Field Projects: Other Species

Recovery of Wood Bison (map)

Wood Bison are presently classified as "threatened" by Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, (CWS), in cooperation with provincial and territorial governments and other interested parties, is working to establish a least four discrete, free-ranging, disease-free, and viable populations of 400 or more Wood Bison in suitable habitat within their original range in Canada. Presently, the total population is estimated at nearly 4000, including 3000 in six free-ranging, disease-free herds. CWS is a member of the Wood Bison Recovery Team which is now in the process of implementing the completed, approved, and published Recovery Strategy (October 2001).

Duration: Ongoing

Partners: Parks Canada Agency (PC), Governments of NWT, Alberta, Manitoba, Yukon, and British Columbia; Alaska Department of Fish and Game, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia; First Nation governments

Contact: Hal Reynolds

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Ecology of Whooping Cranes (map)

Annual surveys are undertaken to determine the extent of breeding areas in Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP), numbers of nests, eggs and young, and the location of non-breeding birds. A joint project between CWS, WBNP and the University of Alberta is investigating food availability and chick survival on the breeding grounds.

Duration: Ongoing

Partners: USFWS, PC, University of Alberta

Contact: Brian Johns

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Northern Species at Risk - Habitat Stewardship Program (map)

As part of the Government of Canada's commitment to Species at risk recovery and conservation, the Habitat Stewardship Program was initiated nationally in 1999, and in northern Canada in 2001. The Habitat Stewardship Program provides financial support to private citizens and non-federal agencies to undertake projects designed to identify, describe, and conserve the habitat of COSEWIC listed species, and to promote management actions that will conserve species at risk. In northern Canada, the Habitat Stewardship Program has supported habitat stewardship projects on Bowhead Whales, Woodland Caribou, Peary Caribou and Wood Bison.

Duration: Ongoing

Partners: Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT), Government of Nunavut (GNU), northern wildlife management Boards, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), PCA, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (INAC)

Contact: Paul Latour

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