Protecting Canada's Wildlife & Biodiversity

When did you first begin photographing wildlife?

Colleen Gara: I've always had a deep connection to nature and wildlife and grew up camping, hiking, and constantly exploring the outdoors. Both of my parents were interested in photography and I used a little point-and-shoot camera when I was younger. About eight years ago, after attending a local seminar on wildlife photography, I decided to combine my passion for wilderness and animals with photography and began my journey as a wildlife photographer.

Peter Mather: I began wildlife photography in 2000, when I lived in the remote Gwich’in First Nation village of Old Crow, Yukon, where I worked as a secondary school teacher. I mostly photograph conservation-related stories featuring animals like Arctic fox, wolverines, caribou, and salmon. In 2016, I left my job as a math teacher to pursue in-depth wildlife photography stories.

In your opinion, what are the most pressing issues affecting Canada’s wildlife and biodiversity?

CG: Habitat preservation and interconnectedness are what I see as the most pressing issues affecting Canada’s wildlife and biodiversity. As our human footprint continues to expand, wilderness shrinks. Whether from commercial development, resource extraction, or the expansion of roadways, the destruction and fragmentation of habitat threatens wildlife survival and biodiversity as a whole. Functioning and complete ecosystems are absolutely necessary to keep wildlife populations protected and healthy.

PM: The most pressing issues facing Canada’s wildlife and biodiversity are without doubt habitat destruction and climate change. Our climate is changing too quickly for most wildlife to adapt. In the Yukon we see this with salmon, as the rivers are quickly heating to temperatures not conducive to spawning. The salmon are slowly moving to Arctic rivers, but won't be able to adapt quickly enough, and entire ecosystems depend on the salmon.

Why should Canadians care about protecting the country’s wildlife populations?

CG: We're so privileged as Canadians to live in a country with incredible and diverse wildlife, including polar bears, grey wolves, spirit (Kermode) bears, snowy owls, and Canada lynx. Protecting and coexisting with wildlife is important not only because of the animals’ intrinsic value, but also because wildlife and their habitats are critical for our own health. We're part of the natural world and if it suffers, so will we. The wilderness, as well as the natural spaces even in our own backyards, are crucial for our own mental and physical well-being.

PM: Wildlife populations are a reflection of our environment. If we're causing such catastrophic changes that wildlife are disappearing, it's a reflection of our environment, and if we're making our environment untenable for wildlife, then we're on the way to endangering ourselves. Also, the First Nations people who have called Canada home for thousands of years still depend on wildlife for their cultural and physical sustenance, and we must respect that.

Want to Help Protect Endangered Species? Start at Home

hen it comes to wildlife conservation and endangered species, people’s minds often go to large, well-known animals: rhinos, elephants, tigers, and chimpanzees. But what about the endangered animals closer to home, right here in Canada?

“We quite often find that people in our local communities aren’t even aware of the different species that are in their own backyards,” says Menita Prasad, Director of Animal Care and Deputy General Manager at the Greater Vancouver Zoo. “And if you’re not aware of the species around you, how are you going to know whether they’re in trouble and what you can do to help them?”

Despite a general lack of awareness of the

Wbiodiversity and conservation issues all around us, the animals in our own backyards do need our attention and our help. Many Canadians would be shocked to find out that 66 percent of all species in Canada are on the decline.

Supporting conservation efforts

The Greater Vancouver Zoo is on a mission to change this, and conservation work is part of its official mandate. Its conservation work also focuses on local endangered species.

“All of the ex-situ conservation programs we’re currently involved in deal with local native endangered species, as that’s where we feel we can make the strongest impact,” explains Prasad.

The zoo’s Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Program, in particular, is making a big impact. Last year, it was awarded the Colonel G.D. Dailley Award from Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums. Launched in 1999,

when Oregon spotted frogs showed up on the list of endangered animals, the program has involved many different conservation actions, including population monitoring, habitat restoration, and captive breeding for release.

The Greater Vancouver Zoo also works toward recovering popula tions of western painted turtles, Taylor’s Checkerspot butterflies, and Salish suckers.

To

The Greater Vancouver Zoo’s conservation programs, including its award-winning Oregon Spotted Frog Recovery Program, are helping to protect local endangered species.

Tania Amardeil

This article was sponsored by the Greater Vancouver Zoo

learn more, visit gvzoo.com.

Menita Prasad Director of Animal Care & Deputy General Manager, Greater Vancouver Zoo

Colleen Gara

See Colleen's photography on Instagram @colleengaraphoto and at colleengara photography.com

Peter Mather See Peter's photography on Instagram @matherpeter and at petermather.com

The Oregon spotted frog PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE GREATER VANCOUVER ZOO

Wildlife photographers Colleen Gara and Peter Mather share their insights on the most pressing issues impacting Canadian wildlife and how their passion for photography began.

Photo of endangered spirit (Kermode) bear taken by Colleen Gara.

Tirian Eynon Youth Leadership Manager, WILD Outside

Empowering Youth Through Education and Personal Action — the Key to Protecting Canada’s Wildlife and Biodiversity

Of all the threats affecting the future of Canada’s wildlife and wild spaces, perhaps the greatest is apathy. Those who feel powerless in the face of mounting issues related to conservation, climate change, and the environment often wind up taking little to no action in supporting the cause. Fortunately, a wave of young Canadians across the country are taking up the fight to ensure a brighter future for our natural environments and wildlife populations.

Mike Bingley Director of Education, Canadian Wildlife Federation

Repurposing plastic waste from our oceans, planting pollinator gardens, removing invasive species, developing native seed banks, and installing bat houses are just a few of the nearly 280 environmental stewardship projects that have been conceived and delivered by participants in two unique Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF)

programs: WILD Outside (WO), which targets youth ages 15 to 18, and the Canadian Conservation Corps (CCC), which targets youth aged 18 to 30. Both programs continued to operate during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in hundreds of community-based conservation projects and over 346,000 service hours being completed from coast to coast.

“If nature teaches us anything it’s how to adapt,” says Tirian Eynon, WILD Outside Youth Leadership Manager. “The success both programs have had in attracting participants and completing service projects despite fluctuating restrictions demonstrates the passion young Canadians have for environmental education and wildlife conservation.”

Conservation-based educational programming has always been a key pillar of the work being done at the CWF, which is celebrating its 60 th year as Canada’s largest supporter-based conservation charity this year. Mike Bingley, CWF Director of Education, says that programs like the CCC and WO are instrumental in connecting young people to nature and inspiring personal action.

“The best way to ensure that this generation of young Canadians has a connection with the natural world is for them to have truly experienced it,” says Bingley. “Through these meaningful service-learning experiences, young people develop diverse skills while learning about themselves and the impact that they can have on the natural world. At the same time, they're also having a real impact in their home community and in communities across Canada.”

The CWF now operates the WO program in 14 cities from Vancouver to St. John’s, while the CCC has been operating across the country since 2018. Both programs are offered free to participants through the CWF and are funded by the Government of Canada through the Canada Service Corps initiative.

WILD Outside is an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone.

By meeting bi-weekly and collaborating with others, I've improved my leadership, teamwork, and communication skills. Overall, my WILD Outside experiences have made me a better version of myself — dedicated and confident.

- Jasmine Le, Moncton

I love feeling one step closer to removing an invasive species or knowing that the native species planted will continue flourishing in the years to come and bring more biodiversity to the area.

- Jessica Martinez, Vancouver

The Canadian Conservation Corps was truly a life-changing experience for me. From camping for the first time during a 14-day expedition to working alongside ecologists exploring bears' and wolves' coexistence with humans in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, and then bringing the experience home to give back to my community in Montreal — I couldn't have asked for anything more!

- Sid Venkatesh, Montreal

The best way to ensure that this generation of young Canadians has a connection with the natural world is for them to have truly experienced it.

PHOTOS

Connecting Canadians to the wonder of Canada’s natural spaces and wildlife species has been the primary objective of the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF) since it was founded in 1962. Science and education have always been core pillars in the charitable organization’s mission to inspire people to care about wildlife and biodiversity. The Canadian Conservation Corps and WILD Outside are the newest initiatives on the path to achieving that goal.

“Through our leadership programs we strive to remove the barriers for teens and young adults to experience outdoor adventure while helping to con -

serve wildlife and habitat,” says Rick Bates, CEO of the CWF. “Our objective is to inspire youth to develop a passion for conservation, awareness of their natural environment, and a deeper appreciation for wildlife through mentoring and meaningful service projects.”

The Canadian Conservation Corps and WILD Outside programs join such other CWF conservation education programs as WILD Family Nature Club, WILD Spaces, Love Your Lake, Help the Bats, and Help the Turtles. To celebrate the organization’s 60 th anniversary in 2022, the CWF will be launching its 60 Days of Conservation initiative during National Wildlife Week in April.

For more information, visit CanadianWildlife Federation.ca

This spread was sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Federation

Canadian Wildlife

Federation —

Springtime Excitement at the Toronto Zoo and in the Wild

Spring is a magical time in Canada. As the mornings grow brighter, the air grows warmer, and the snow begins to melt, we collectively celebrate another winter endured and rejoice at the prospect of a brilliant Canadian summer. Venturing outside for the first time in months, we see and hear Canada’s natural landscape emerging right alongside us.

Colour returns to our gardens and forests. Snakes and marmots emerge from their underground hibernation. Migratory birds, bats, and butterflies begin to soar back from their winter homes in the southern United States and Mexico. Frogs and songbirds serenade us. For Canada’s symphony of wildlife, spring is a time of convergence, heralding the beginning of their brief window to feast, explore, and breed before the next winter is all too soon upon them.

The unbridled magic of spring, however, is also a tenuous and fragile thing. Climate change and habitat destruction have upset the essential rhythms and patterns of so many species, disrupting their reproductive cycles and threatening their survival. Preserving and protecting these species and their springtime renewal is the heart and soul of many conservation efforts at the Toronto Zoo.

“Spring is a huge time for us,” says Wildlife Care staff Gerri Mintha. “Spring is when everything starts to gear up.” Visitors flock to the Toronto Zoo in the spring, eager to see new life and energy in the animal habitats. But there's so much more going on behind the scenes in the wildlife conservation and scientific research facilities, where animals are stirring in their hibernation chambers, being encouraged to breed in ways that maximize genetic resilience, and, in some cases, feasting on a precise nutritional diet to prepare them for release into the wild.

The birds and the bees or the turtles and the bats

Jon Spero, Lead Keeper of Birds at the Toronto Zoo, spends the spring working with his team at a delicate game of matchmaking among the zoo’s population of eastern loggerhead shrikes. In the wild, these shrikes, rare predatory songbirds nicknamed “butcher birds” for the way they dismember their prey in thorny trees, will be migrating back to their breeding grounds, searching for mates and beginning the annual preparation of their nests. Under human care, however, romance becomes more complicated.

“We have to monitor them very closely for signs that they're getting along before we actually do the introduction,” says Spero.

“The breeding pens include a shared wall, and initially the birds can see and hear each other but they can’t get over to each other, ensuring there’s no fighting. For new pairs we're looking for singing — since they're songbirds, that's usually a good sign. This year we'll have nine

pairs who will hopefully breed for us.”

This work is vital, as the eastern loggerhead shrike is one of the most imperilled birds in North America. In 1997, when only 100 eastern loggerhead shrikes were estimated to remain in all of Canada and only 18 pairs could be found in Ontario, Environment Canada established a captive population to ensure that the unique genetic material of these birds would be preserved. The Toronto Zoo has been involved in the conservation breeding of shrikes since the program’s inception and has released 225 into the wild.

As Spero watches his shrikes pass nuptial gifts of food to each other in an intricate dance of courtship, Donnell Gasbarrini of the Adopt-A-Pond Program will be monitoring the juvenile Blanding’s turtles that are preparing to enter the wild for the first time. “For many reptiles, including the Blanding’s turtle, springtime is the transition from winter dormancy to the summer active season,” says Gasbarrini. “We'll start to see turtles lying out in the sun, warming up after a long winter.”

But fewer and fewer of these endangered yellow-throated marvels, known in Indigenous stories as “the turtle with the sun under its chin,” are being seen each spring. Predation and pollution make it ever more difficult for them to survive to reproductive age in the wild. To give the young turtles a head start during a tenuous time of their life, eggs collected by zoo staff are taken into their expert care and incubated safe from predators for up to two years. The juveniles are then released back into their natural habitat in June at a private event that aligns with National Indigenous Peoples Day. This timing is fitting as turtles appear in many traditional teachings and creation stories. Over 500 turtles have been released into Rouge National Urban Park in an effort to save the species, including more than 300 juveniles, which have been given a head start in life through this program since June 2014. When reintroduction efforts began in 2012, there were fewer than 10 individual Blanding’s turtles remaining in the Rouge Valley.

For other threatened amphibians and reptiles, efforts are focused heavily on conservation breeding programs to better understand and support the natural hibernation and reproduction habits of these species under threat by ongoing changes to their environments. In the case of the Oregon spotted frog, its habitat has been reduced to just a few British Columbian ponds, making it Canada’s most endangered frog. Researchers

at the zoo are working on both assisted reproductive technologies and genetic banking in a time-critical effort to save this species before its habitat disappears completely.

Simultaneously, other zoo researchers are out in the wild using echolocator technology to track and monitor Ontario’s bat population. As spring approaches, the female bats will be preparing to accelerate their long-delayed pregnancies, having initially mated the previous fall. Unfortunately, in addition to the usual suspects of climate change and habitat destruction, these wild bat populations are also facing an existential threat in the form of an invasive fungal infection from Europe, making the zoo’s conservation efforts particularly urgent. “There are only eight species of bats in Ontario and we could end up with seven of those listed as endangered in the near future,” says Native Bat Conservation Program Coordinator Toby Thorne.

Springtime brings hope in the form of baby bison There's so much work to be done across so many species, and it can sometimes seem insurmountable. But, as conservationists and researchers tirelessly pursue the preservation of these species, there are moments of wonder that serve as reminders of what's possible. This winter, the Toronto Zoo announced the pregnancy of four of its threatened wood bison, the culmination of a 13-year collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan under Dr. Gabriela Mastromonaco. The zoo’s reproductive sciences and wildlife care teams spent long days shepherding the bison through artificial inseminations (AI) and embryo transfers, in a process that included both high-tech sperm sorting and decidedly low-tech outdoor tarp-covered labs.

And if you ask them, it will all have been worth it if four new bison calves join the herd this spring. These triumphs, of course, are born of collaboration, with interdisciplinary teamwork being the foundation of the zoo’s conservation efforts. These victories wouldn't be possible without the Toronto Zoo’s many partners such as Wildlife Preservation Canada and Parks Canada, as well as academic institutions including the University of Guelph and Laurentian University.

Dedicated teams in all these organizations work together with the single vision of a springtime in Canada where all nature’s creatures may thrive.

After all, zookeeper Mintha reminds us, the ultimate goal of these conservation breeding programs is to not need them. And so, as we revel in another seasonal awakening, let us

remind ourselves of the essential stewardship happening at the Toronto Zoo and elsewhere to ensure that the chorus of Canadian spring retains all its voices in years to come.

There's so much work to be done across so many species, and it can sometimes seem insurmountable. But, as conservationists and researchers tirelessly pursue the preservation of these species, there are moments of wonder that serve as reminders of what's possible.

The warble of a little green frog searching for a mate. The flight of songbirds winging home from the south. The yellow-throated turtle sunning itself on the rocks. This is the Canadian springtime that conservation efforts at the Toronto Zoo are striving to save.

This article was sponsored by the Toronto Zoo

To learn more about the Toronto Zoo’s conservation work, visit torontozoo.com or to financially support the conservation breeding programs, visit wildlife conservancy.ca

Gerri Mintha

Keeper — Grade 3 Wildlife Health Centre, Toronto Zoo

Jon Spero Lead Keeper — Birds, Toronto Zoo

Donnell Gasbarrini Adopt-A-Pond Coordinator, Toronto Zoo

Rick Vos Lead Keeper — Reptiles and Amphibians, Toronto Zoo

Toby Thorne Grant Program Coordinator — Bats, Toronto Zoo

Dr. Gabriela Mastromonaco Director of Conservation Science, Toronto Zoo

D.F. McCourt

Spring is a huge time for us. Spring is when everything starts to gear up.

Did You Know?

Endangered and threatened animal and bird species face many unique challenges. Learn how the Toronto Zoo helps support wildlife through its various conservation efforts.

The Massasauga rattlesnake is the only species of venomous snake that's found in Ontario. Due to human activities such as agriculture and housing developments intruding on its natural habitat, the Massasauga rattlesnake population is declining.

To support the conservation efforts, the Toronto Zoo is working to mitigate issues such as road mortality and helping with habitat restoration and population monitoring. The conservation program is currently working to

build the managed population and undertake research on how reproductive output can be improved, with the goal being to release the snakes into the wild.

Conservation outcomes are also affected by over-wintering mortality that occurs in the wild, which impacts efforts to save species such as the Massasauga rattlesnake. The Toronto Zoo is working to understand over-wintering mortality in species by supporting a hibernation research study.

Black-footed ferrets face survival challenges from their main source of prey, the prairie dog, and also have to deal with farmers decimating colonies. A non-native disease known as the sylvatic plague is also largely affecting the ferret population.

The breeding program at the Toronto Zoo

ensures their population numbers are sustained. Black-footed ferrets are nocturnal animals so they’re mostly active at night. The Toronto Zoo uses cameras during the night to look for breeding patterns and determine whether the pair has bred successfully or if one of the partners will have to be changed.

Asudden occurrence of a foreign fungal disease has caused a significant decline in the North American bat population, with data suggesting a decline of more than 90 percent in Ontario and Eastern

Canada. Four out of the eight bat species in Ontario are now listed as endangered. Through their work in the field, the Toronto Zoo monitors local populations and works to uncover and support concrete conservation outcomes.

Historically, wood bison could be found across the boreal forests of northwestern Canada and Alaska. However, changes in habitat use have resulted in small, disconnected herds remaining in northern British Columbia and Alberta as well as southern Northwest Territories and Yukon.

The Toronto Zoo is developing reproductive technologies as a tool to overcome the challenges of managing the endemic disease that's threatening free-ranging wood bison herds and ultimately helping to restore genetically-diverse, disease-free herds in the wild.

The Eastern loggerhead shrike, a predatory songbird, is a grassland species that has been in steep decline since the 1970s. The subspecies found in Ontario is unique as it’s the only migratory subspecies, but this also presents challenges in determining the cause of their decline.

Since 1997, the Toronto Zoo’s conservation breeding and release program has released 225 birds back into the wild. The program has helped to stabilize the population while the zoo and other partners work to identify primary threats along the migration route.

The Oregon spotted frog is Canada’s most endangered frog, largely due to habitat loss. Their natural range is very small but because of human activities, they now only exist in very few ponds in British Columbia.

As the wild population continues to decrease, the Toronto Zoo is working on developing reproductive technologies to increase the reproductive output of this species.

The common green darner, one of 154 species of dragonfly in Canada, relies on wetland habitats for every stage of its life cycle.

What’s It Going to Take to Make the Planet Wilder?

As relationships between wildlife and human life become increasingly frayed, the need to restore biodiversity and protect wildlife has never been more urgent — but a rethink is needed.

At Canada’s Wilder Institute, we believe that to take the action necessary to sustainably restore biodiversity, we need to interrupt the widely-held perception among the public, governments, and philanthropists that conservation’s purpose is to only protect wildlife and wild places. The true purpose of conservation is to create lasting change and impact. To do that, conservationists must consider

the needs of all living things, including the only species able to laugh and cry: us.

A new kind of conservationist What do we need to do differently? That’s what we asked ourselves. The answer was right there in front of us, in the outcomes of our collaborative work in conservation translocation and community conservation. Simply put, we’ve learned over 30 years that restoring balance between wildlife, wild places, and human life, and sticking the landing, means embracing the reality that home is where wildlife belongs, but that home is where people belong, too. We must co-exist — not build fences. As conservationists, we’re applying our science to develop common-ground solutions that recognize what wildlife and wild places need to thrive naturally, and what humans need to feel at home on the planet we share. Out of this rethink, a new kind of conservationist was born — a wilder one.

Working to serve nature and people

Communities neighbouring wildlife habitats have development aspirations but also face economic pressures. Our work strives to empower local communities with the tools, resources, and expertise to steward their own natural resources to benefit both nature and their communities. This work is making a difference.

We must remember that we’re not powerless — far from it. The world isn’t falling apart in front of our eyes so much as it’s falling into our hands.

Right now, Wilder Institute teams are on the move, reintroducing 15 endangered species to the wild in Canada and abroad and partnering on many more projects. We’re balancing our wildlife conservation with community conservation. But we cannot do this work alone. And we cannot do it without you.

Dragonflies Are “Canaries in the Coal Mine” for Biodiversity in Canada

Canada is home to 25 percent of the world’s remaining wetlands. Every organism that lives there, from ducks to dragonflies, has a role to play in keeping these critical environments healthy. Unfortunately, dragonfly populations are declining globally. What does this mean for Canada and what can we do before it’s too late?

D.F. McCourt

Afew months ago, headlines were made when the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added 16 percent of the world’s 6,016 species of dragonflies to the Red List of Threatened Species. According to its assessment, populations of these iconic insects are declining worldwide, largely due to widespread loss of wetland habitats. Dr. Viola Clausnitzer, Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Dragonfly Specialist Group, noted in the release of this report that “dragonflies are highly sensitive indicators of the state of freshwater ecosystems.”

Dragonflies are also a critical part of biodiversity, which is the variety of life on Earth. As aquatic larvae and adult dragonflies, they're generally at the top

of the insect food chain. They're an important food source for predators like birds, fish, and frogs. “You can think of biodiversity as a web of connected species,” explains Ducks Unlimited Canada Research Scientist James Paterson. “As you take pieces out of that web, it weakens in strength and resilience.”

An incredible 40 percent of all species globally depend on wetlands, and Canada has tremendous wetland diversity. This includes sprawling coastal sea marshes, potholes in the Prairies, and peatlands in the Boreal region. More research is needed to understand how these ecosystems may be impacted by the loss of native species of flora and fauna, which could help prioritize conservation efforts. Today’s dual crises of biodiversity loss and climate change are adding to the urgency around research and conservation action.

Though most of us recognize that society and the natural world are inextricably intertwined, we have far too often let wetlands pay the price of land development. It's a price we'll pay back with interest. “It’s estimated that up to 70 percent of wetlands have been lost in southern parts of Canada, and up to 95 percent in densely populated areas,” says Larry Kaumeyer, CEO of Ducks Unlimited Canada. “But because Canada doesn't have a comprehensive wetland inventory and monitoring system, figures are likely even higher. Without a solid understanding of what we’re losing and how fast, risks associated with climate change continue to soar.”

Wetlands play a vital role in the health and well-being of Canadians. They're critical to the management of water quality and to creating resilience against flooding and drought, and are among the most effective ecosystems at sequestering carbon. The wetland that

supports the vitality of the dragonfly and the wetland that protects against climate change are one and the same.

What befalls one bug, befalls us all Migratory species, including ducks and dragonflies, depend on habitat across a wide expanse of geography. This adds complexity to conservation efforts. That's why Ducks Unlimited Canada has been working in partnership with Ducks Unlimited in the United States and Ducks Unlimited Mexico to protect North America’s wetlands for more than 80 years — and why it has now launched Project Dragonfly, a new campaign that tells the story of one iconic part of an interconnected system.

Paterson describes the life cycle of the familiar green darner, the dragonfly often seen darting over the surface of Canadian waters as it catches smaller insects or dips its tail into the water to lay eggs. The larva will live in the water for months or years, feasting on smaller invertebrates and tadpoles, before metamorphosing into their beautiful, winged form and migrating south. There, they interact with other ecosystems in other regions before eventually becoming dinner for other species.

“They're just absolutely incredible bugs,” says Kaumeyer. “We know habitat loss is at the heart of biodiversity decline, which makes it critical that all Canadians understand the long-term value and natural capital associated with wetlands.”

Every organism that lives in a wetland has a story as complex as the dragonfly, and each represents a strand in that greater web of biodiversity. It’s this fundamental truth that drives Ducks Unlimited Canada’s mission to conserve wetlands not only for ducks, but for all wildlife and people. The dragonfly population is a bellwether for biodiversity. Both are intimately connected to the health of the wetlands as a whole. As are we.

Conservation leaders at the Wilder Institute believe that to protect biodiversity and wildlife, conservation science must be inclusive — and irresistible.

Steven Ross

James Paterson Research Scientist, Ducks Unlimited Canada

Steven Ross Chief Development Officer, Wilder Institute & Calgary Zoo

Larry Kaumeyer CEO, Ducks Unlimited Canada

This work is making a difference. We must remember that we’re not powerless — far from it.

This article was sponsored by Ducks Unlimited Canada.

To learn more about Ducks Unlimited Canada’s Project Dragonfly and how you can help, visit ducks.ca/dragonfly