(September 14, 2015) Live bait fishing uses live animals such as small fish, frogs, and leeches to attract larger game fish, and is popular with recreational anglers because it is an effective way to catch fish. Most anglers in Ontario use live bait, and the industry is valued at $20 million. Despite these benefits, the live bait industry also has downsides. In 2013, 60 million baitfish and leeches were harvested from wild ecosystems in Ontario. The removal of such a substantial portion of biomass can alter food web...

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(July 23, 2015) Nestled just south of Glacier National Park in Montana, where the Great Plains first meets the dramatic uplift of the Rocky Mountains, is the Badger-Two Medicine (B2M) area. Encircled by the majestic Glacier National Park, the foothills and prairies of Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and the rugged Bob Marshall and Great Bear Wilderness Areas, the B2M occupies a strategic position in the international landscape known as the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. The B2M is part of the traditional ...

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(July 09, 2015) Even though Ontario's mining sector has been in a downturn for the past two years, mining is still big business. Ontario’s mining sector directly employs 26,000 people and supports 41,000 more jobs within the mining service and supply industries. The sector made $11B in 2014 and invested $1.3B back into the province.   Mining has recently moved into Ontario's Far North. This remote region contains globally significant ecosystems and is home to many species at risk, including caribou, ...

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(December 09, 2014) In response to a landmark decision made by the Yukon Supreme Court regarding the Peel Watershed planning process, WCS Canada‘s Dr. Donald Reid stated: “Wildlife Conservation Society Canada is very encouraged by the Yukon Supreme Court’s ruling of December 2nd,  which found that the way the Yukon government unilaterally intervened in the Peel land-use planning process was ‘not consistent with the honour and integrity of the Crown.’ The Court upheld the pivotal ...

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(November 11, 2014) This Halloween, WCS Scientist Cori Lausen explains the impact of the devastating White Nose Syndrome on bats in North America. White Nose Syndrome has not yet spread to Western Canada and Dr. Lausen is studying those populations to try to mitigate the spread of the disease.  Dr. Lausen explains the urgency, as we race against the spread of the disease into Western Canada: "We know surprisingly little about what our bats do in the winter. Part of the urgency right now is to figure ou...

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(July 25, 2014) Dr. Cori Lausen and a bat team have headed to the the Flathead River valley in southeastern British Columbia for a four-day BioBlitz in attempt to find out more information about bats.“It’s really the only place left in southern British Columbia that has not been inventoried for bats,” said Lausen, a research biologist and bat specialist with the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.Related stories:Bat research blitz planned for southeast B.C. river valley, by Collette Der...

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(July 16, 2014) (Originally posted on ClimateWire on Wednesday, July 2, 2014)Henry Gass, E&E reporterMelting snow is an annual spring annoyance across Canada, but last year on an Indian reservation in northern Ontario, it triggered a state of emergency.Rapidly melting snow in the Attawapiskat First Nation shut down schools, backed up sewage in people's homes and triggered the evacuation of a hospital. Less than three months later, a mine near the impoverished reservation unearthed the biggest diamond ever p...

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(June 23, 2014) A new report, "Conservation Legacy on a Flagship Forest: Wildlife and Wild Lands on the Flathead National Forest, Montana" by WCS Senior Scientist Dr. John Weaver, calls for completing the legacy of Wilderness lands on the Flathead National Forest in Montana. The report identifies important, secure habitats and landscape connections for five species—bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, grizzly bears, wolverines, and mountain goats. These iconic species are vulnerable to loss of secure ha...

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(June 19, 2014) WCS Canada and Ecojustice just released a new report on Regional Strategic Environmental Assessment (R-SEA) -a tool that would help the newly elected Ontario government plan for big development and conservation decisions in Ontario's Far North. The region harbours globally-significant ecosystems (including the largest intact boreal forest left on the planet) and numerous First Nations communities, as well as potentially enormous mineral deposits. The government's current development project appr...

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(June 04, 2014) WCS Canada has a new round of W. Garfield Weston Fellows! These are graduate students that are advancing conservation in Canada through pursuing research questions that provide important information for conserving our wildlife and wild places. This fellowship program is generously supported by the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.  Check out our new fellows and their projects here.

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