FORT FRANCES—There currently are more than 500 plant and animal species-at-risk in Canada, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
And last week, the Rainy River Valley Field Naturalists created a list of species-at-risk locally.
“We identified 23 species in this part of Northwestern Ontario that are either identified by [COSEWIC] as being endangered, threatened, or of special concern—or if not that, have been identified as being globally rare,” noted RRVFN president Ilka Milne, who authored the report.
The species identified include mosses, lichens, plants, fish, birds, and mammals.
While Milne said one of the species-at-risk is well-known (the lake sturgeon), others may not be.
“Everybody knows about the lake sturgeon,” she remarked. “They’re of special concern in the Rainy River to Lake of the Woods area, according to the COSEWIC committee.”
For birds, some of the species-at-risk locally include the American White Pelican, Golden-winged Warbler, Piping Plover, the Red-headed Woodpecker, the Rusty Blackbird, Short-eared Owl, and Yellow Rail.
“Those, pretty much all birds, have been assessed by the COSEWIC committee, so they actually have a status designation,” noted Milne. “For instance, the pelican has been assessed by the COSEWIC committee to be not at risk at this time.
“But we’ve put it on the list because the Ministry of Natural Resources considers it an endangered and regulated species, and it’s also reasonably globally rare,” she added.
Milne explained the Golden-winged Warbler is considered threatened while the Piping Plover is considered endangered.
“And all of the other birds are, at this time, designated as special concern.”
Milne said “special concern” means a wildlife species that may become a threatened or endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.
“Endangered” means species facing imminent extirpation or extinction.
“Extirpation means it will lose a part of its range, but won’t go completely extinct,” indicated Milne, adding “threatened” means a wildlife species likely to become endangered if limiting factors are not reversed, according to COSEWIC’s definitions.
“We have a number of rare plants, too,” Milne remarked. “People who like flowers are probably familiar with the Ramshead Lady Slipper.
“That isn’t assessed by the COSEWIC committee yet, but it’s global ranking is G3, which means it’s considered vulnerable.
“That ranking is done by a network of natural heritage information centres, not by the Canadian government,” she noted.
Milne said COSEWIC is a committee that reports to the federal government.
But if that committee hadn’t looked at a species, the RRVFN put it on their list of things to look out for—if it was considered by expert biologists and ecologists to be rare and hasn’t been assessed yet.
Milne noted three dragonflies also are at risk in this area—the Elusive Clubtail, Green-faced Clubtail, and Skillet Clubtail.
“They are all vulnerable, as well, although that’s a global ranking,” she stressed. “They’re globally vulnerable, [but] they’re even more rare than that in Ontario.”
In her report, Milne indicated there’s a number of reasons these species are at risk here.
One common theme for a number of species on the list is that they are threatened by water regulation, damming, and modification of the natural hydrology of waterways.
“That’s the boat the dragonflies are in, one of the plants, one of the mosses, and a couple of the fish,” she remarked. “A lot are sensitive to alterations in the natural cycle that waterways experience.
“Once you start changing things, you change how it flows. . . . It’s subtle, but it makes a difference to certain species.”
But Milne added there also are other causes which are completely different than a change in habitat.
“The Golden-winged Warbler is hybridizing, not here yet, with a very close relative and it’s losing out,” she stated. “It’s just getting swamped genetically. . . .
“Then there’s other species like the American Badger and Gray Fox, which are not globally rare but they’re at the fringe of their range here,” she warned.
Milne stressed people can help these species at risk just by getting involved.
She explained the RRVFN looked at community-based actions. Not policy and large landscape level plans to create parks or anything like that, just what community groups or interested individuals could do?
“For a lot of them, the most imminent threats is that we just don’t have enough information on where they are, what the population status is like,” said Milne.
“And so logically, what people can do is get out there and get involved in surveys or go birding.”
She noted the Piping Plover is the only species on the list that actually has a recovery strategy that’s official. It was generated by some experts as a follow-up after it was identified as endangered by the COSEWIC committee.
“Then that’s what eventually has to be done with all species that are endangered, threatened, or of special concern,” Milne added. “They have to have a recovery strategy, which then becomes the official policy on how to deal with that species.”
Milne said people can get involved through many groups or programs in Rainy River District, such as the Rainy Lake Conservancy, the Rainy River watershed program, and the RRVFN.
The report on these species-at-risk is for people in the area. And while it’s still in its draft stage, Milne said she hopes to have it available to the public by the end of March.
“There needs to be that top-down approach with people looking at policy and how to help people steward their properties,” she stressed. “Then there has to be the bottom-up approach, too, where people are raising concerns locally and getting information locally.
“That’s what this is for—to help boost local awareness and involvement.”
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
