Highlights from our 2018 Canadian Wildlife Federation Field Season
As the largest supporter-based conservation charity in Canada, CWF wants to report back to you on some of what we accomplished during the 2018 conservation field work season. All of the work helps further our understanding of these species in order to best conserve Canada’s wildlife. HELPING FRESHWATER TURTLES
The CWF turtle team was very busy this year! Our field work season included:
• Conducting surveys for the Endangered Blanding’s Turtle to find new locations which included this declining species in order to increase the amount of protected habitat.
• Surveying roads to find frequent turtle road-kill locations. Identifying these locations can help us push for road mitigation — such as wildlife fencing — in these sections of road.
• Collecting turtle eggs that were laid in at-risk locations, such as roadsides. The eggs were successfully incubated and almost 400 Blanding’s and Snapping Turtle hatchlings were released back into the wild.
HELPING MIGRATORY FISH
The Canadian Wildlife Federation’s Aquatic Science Team conducted research on the American Eel in the Ottawa River this summer. Eels face many challenges, and their populations have declined dramatically in recent years. Our research included:
• Determining the downstream migratory routes eels take while passing the Chaudière Falls Generating Station by placing 40 acoustic receivers in the water upstream and downstream of the falls. This helped target large eels that were ready to make their downstream journey back to their breeding grounds in the Sargasso Sea.
• Counting the number of eels to determine how many of these at-risk species there are in the area by trap netting and nighttime electrofishing. Along with Carleton University, the Carcross/ Tagish First Nation and the Yukon Energy Corporation, CWF is studying the migration of Chinook Salmon in the furthest reaches of their run near Whitehorse. These fish have travelled nearly 3,000 km from the Bering Sea. Compared to historic records, populations have been depleted for decades and CWF is undertaking research to find out why and what can be done. For the past two seasons, the team has been:
• Implanting fish with acoustic transmitters.
• Tracking their movements as the eels approach the Whitehorse Hydro Plant, pass the world’s longest fish ladder, and continue to their spawning grounds.
HELPING BATS
Together with students from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, CWF’S bat team worked hard this summer to promote bat conservation. Our research included:
• Developing and disseminating Best Management Practices and Standard Operating Procedures.
• Identifying maternity roosts that contain Endangered Little Brown Myotis to understand what habitats might need protecting.
• Collecting biophysical data of the roosts in order to advise on preferred habitat creation and recovery strategy.
• Testing the effectiveness of different bat house designs to determine the best designs for different species and different areas such as urban versus rural.
• Promoting bat observations via citizen science, and outreach to communities across the country.
HELPING BIRDS
CWF Wildlife Biologist Nathan Clements spent 10 days traversing the Queen Maud Gulf region of Nunavut. His work included banding Greater White-fronted Geese and Cackling Geese in order to monitor Arctic and sub-arctic geese and their migrations throughout the continent. More than 2,500 geese were banded, which is slightly more than the banding program targets set by the Arctic Goose Joint Venture.
HELPING WHALES
Using our knowledge of whale biology and basic principles of collision impacts, we are developing a computer model to predict whether the forces on a whale during a collision with a ship could cause serious harm. The computer model will take into account specific features of Right Whales (e.g. blubber thickness) and of small vessels (e.g. ship weight). This new collision impact prediction tool will provide industry and regulators with the ability to explore how the risk of harm to right whales from small vessel strikes changes depending on the size, speed, and design of the vessel. Ultimately this work will lead to recommendations on how the risk may be avoided.