qathet’s species at risk

HOLD ON TO YOUR SPECIES: painted turtle

BY SAMANTHA GAMBLING | COASTAL PARTNERS IN CONSERVATION

The world is currently experiencing its sixth mass extinction. According to Earth.org, “More than 500 species of land animals are on the brink of extinction and are likely to be lost within 20 years; the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. The scientists say that without the human destruction of nature, this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years and they warn that this may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilization.”

British Columbia currently has 1,807 species of animals and plants at risk of extinction, more than any other province or territory in Canada. This includes a dozen or more species and ecological communities at risk in the qathet region.

Coastal Partners in Conservation, a team of dedicated biologists who specialize in conservation through research, public outreach, and habitat restoration in coastal BC and internationally, has worked closely with local stewardship groups such as the Malaspina Land Conservancy, Malaspina Naturalists and the Lasqueti Islands Trust and Nature Trust in conducting Species-At-Risk (SAR) surveys and habitat enhancement work in the qathet region.

HOLD ON TO YOUR SPECIES: stickleback (photo by Terry Brown)

Their Rare Species of the Coastal Douglas-fir Ecosystem in the Powell River Regional District biodiversity guide includes species ranging from the Northern Goshawk to the Sharp-tailed Snake, both “Red listed” according to provincial rankings. For both of these species and many more, habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation due to urban development and forest harvesting, are primary threats.

Following a film screening on November 27, Aimee Mitchell, Executive Director of Coastal Partners in Conservation, will be joining a of panel conservationists and educators – including internationally renowned bear ecologist Chris Morgan – to discuss species at risk in qathet, and what we can do to support local wildlife in our own backyards and beyond.

Some of the red-listed (most at-risk) species in qathet

Rigid apple moss – Lasqueti

Contorted-pod evening primrose – Savary

Silky beach pea – Savary

California Sword Fern – Texada Island

Northern Goshawk – Coastal BC

Barn Owl – South-West BC

Painted turtle – Texada Island, Powell River

Limnetic & Benthic Three-Spined Sticklebacks – Texada Island (Paxton Lake, Vananda Creek), Lasqueti Island (extinct in Hadley Lake)

Sharp-tailed snake – West Coast