditions, such as by ensuring that large intact forest areas are conserved.

We focus on a suite of wild species that can represent the need for broader ecosystem protection.  Protecting caribou and wolverines, for example, requires protecting large wild areas that sustain many other species.  Protecting freshwater fish means ensuring that aquatic systems are not fragmented by dams or polluted by resource development.

Similarly, we focus on some of Canada’s largest and wildest places – including the Ontario northern boreal, the boreal mountains of northern BC and Yukon, and the Arctic Ocean as globally important opportunities to implement proactive approaches to conservation.  These large -- and largely intact -- wild places offer us a globally unique opportunity to implement conservation solutions that ensure the long-term integrity of ecosystems and healthy wildlife populations.

Follow our blog to hear first hand from our scientists about their work to protect wildlife across Canada and subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about how we are saving wildlife and wild places.

Read more about our work to help wildlife and wild places: conservation reports, peer-reviewed articles, and programs: