FULFILLING SARA’S

PURPOSES: A SCIENTIFIC

PERSPECTIVE ON RECOVERY

AND MANAGEMENT OF

SPECIES AT RISK

Justina C. Ray, Ph.D.

Purposes of SARA (2002)

Prevent Canadian indigenous species, subspecies,

and distinct populations from becoming extirpated

or extinct,

Provide for the recovery of endangered or

threatened species, and

Encourage the management of other species to

prevent them from becoming at risk.

Obligations under SARA:

Engage in Recovery Planning

Prepare a Recovery Strategy and Action Plan for every species listed as Threatened or Endangered

Within the Recovery Strategy:

A Recovery Goal sets the strategic course for recovery planning by defining what „recovery‟ means

Population and Distribution Objectives establish the number of individuals and/or populations and the geographic distribution of the species required to successfully reach the recovery goal.

SARA does not define Recovery

Recovery Planners must rely on:

Ordinary meaning of the word

Interpretations of the legislation provide guidance

as to intent

Scientific understanding of what is required to

secure the long-term conservation of species

“Recovery” must provide

a Scientific Baseline

Ordinary Meaning of “Recovery”

Dictionary: regaining something lost, or returning or

restoring something to a normal (pre‐harm)

condition

does not mean either getting any worse than the

current state or staying the same

The state of having returned to a

normal (pre‐harm) condition

SARA’s Purposes and Structure

Provide Insight:

SARA’s purposes: Recovery is a state distinct

from survival;

SARA’s preamble: recovery means more than

just keeping the species present in Canada;

and

SARA’s structure: Recovery is defined for each

listed species based on scientific and technical,

but not socioeconomic, considerations.

Modified from: Mooers et al. 2010.

Science, Policy, and Species at Risk in

Canada. BioScience.

SARA keeps baseline

scientific information

transparent and

distinctly separate from

stages in the process at

which socio‐economic

factors are considered

s. 49

s. 41

Final Recovery Strategy

Policy Guidance under SARA

Conservation Biology

Founded in the mid-

1980s as a “crisis

discipline”

emphasizing the

categorization and

quantification of

extinction risk

Current Ecological Understanding

Species with Secure Conservation

Status (Recovered) has:

Multiple populations across the species‟ natural range,

In representative ecological settings,

With replicate populations in each setting that are:

Self‐sustaining,

Genetically robust,

Ecologically functional, and

Resilient to climate and other changes

Redford et al. 2011. What does It mean to successfully conserve a (vertebrate) species? BioScience, 61:39-48.

Minimum Required Scale of Focus for

Fully Conserved Species

D E M O G R A P H I C

R I S K M A N A G E M E N T

Demographic Viability and

Genetic Integrity

Ecological Functionality

Lotze et el.

2011

Redundancy, Representation, and

Resilience

Redundancy multiple, geographically dispersed

populations and habitats across a species range

Representation retention of genetic,

morphological, physiological, behavioral, habitat,

or ecological diversity of the species so its adaptive

capabilities are conserved.

Resiliency the ability of the species to recover

from periodic disturbance

How much Recovery is Enough?

Must be sufficiently precautionary to safeguard against

most future threats (and therefore risks) to the species‟

long‐term persistence as a part of biological diversity

Our Scientific Knowledge often

Precludes Setting Targets

Common Reasons to Lower the Bar

for Recovery Goals/Objectives

Confusing stages of recovery with separate

objectives

Confusing biological/technical feasibility with lack

of investment, will, or “social carrying capacity”

Confusing criteria for recovery with measures for

extinction risk

1. Stages of Recovery

States or stages of Recovery ≠ a Range of Objectives

Redford et al. 2011

2. Biological and Technical Feasibility

Informs the plausible limits to recovery for a species

SARA makes clear that this determination of feasibility does not include consideration of socioeconomics

Draft guidance: 1) reproduction capability, 2) habitat availability or restoration potential, 3) whether threats can be avoided or mitigated, and 4) whether demonstrably effective recovery techniques exist.

Biological and Technical Feasibility

Gray wolf

Historical

At “recovery”

Bergstrom et al. 2009

3. Recovery ≠ De-listing

IUCN Red List categories are intended to guide

the classification of species into threat

categories that reflect the likelihood of a

species going extinct under prevailing

circumstances (Mace et al. 2008).

Identify species that are relatively close to the

endpoint on a downward trajectory

Consequences of Equating De-listing

with Recovery

Policy decisions would begin at a threshold from

which very little can be traded off before long-term

persistence is in doubt;

Preclude the design of Recovery Strategies that get a

species well away from at‐risk status;

Species bouncing on and off the SARA list

Loss of transparent distinction between science and

policy considerations

COSEWIC Delisting ≠ Recovery

Atlantic Cod

Woodland Caribou, Boreal Population

Boreal Caribou: Final Recovery

Strategy (Oct 5, 2012)

Purposes of SARA (2002)

Prevent Canadian indigenous species, subspecies,

and distinct populations from becoming extirpated

or extinct,

Provide for the recovery of endangered or

threatened species, and

Encourage the management of other species to

prevent them from becoming at risk.

Special Concern Species

Preventing species from becoming at risk of

extinction is one distinct purpose of the Act

SC species are those that may become a

threatened or endangered because of a

combination of biological characteristics and

identified threats

Management plan must include “measures for the

conservation of the species that the competent

minister considers appropriate”

“Manage” under SARA is also

undefined

Dictionary: to bring

about or succeed at

accomplishing

To resolve a disorderly

situation into an

intentionally orderly

situation.

RISKS and Trade-offs viewed from

Different Perspectives

Policy Making Science

Take-home Messages

Defining recovery under SARA is a scientific process set within a complicated legal and policy context;

To be scientifically defensible, and precautionary, recovery for must be defined as the maximum degree of restoration of the pre-harm state that is scientifically and technically feasible; and

Recovery must maximize the species‟ capacity to contribute to biodiversity and ecological functionality, its resilience to environmental change, and thus its likelihood of long term persistence.

Take-home Messages

There are many pressures that lead to lowering the bar in defining recovery;

Allowing for this under the banner of socioeconomic pragmatism can and does promote continued incremental loss of populations and distribution, increases extinction risk, and is usually scientifically arbitrary; and

Preventing species from becoming “at risk” is a distinct purpose of the Act but is in practice an afterthought