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Species at Risk
In 2003, the Canadian federal government passed the
Species at Risk Act (
SARA), a commitment to take the steps necessary to help endangered and threatened species recover and to prevent species at risk from becoming threatened or endangered. One of the ways that
SARA protects species at risk is by prohibiting the destruction of habitat essential to the survival of species that are assessed as extirpated, endangered, threatened, or at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). When a proposed development has the potential to affect such habitat,
SARA requires that detailed mitigation and monitoring plans that are consistent with proposed recovery/protection strategies be developed as a component of the Environmental Assessment process. NSC has worked closely with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the federal body responsible for the protection of aquatic species, to address requirements under
SARA, particularly for Lake Sturgeon. Within Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario, NSC has studied five Lake Sturgeon populations that have been identified as endangered: the Nelson River, Saskatchewan River, Winnipeg River and English River, Red-Assiniboine Rivers - Lake Winnipeg and Western Hudson Bay populations. As a result of their unique breadth of knowledge in this area, company personnel were invited to contribute the 2016 COSEWIC status report on Lake Sturgeon.
Representative projects:
