Conserving Borderline Species: A Partnership between the United States and Canada

Acrobat PDF Version

---

U.S.-Canada Framework for Cooperation

In April 1997, the U.S. and Canadian governments signed a Framework to cooperate in identifying and recovering shared species at risk. The official title is the "Framework for Cooperation between the U.S. 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 shared by the United States and Canada from becoming extinct as a consequence of human activity, through the conservation of wildlife populations and the ecosystems on which they depend (see Framework).

Contents

• Introduction
• Mammals
  • Black-footed Ferret
  • Swift Fox
  • Woodland Caribou
  • Grizzly Bear
• Birds
  • Whooping Crane
  • Piping Plover
  • Marbled Murrelet
• Reptile
  • Lake Erie Water Snake
• Insect
  • Karner Blue Butterfly
• Plant
  • Western Prairie Fringed Orchid
• Table of Shared Species
• What You Can Do
• For More Information
• Framework for Cooperation between the U.S. Department of the Interior and Environment Canada in the Protection and Recovery of Wild Species at Risk

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service/2001
ISBN: 0-662-85509-4

---

Introduction

Wild species know no borders. Many inhabit ecological regions that stretch across political boundaries. Canada and the United States share several ecological regions ­ forests, mountain ranges, the coastal plains, the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, and the Arctic tundra. A great number of wild species, from western prairie fringed orchids to grizzly bears, occur in both countries, or migrate between them. Some of these species are also on the border of extinction and require urgent assistance. To get them this help, the two countries have signed a Framework to protect shared species at risk (see Framework).

The U.S. lists those species determined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to be threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In the United States, 33 animal and plant species on this list also occur in Canada (see table).¹

The Canadian list includes those species determined to be nationally at risk 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. In Canada, 125 animal and plant species on this list are also found in the United States (see table).¹

Joint U.S.-Canada conservation efforts are already underway. The 10 examples profiled on the following pages illustrate ways that 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 example, 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. On the Great Plains of Manitoba, Minnesota, and North Dakota, experts are exchanging methods of securing voluntary management agreements with landowners in areas inhabited by the western prairie fringed orchid. In the Great Lakes area, scientists are conducting public consultations they hope will help recover the Lake Erie water snake. On the Atlantic coast, biologists coordinate a periodic exchange of experts to help enhance piping plover habitat.

Biologists are also reintroducing wild species to former habitats. Since the late 1960s, experts in the United States and Canada have bred whooping cranes in captivity and have reintroduced them to the wild, preventing the species' extinction. In the early 1980s, the United States started sending swift foxes to Canada to help re-establish a wild population in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In the late 1980s, Canada sent woodland caribou to the United States to augment a remnant herd in the Selkirk Mountains of Idaho and Washington. Canada also sent grizzly bears to Montana to augment the population in the Cabinet Mountains. In Ontario's Carolinian forest region, wildlife biologists are researching ways to reintroduce the Karner blue butterfly into the wild using breeding stock from Ohio. Canadian scientists are also breeding black-footed ferrets in captivity for reintroduction into western U.S. States.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service are responsible for implementing the Framework. Representatives from both agencies meet periodically to plan strategies for protecting shared species. Biologists have compiled lists of species of mutual concern to determine which ones are a priority for cooperative efforts. Hopefully, this agreement will strengthen recovery efforts for our borderline species.

¹ Since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Service have varying jurisdictions, the Framework does not currently consider issues involving marine mammals, fish, or sea turtles.