PHOTO BY ERIC PROUZET
A new study conducted by the Nature Conservancy of Canada has pinpointed nine areas in southern Canada that are considered “crisis ecoregions.” The study, which assessed 77 ecoregions across the southern part of Canada, assigning them scores based on various factors, hopes to increase awareness and community engagement in protecting the ecosystem and species of various regions.
The assessment identifies nine crisis ecoregions where wildlife and their habitats are the most diverse and also under the greatest threat. These regions include: The Lake Erie Lowland; The Eastern Vancouver Island; The Lower Mainland; The Aspen Parkland; The Manitoulin–Lake Simcoe ecoregion; The St. Lawrence Lowlands; Prince Edward Island; The Northern Continental Divide; and The Mixed Grassland.
“Canadians have increasingly turned to nature as an escape from COVID-19 this past year. This study can help each of us learn more about the conservation needs in the places where we live and inform our decision making to help protect these places,” says Dan Kraus, senior conservation biologist with the Nature Conservancy of Canada. “We often have wildlife and habitats of national and global conservation concern in our own backyards, and in many places the next decade may represent the last opportunity we have to protect them”
The crisis regions represent less than 5% of Canadian lands and waters, yet provide a habitat for over 60% of Canada’s species at risk.
To learn more, visit natureconservancy.ca/casc.
