Species at Risk
(Photo Credit: Hans Toom)The Endangered Mainland Moose
Mainland Moose. Alces alces americana.“L'orignal” (French). “Tia’m” (Mi’kmaq). By whatever name you call it, the mainland moose is critically endangered in only one province: Nova Scotia. One of Canada's most quintessential symbols of wilderness was declared provincially endangered in Nova Scotia 2003 (see the status report by the Department of Natural Resources). Since then, CPAWS Nova Scotia has worked hard, with partners, to raise awareness of the plight of the mainland moose, and to encourage the Province to do what it takes to save this amazing animal.
To achieve these objectives, we try to increase the public profile of mainland moose issues in the media through press releases, and we have evaluated scientific research and local ecological knowledge relating to the history, status and conservation of Nova Scotia's mainland moose.
We have conveyed to the provincial Moose Recovery Team, of which CPAWS and other non-governmental organizations were not allowed to be a part, our important findings and recommendations regarding the Moose Recovery Plan. Our recommendations are science-based, reasonable, and use a precautionary approach. These ideas were communicated to all the members of the Moose Recovery Plan team through a letter in February 2006.
After 3 years of work, and 2 years after the province was legally required to, a Moose Recovery Plan was released in March 2007 (with a little pressure from CPAWS Nova Scotia, see photo below).
Photo: Minister of Natural Resources David Morse receives a photo gift from CPAWS-NS after being encouraged by CPAWS volunteers to release the Moose Recovery Plan.
Unfortunately, the Moose Recovery Plan is weak, and does not propose substantial measures to bring back our native moose population from the brink of extinction. For more information on the recovery plan and its shortcomings, click here.
For some facts on the mainland moose, click here.
The Moose Recovery Project falls under the scope of CPAWS Nova Scotia's Terrestrial Committee, which has a general mandate to work toward the creation of new protected areas in Nova Scotia, and to look out for species at risk. More specifically, the committee focuses on the conservation of special elements, representative ecosystems and focal species, such as the mainland moose. To learn more about the desperate situation in which moose find themselves these days, contact the CPAWS office in Halifax, and find out how YOU can help out on the Terrestrial Committee.