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November 2011

Welcome to On the Wild Side, WCS Canada’s e-newsletter. Through this newsletter we keep our colleagues and supporters informed about the great wildlife conservation work being done by WCS across Canada.

WCS in the Field | WCS Captures Results | Talking Science

Help save the real reindeer!

This holiday season, Earth Rangers has launched a Bring Back the Wild™ ‘Save the Real Reindeer’ campaign. Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization focused on working with children to protect endangered species and their habitats. Children from all across Canada are invited to help protect the Woodland Caribou living in the Boreal Forests of Northern Ontario. Half of all funds raised will be donated directly to WCS Canada’s research and survey efforts aimed at evaluating how caribou populations are faring and identifying important areas for caribou in the Ring of Fire, an area that is the focus of numerous — and growing — mining development plans. The other half of the funds will be used to support Earth Rangers education initiatives. Learn more about Earth Rangers and start your very own Bring Back the Wild: Save the Real Reindeer Campaign.

WCS tackles White Nose Syndrome

Cori Lausen and bat Cori Lausen (PhD) is joining WCS Canada to research winter bat ecology in anticipation of the spread of White Nose Syndrome into western Canada. White Nose Syndrome, which is now associated with the death of over a million bats, has been depleting populations since 2006. The syndrome has spread across eastern Canada and U.S. The disease name comes from the distinctive fungal growth found on the bats. The disease is still a bit of a mystery, but it causes bats to wake up frequently during hibernation, which means the animals use up their fat reserves too quickly. Cori’s work is focusing on B.C. and Bat with white nose syndrome Alberta where many vulnerable — but so far unaffected — bats reside. Surprisingly, little is known about what bats naturally do in winter and only in disease-free locations can winter bat ecology be properly studied. It is also unknown if and how White Nose Syndrome will affect western bat species. Bats in the West regularly make cold winter flights outside of caves and do not seem to roost in large groups like they do in the East. British Columbia has the largest bat species diversity of any province, with several species of conversation concern federally; thus focus will be on locating hibernacula and understanding overwintering behaviours of bats in B.C.

Above: bat with white nose caused by fungal infection

Scientists raise concerns about wave of development in B.C.

WCS Canada's Don Reid was one of 36 scientists who signed an open letter to B.C. Premier Christy Clarke calling for a closer look at development plans in the province's north. They point out that with proposals for everything from mines, transmission lines, hydro power developments and roads piling up, there is a critical need to look at cumulative impacts rather than simply sitting back and allowing haphazard development to damage critical wild watersheds. Reid told a Yukon newspaper that the territory faces similar challenges, and needs to act now to maintain its wild heritage.

Scientific habitat identification critical for caribou

Proper identification of caribou habitat is key to species survival A report on a scientific approach to Critical Habitat identification for boreal caribou in Canada was released in late August by Environment Canada. As a scientific advisor for this exercise, WCS Canada Executive Director Dr. Justina Ray helped develop the scientific basis for identifying what habitat will be required for adequate protection of boreal caribou populations, many of which are in decline in Canada. Dr. Ray and other scientists are working to ensure that guidance from this effort is appropriately applied to caribou conservation actions in Ontario and across Canada, including the recently released federal Boreal Recovery Strategy.

Assessing impacts in Ontario's Ring of Fire

Ontario’s Ring of Fire is on the cusp of major mining development. Yet current planning processes for the region are largely isolated and piecemeal, broken up between government ministries and lacking any true regional focus. WCS Canada’s Cheryl Chetkiewicz is therefore looking at the urgent issue of how to better integrate attention to cumulative impacts and larger spatial and temporal scales into the environmental assessment processes that are now getting underway. Through a series of briefings being developed with Ecojustice Canada, WCS Canada is promoting Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), a process that creates an expanded vision and context for policy, best practices, and programs that can inform the effects of multiple developments and the value of different conservation approaches.