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© Lora Denis
December 2, 2021–Anne Bell
Habitat•Land-use planning•Ontario Nature•Species at Risk•Stewardship and restoration
Blanding's turtle, threatened © David Allen CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The Auditor General of Ontario’s report, Protecting and Recovering Species at Risk, is not reading for the faint of heart. Released on November 22, 2021 the audit sets out in excruciating detail the Government of Ontario’s abject failure to exercise its duty to protect the province’s most vulnerable plants and animals. The review spans the ...
Snapping turtle © James Paterson
Snapping turtles are easy to recognize. They have a spiky tail like a little stegosaurus, and always fascinated me as a child. So I was troubled to learn that anyone with a fishing license can hunt them in Ontario. The federal government’s proposed new management plan for snapping turtles is an opportunity to finally ban ...
Bald eagle, Petrel Point Nature Reserve © Terry Alexander
After more than 35 years of endangered species status, bald eagles living south of the French and Mattawa rivers were downgraded to a species of special concern by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources in mid-August. Jody Allair, a biologist with Bird Studies Canada (BSC) who oversees field studies of a southern Ontario-wide bald eagle ...