BC Pilot project

Species at Risk Act (SARA) Consultation, Cooperation and Accommodation Project in British Columbia​

The Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) partnered with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on a Species At Risk Act (SARA) Consultation, Cooperation, and Accommodation Project in British Columbia. This page includes resources that supported this pilot project (e.g. workshop recordings, reports, other materials, key links).

Project Overview

This project facilitated Indigenous communities’ and organizations’ participation in federal recovery planning for seven terrestrial Species at Risk: Grizzly Bear, Southern Mountain Caribou, Bank Swallow, Western Screech-Owl, Oregon Forestsnail, American Badger, and Marbled Murrelet. CIER supported Indigenous communities and organizations and ECCC in their collaborative work including: recovery document development, knowledge and language sharing, and land use planning for species at risk on reserve lands.

Key Project Components

  • Consultation and Cooperation workshops
  • Modest capacity funding
  • Project evaluation report: outcomes, successes, challenges, needs assessment and recommendations for project extension

*Please see Resources section below for workshop materials.

Overview Workshops:

  • Three full day online workshops (repeat sessions) were held on January 26th, 27th, and February 2nd to cover high-level discussion on recovery planning for Southern Mountain Caribou, Grizzly Bear, Bank Swallow, Western Screech-Owl (two sub-species), Oregon Forestsnail, American Badger, and Marbled Murrelet. ​

In-depth Workshops:

  • Six half-day workshops focused on Southern Mountain Caribou recovery planning to be scheduled for late February and March 2021
  • Individual community meetings focused on Grizzly Bear recovery planning 
  • Workshops, or meetings, on the other species listed above.  To be determined based on feedback from January session and/or individual requests

Training Sessions for Land Managers and Land Use Decision Makers:

  • 1 session on Species at Risk legislation in BC for land managers and land use decision makers – We’ll walk through a case study of a species at risk to look at roles, responsibilities, and legislative tools available in Canada and BC to help Species at Risk.   
  • 1 session on tools and resources to support Land Managers
  • Up to 3 panel events with speakers to share their experiences with SARA related work in their Nation or Organization

Funding will be provided for:

  • Communities and organizations to participate in February single species sessions
  • Invited guests to present at land-use and SARA session in March
  • Indigenous communities and organizations to undertake targeted work with a focus on the species mentioned above (e.g., Indigenous knowledge and language work, surveys and mapping, conservation planning and project proposal development, community engagement, equipment and training).  ECCC and the National Aboriginal Council on Species at Risk (NACOSAR) will review expressions of interest for this funding.
  • Expression of Interest (EOI)Supporting species specific information to help with EOI and project planning
  • Closes February 22nd, 2021.  Enquiries can be directed to: [email protected]

Resources

The following are project related materials and other SARA resources. The images were developed by a graphic recorder.  They illustrate what was heard during the presentation and discussion periods.  If you have any concerns, comments or questions please don’t hesitate to contact us (see contact information below).

Overview Workshops

Southern Mountain Caribou Workshops

Training Sessions

Speaker Presentations

​*To view a recording of the speaker presentations please visit CIER’s Youtube Channel.

Speaker Materials

​Session Summary Report (in progress)

Other SARA Resources

ECCC’s Regional and Sector Based Field Guides for Terrestrial Species at Risk:

Thank you for your interest in accessing Species at Risk Critical Habitat data. Critical Habitat data for species whose recovery strategies are posted as proposed or final on the SARA Registry is publically available via the Government of Canada’ Open Data Portal.

For access to candidate Critical Habitat spatial data that has yet to be publically posted in a recovery document, Environment and Climate Change Canada require requesters to sign a data sharing agreement. Please contact the Canadian Wildlife Service Regulatory Affairs unit at: [email protected] and a Data Sharing Agreement will be made available so that shapefiles of Critical Habitat may be shared. 

Contact

Kate Cave
Senior Project Manager, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources
[email protected] / T: (204) 956-0660 ext. 3

Shianne McKay
Senior Project Manager, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources
[email protected] / T: (204) 956-0660 ext. 9

Danielle Prevost
Canadian Wildlife Service / Environment and Climate Change Canada / Government of Canada
[email protected] / T: (236) 334-1922