Newswise — (Toronto – December 19, 2012) – The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada today announced a three-year grant from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation that will help fund WCS Canada’s continued conservation efforts in two of Canada’s most pristine, yet imminently threatened, northern regions — Ontario’s Far North and Northern British Columbia/Southern Yukon.
These funds will help extend WCS Canada’s work into Canada’s Western Arctic, partnering with WCS’s Beringia program based in Fairbanks, Alaska. WCS Canada’s conservation science focuses on vulnerable wildlife such as caribou, wolverines, and freshwater fish.
“The conservation challenges in Canada’s north are ever increasing and the supporters of those challenges are dwindling,” said Dr. Justina Ray, Executive Director of WCS Canada. “The W. Garfield Weston Foundation is a committed and long-standing champion of conservation in Canada. WCS Canada is grateful for the support from the Foundation as it gives us a chance to continue our important scientific work for this and future generations.” WCS Canada has had great success in building conservation partnerships and in integrating research findings into land use and species recovery outcomes. The Foundation’s grant will be used to ensure that WCS Canada’s scientific research leads to greater conservation results for Northern Canada, the mentoring of young scientists through The W. Garfield Weston Graduate Fellowship program, and the application of results from scientific field work to decisions affecting conservation and development in Canada. The commitment of WCS Canada to these important Northern programmes in Ontario, Yukon and the Western Arctic is based on the premise that there are powerful lessons to be learned in these areas that, through WCS Canada’s leadership and collaboration, can leverage important conservation gains for Canada. “The Foundation is resolute in its support for the natural sciences in Canada’s north,” said Geordie Dalglish, Chairman of The W. Garfield Weston Foundation’s Northern Committee. "With work that is timely, pertinent and innovative, WCS scientists are making contributions that will impact all Canadians." With this new funding, WCS Canada will continue to advance the conservation of northern wildlife and wild places through the application of conservation science.
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