Swift Fox, Endangered.
Photo: Lu Carbyn
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Many wild species live in areas that stretch across political boundaries. Canada and the United States share several ecological regions like forests, mountain ranges, the coastal plains, the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, and the Arctic tundra. A great number of wild species, from the Western Prairie Fringed Orchid to the Woodland Caribou, occur in both countries, or migrate between them. Some of these species are endangered and require urgent assistance. In order to help these species, the two countries have signed a Framework to protect shared species at risk.
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In 1997, the Canadian and U.S. governments signed the Framework for Cooperation between the United States Department of the Interior and Environment Canada in the Protection and Recovery of Wild Species at Risk. The goal of the framework is to prevent populations of wild species that live in both the United States and Canada from becoming extinct as a consequence of human activity. It focuses on conservation of wildlife populations and the ecosystems on which they depend.
In the United States, 33 animal and plant species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act also occur in Canada. In Canada, 125 animal and plant species determined to be at risk nationally also occur in the United States. The Canadian list is established by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), an independent scientific body with representatives from federal, provincial, territorial, and private agencies as well as independent experts.
Joint Conservation Efforts Already Underway
Binational efforts can improve a species' chance of survival and recovery. American and Canadian biologists share research, coordinate habitat protection, assist one another with on-the-ground species protection activities, and conduct joint reintroduction efforts.
For instance, on the Pacific coast, experts from British Columbia, California, Oregon, and Washington are developing a survey protocol to locate the habitat of the secretive Marbled Murrelet.
In the Great Lakes area, scientists are conducting public consultations they hope will help in the recovery of the Lake Erie water snake. And, on the Atlantic coast, there's an exchange program for biologists working to improve the Piping Plover's habitat.
The Conserving Borderline Species Web site profiles joint conservation efforts for ten species at risk.
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What You Can Do
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There are many ways the public are helping to protect wildlife:
- respect endangered
species laws;
- keep the habitat of
a species at risk intact;
- protect natural areas
from invasive species;
- report sightings of
migratory species, like
whooping cranes, to
area wildlife agencies;
- observe the behaviour
of species at risk and
let biologists know what
you've learned;
- cooperate with
scientists in research
and recovery activities.
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Fast Facts
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Major threats to Marbled Murrelets on the Pacific coast from Alaska to California are oil spills, commercial fishery nets and the destruction of habitat due to timber operations.
Wildlife biologists are looking for ways to reintroduce the Karner Blue Butterfly into Southern Ontario's Carolinian forest region using breeding stock from Ohio.
In the 1980s, the United States sent swift foxes to Canada to help re-establish a wild population in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Since the late 1960s, experts in the United States and Canada have bred whooping cranes in captivity and reintroduced them to the wild, preventing the species' extinction.
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Related Sites
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Conserving Borderline Species
Species at Risk
COSEWIC
Wild Species 2000
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Related EnviroZine Article
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Piping Plovers Were Counted too This Year
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