Carolinian Canada Coalition supports rare!
In a program targeted towards stewardship and research, rare is pleased to announce that we have just received confirmation of funding totaling $4,500!!
Run in collaboration with the University of Waterloo's faculty of Environmental Studies and Carolinian Canada, this program pairs eligible 3rd and 4th year UWFES (University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environmental Studies) students with various organizations for a mutually beneficial research project. In celebration we, share this news and report how excited we are to be a part of this initiative.
The goal of this program is to provide skills to employers while providing training for students. As well it supports critical biodiversity conservation, research, environmental planning and decision making in the ‘Carolinian Life Zone’ and area considered to be the most threatened in Canada in terms of species and ecosystems at risk.
At rare, the successful candidate will be monitoring butterfly populations and forest health. Monitoring initiatives at rare are critical. They collect baseline data on the abundance and diversity of flora & fauna at the northern edge of the Carolinian Life Zone. An annual butterfly monitoring protocol will provide invaluable data on population trends over time. Butterfly monitoring at rare was completed in 2006 and 2009, but we feel an annual monitoring initiative is necessary to properly assess the health of butterfly populations. This way, we can detect negative trends while there is still time to steward habitat for the species in question.
The monitoring data will help determine which butterfly species are declining in number and may be at risk. This data could be part of the evidence used for changing the status of a butterfly species. A downgrade in status could lead to protective measures and/or funding for habitat stewardship and/or habitat restoration.
Monitoring data could also be used to select appropriate stewardship projects which will improve critical habitat and identify long-term goals for enhancing and protecting species and ecosystems within rare and elsewhere in the Carolinian zone.
The butterfly monitoring data will also prove valuable to any researchers looking at: the benefits to butterflies of naturalizing and restoring adjacent agricultural areas; the potential effects of pesticide use on butterfly populations; the effect of increased urbanization on butterfly diversity; and the response of butterfly populations to climate change.
For information on this program or monitoring and research projects at rare please contact Peter Kelly at pekelly@raresites.org or at 519-650-9336 ext. 126