Protecting plants and animals
Priority 2
Our strategic approach to protecting plants and animals
Plants and animals are essential to healthy, resilient ecosystems. But they face growing pressures from habitat loss, invasive species and climate change. By protecting habitat, restoring ecosystems and monitoring species, we help native plants and wildlife recover and maintain the biodiversity that healthy landscapes depend on.
Species monitoring
Species monitoring helps us understand how protected habitats and the species that live there are doing, and whether our work is making a difference. By surveying plants and animals over time, we can track changes in their populations and habitats and see how they respond to certain efforts like restoration. Some species, including birds and dragonflies, can also act as indicators of ecosystem health, giving us important signals about how the wider landscape is changing.
Ecosystem restoration
Ecological restoration gives damaged ecosystems a chance to recover. We restore native species, remove invasive ones and address other threats to rebuild healthy, connected, resilient landscapes. Guided by science and ongoing monitoring, we adapt our approach over time, strengthening biodiversity and the resilience of the wider ecosystem.
Conservation in action
Needs support now
Alberta’s Prairie Grasslands
Alberta is home to some of Canada’s last remaining prairie grasslands – one of the most endangered ecosystems on Earth. From the Southern Foothills to the Milk River Basin and beyond, we work alongside ranching families to conserve what remains of these vital landscapes, sustaining wildlife, supporting livelihoods and keeping Alberta’s grasslands healthy and resilient for generations to come.
AB Alberta
Alfred-Kelly Nature Reserve
Nestled within the Piedmont and Prévost escarpments of the Laurentians lies the Alfred-Kelly Nature Reserve — a remarkable landscape of mature forests, wetlands and towering cliffs that provide vital nesting habitat for birds of prey. Since 2012, we have been protecting this special place and the wildlife that depends on it. Together, we can ensure it remains protected for generations to come.
Boreal forests
Across northern Ontario, we’re protecting vast boreal forest and peatlands that are vital to our planet’s health. These powerful ecosystems store vast amounts of carbon, filter our drinking water and provide habitat for wildlife, while strengthening northern communities. Together, we can protect this remarkable landscape forever.
Buffalo Pound
Located northwest of Regina, the native grasslands surrounding Buffalo Pound Lake perform an essential job: filtering the drinking water relied on by about a quarter of Saskatchewan’s population. By conserving these endangered grasslands, we conserve clean water, support biodiversity and safeguard a landscape that communities rely on every day.
You can make sure wildlife doesn’t disappear.
Learn more about our priorities
Conserving land and water is just one piece of the puzzle. Explore our other priorities and see how we’re taking action to address the urgent challenges facing wildlife, ecosystems and communities.
