The future looks bleak for Canada's species at risk. This report takes a strong look at the courses of the current biodiversity decline and of the many inadequacies of the federal Species at Risk Act. But the report also looks at glimmers of hope - species that have been on the brink of extinction but where their decline was reversed through a concerted action between governments and the public.

Canada's Endangered Species at Risk!

Wilderness Committee Educational Report Vol.23-No.02 - Spring 2004

Ray of Hope

Monarch Butterfly

Monarch Butterfly Photo credit: Robert McCraw

We live in a time in history when our actions, or inaction, will have profound effect upon future generations. Will we leave our children a planet where Siberian tigers still wander the forests of Russia’s far-east, where grey whales swim the deep blue waters of the Pacific ocean and where grizzlies still roam the Great Bear Rainforest of western British Columbia? Or, will we leave our children a world that is biologically impoverished, where monarch butterflies no longer complete their extraordinary migration, where wild salmon have disappeared from our streams and oceans, and where the call of the loon, no longer echoes in our collective consciousness? The choice is ours to make. Knowledge, will and action can change the world.

- Whooping Crane -

The tale of the whooping crane is a story of both caution and hope. Due to hunting and loss of wetlands in North America, by 1941 there was just one wild migrating flock of 15 birds left. Hovering on the edge of extinction, the plight of this wellknown bird caused the governments of Canada and the United States to work together to stop its imminent disappearance. Today, after six decades of intensive recovery efforts the whooping crane population is slowly recovering. The wild migratory population has grown by over 35% in the last decade, and now totals over 180 birds (29).

- Monarch Butterfly -

The sight of the familiar monarch butterfly flitting across a field of wildflowers is a joy to behold. Threatened by habitat loss in its wintering grounds in Mexico, fatal temperature fluctuations associated with climate change, and the reduction of wild flowers such as milkweed, goldenrod and aster, which sustain them on their long migration, the monarch butterfly was listed as a species of special concern in 1997. Although not in danger of becoming extinct in Canada, its annual migration - already deemed “an endangered biological phenomenon” - could be lost. The survival of the monarch is dependent on protection of its over-wintering sites in California and Mexico, and on the availability of breeding areas rich in milkweed plants in Canada and the United States (30).

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead