Meet some of the B.C. species at risk of disappearing, and which call the Kootenay and Columbia region home. Today is #EndangeredSpeciesDay, and with roughly 1,950 species and ecological communities at risk of disappearing in B.C., we have more species-at-risk than any other Canadian province or territory. So, what are we doing to protect them? The federal government’s Species At Risk Act (SARA) protects listed species only on federal lands — about 1% of B.C. For the other 99% of the province, B.C. has various pieces of provincial legislation like the Wildlife Act, the Land Act, and the Forest and Range Practices Act, that offer some piecemeal protections. But they leave large gaps, and often fail to address the big drivers of species decline. What B.C. really needs is a stand-alone law that protects at-risk species. We seemed to be on our way when the BC government released a draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework in 2023. But since then, progress has stalled and it's now unclear when we can expect a finalized framework, or a new law. 📸s: Southern Mountain Caribou (Rangifer tarandus pop. 1). By Cory DeStein Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) Little Brown Bat (Myotis lucifugus). By Jason Headley American Badger (Taxidea taxus). By Ben Bluhm Western Toad (Anaxyrus boreas). By Andrew Nydam (fb)

Students from Cranbrook’s Gordon Terrace Elementary got up close and personal with the world of carnivores and omnivores in their recent Wildsight Classroom with Outdoors field trip. The Grade 4 kids became nature detectives as they studied replica scat, scrutinized wildlife tracks and scoured their surroundings to learn about the wildlife that lives hidden amongst us. 👀 Want to learn more about the resources this class was using? Join our free workshop Tuesday, May 20th with our partners at the @outdoorlearningschoolandstore. 🐾 📸: Jenny Rae Bateman https://vist.ly/3n4eh5n (fb)