Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

That’s why our research is making the case for keeping connected old-growth forests standing across Western Canada. Visit our YouTube channel to learn more! @albertabats.bsky.social

Bats need forests and forests need bats! 🌲

Many of Canada’s bat species depend on tall, old trees with cavities and crevices that take decades to form. In turn, bats support the health of these vital ecosystems.

As those trees disappear, so does critical bat habitat.

Friday is Bat Appreciation Day, so this week, we’re honouring Canada’s bats 🦇

Of the 1400+ species of bats worldwide, about 17 occur in Canada. Meet just a few of the airborne cuties that call Canada home 💚

@albertabats.bsky.social

Life in the quiet details 💚

A jumping spider in Marlborough Forest KBA ON, Clouded Sulphur butterflies near the Grassy Lake Sandhills AB, a misty morning at Hendrie Valley Sanctuary in the Dundas Valley to Cootes Paradise KBA ON & a newborn orca calf off Vancouver Island BC ✨ #2025KBAPhotoContest

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Facing Change in Boreal Freshwater Ecosystems: Science, Indigenous Partnership, and Conservation Planning. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Protecting freshwater requires whole‑watershed thinking. Freshwater ecosystems function as living and integrated systems, from headwater creeks to estuaries and from forested uplands to lakes, rivers, and ponds, carrying water, nutrients, and wildlife. Effective conservation must address cumulative pressures, including climate change, industrial development, and urbanization. In this webinar, two WCS Canada scientists will share research and conservation work that advances integrated planning across broad watershed scales in two northern boreal regions: the Yukon’s northern boreal mountains and the lowland boreal forests and peatlands of northern Ontario. They will highlight field‑based freshwater science that informs policy, partnerships with Indigenous Peoples for land‑use planning and management, and on‑the‑ground conservation results.

Join us on April 22nd for a webinar exploring what it takes to safeguard Canada’s freshwater systems for the benefit of all.

Register to secure your spot:

You can’t have healthy communities without healthy freshwater. World Health Day highlights science-led approaches for the health of people, animals, plants, and the planet. It’s a timely reminder that freshwater protection is health protection 👇

📸 Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle

Spring is here, and so are the piping plovers 🐣

These tiny endangered shorebirds are back on Canadian beaches - nearly invisible against the sand. When threatened, adults fake a wing injury to protect their nest 🪽

Opinion: Ford government’s haste in Ring of Fire road development is risky business In expediting access to the region’s critical minerals, the province may also be accelerating environmental and financial risks

Read more in the Globe and Mail

Ontario wants to fast-track roads to the Ring of Fire. But rushing an unprecedented road through peatlands could leave taxpayers footing costly financial and ecological mistakes.

In the Globe & Mail, Adam Kirkwood explains why shortcuts today create financial & environmental liabilities tomorrow 👇

From alpine ponds to smoky hillsides, this round of #2025KBAPhotoContest Honourable Mentions captures it all 🌲 A Mountain Goat at Rogers Pass (BC), a Red-winged Blackbird in the Dundas Valley to Cootes Paradise KBA (ON), Dowitchers at dawn in Richmond (BC), and wildfire closing in on Squamish (BC) 🔥

Enjoy the videos and music that you love, upload original content and share it all with friends, family and the world on YouTube.

Our research is making the case for keeping networks of old growth forests across Western Canada standing to give bats the connectivity they need to thrive 🧵 (2/2)

Visit our YouTube Channel to learn more:

Bats are critical to ecosystem & human health. Their survival is dependent on forests.

The tallest trees, with cavities & crevices created over time, provide the habitat many bats need. But human activity is removing these trees faster than forests can replace them 🧵 (1/2)

@albertabats.bsky.social

Today's commitment signals a potentially welcome orientation from federal government. Visit our website for our full statement on today's announcement 🧵 (4/4)

https://f.mtr.cool/bszuquaakq

In a context increasingly defined by fires, floods, and the immediate realities of ecological change, prioritizing nature is one of the most economically prudent & stabilizing choices governments can make 🧵 (3/4)

Whole-of-government coordination will be needed to ensure these commitments are not undermined by the concurrent push for industrial development across the country 🧵 (2/4)

Canada's new Nature Strategy, underpinned by $3.8bn of dedicated funding, positions Indigenous leadership at the forefront and addresses major drivers of biodiversity loss, including habitat loss, harmful development, and the persistent undervaluation of nature in economic decisions 🧵 (1/4)

At WCS Canada, we’re working to support and honour language revitalization. Here are a few examples of where Indigenous languages are taking centre stage in our work. (3/3)

Today is National Indigenous Languages Day - a day to underscore the importance of Indigenous languages and reaffirm our commitment to supporting Indigenous peoples in the reclamation, revitalization, strengthening, and maintenance of their languages. (2/3)

Did you know that ¾ of the ~90 Indigenous languages in Canada are considered endangered? 🧵 (1/3)

White-nose syndrome has sadly been detected in Alberta's Rocky Mountains at bat hibernation sites.

Visit our website for more info on our team's work & how the public can help: https://f.mtr.cool/jckawuzqmw

@albertabats.bsky.social

Monthly giving is one of the most powerful ways to help protect wildlife and wild places.  

A consistent gift means consistent protection. 
For species. 
For habitats. 
For the future. 

Become a monthly donor and help protect what makes Canada wild. https://wcscanada.org/support/monthly/donations

Join us on April 22nd for an Earth Day webinar exploring Canada's critical freshwater ecosystems with two experts in freshwater science 🌎

More info & register: https://f.mtr.cool/ervgnfgkoo

Embracing uncertainty in life and science: Lessons from the field By Annie Loosen, WCS Canada Post-doctoral Fellow Good science doesn’t eliminate uncertainty—it learns to work with it. This isn’t a philosophical stance; it is something I’ve lived.

Good science doesn't eliminate uncertainty — it learns to work with it. WCS Canada's Annie Loosen bounced between systems, species & places to end up studying ringed seal diets with Inuvialuit partners in the NWT.

Her story ↓

Find out more: https://f.mtr.cool/wbygqlegfo

🧵 (4/4)

"But this analysis shows there is little evidence that the economic benefits of mining in the Yukon outweigh the costs, creating a false choice for First Nations and the public." - Chris Addison, Indigenous-led Conservation Specialist 🧵 (3/4)

"First Nations & the public are repeatedly told that mining is a universally positive economic force, & that's the trade off we're asked to make for putting environmental, Indigenous & social values at risk." - Chris Addison, Indigenous-led Conservation Specialist 🧵 (2/4)

Findings from the Centre for Climate Justice show that economic benefits from mining in the Yukon are uncertain and unpredictable, with delays and non-operation stemming from lack of financing more than regulation 🧵 (1/4)

The Swift Fox vanished from Canada by the 1930s - but it's back in Alberta and Saskatchewan thanks to conservation efforts. But with grasslands disappearing fast, there's still work to do. Key Biodiversity Areas are giving this fox a fighting chance 🦊🌾

Visit kbacanada.org to learn more about KBAs 🪽

Over half of Canada's land area is covered by boreal forest.

Protecting them isn't a cost. It's long-term economic security. (3/3)

#Internationaldayofforests

This year, International Day of Forests is all about understanding forests as engines of inclusive growth and wellbeing. And just as a healthy engine needs all its parts, forests can’t keeping delivering billions in climate, water, and wildlife benefits if they are degraded. (2/3)