Successful Applicant: Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Center
Award:
$5,000
Project Title:
Wildlife Status Ranking for Prince Edward Island
Project Gallery:
Project Summary:
The Atlantic Canada Conservation Data Centre maintains provincial status ranks for over 5300 species of wildlife on Prince Edward Island. Status ranking follows international NatureServe standards through which ranks are calculated based on consistent consideration of factors such as range, area of occupancy, population, threats and trends in population as entered into a rank calculator spreadsheet. Ranks for native species are thus determined as being S1, S2, S3, S4 or S5, with S1 being the most critically imperiled and S5 being the most secure. These status ranks are the primary standard (after legal listing under the Species at Risk Act, which covers relatively few species on PEI) by which species’ significance is determined in relation to environmental impact assessments and other land management decisions. Provincial status ranks are thus a critical source of information for prioritizing conservation effort on the species where it is most valuable.
The provincial status ranks from PEI are also sent by AC CDC to the National General Status of Wildlife assessments on behalf of the PEI Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry in order to meet the Department’s obligations under the Federal-Provincial Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk.
This project helps to fund the extensive work required to develop accurate status ranks for Prince Edward Island species, including developing provincial species lists (what species are present, what species are excluded because of taxonomic change, inadequate documentation or previous identification errors), preparing occurrence data for standardized entry into the rank calculator, entering that data, documenting the justifications of results, soliciting participation and feedback from other experts, and data basing the results.