Making a Difference

One of the best ways to make a difference in wildlife conservation in British Columbia is to develop and implement conservation priorities that provide the structure for assessing which species and habitats require attention. A discussion of conservation priorities can be viewed by clicking the link.

Once conservation priorities are developed, and subjected to regular re-appraisal, informed decisions must be made so that appropriate decisions can be made on the kinds of research, monitoring, land acquisition, and conservation action that must be taken. Making these decisions is vastly improved when decision makers, as well as the public, have the necessary tools. One such tool is data – and arguably, may be the most important tool, because without data, a true assessment of a perceived problem can not be addressed adequately.

Since 1997, the Wildlife Data Centre has devoted immense amounts of time to centralizing the single largest repository of wildlife data for British Columbia. Most of this data has come from either the public domain, or from private donations.