North America

Program Highlights                        

Adirondack Alarm Call

The common loon’s mournful yodel has new significance, according to researchers who traced the impacts of environmental pollution on this denizen of northern wilderness. The 18-year study—conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the BioDiversity Research Institute, and other organizations—confirms that human-generated mercury emissions degrade the health and reproductive success of loons in the Northeast.

Unafraid of the Big, Bad Wolf

The big, bad wolf could use a few friends. If western states remove the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act—a decision currently under debate—consequences could be grave. Wyoming and Idaho announced they would reduce their populations of approximately 300 and 700 wolves, respectively, by 50 percent and 80 percent. 

Journey to Teshekpuk - an arctic nursery

Arctic Alaska contains one of the world’s last great wildlife spectacles. On its coastal plain, a region dotted by thousands of lakes and fertile wet tundra, millions of migratory birds come from all over the world to rear their young. The aggregations of breeding birds are most numerous in western arctic Alaska, particularly near Teshekpuk Lake.

Right of Passage for Moose

A new study shows that pregnant moose move closer to town when it’s time to give birth. It’s not the pickles and ice cream they’re after, however, but security from road-shy grizzly bears. The study, by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) biologist Dr. Joel Berger, focused on moose in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. By moving closer to people, the animals can better shield their calves from becoming bear dinner. The study was published in the journal Biology Letters.

Map the Thaw, Save the Bears

The ice is melting. Across the Arctic polar cap, sea ice is receding as global temperatures rise, and so the amount of open water grows. Though polar bears—Earth’s largest land predators— historically knew no boundaries, today their habitat is increasingly fragmented by watery roadblocks. No longer able to pad the ice from Russia to Alaska and Canada to Greenland, the bears find themselves stuck on shore for longer periods of the year. And with their principal prey, ringed and bearded seals, out of reach, they face starvation, and sometimes drowning.

Nurturing Nature’s Balance

The grizzled shadow, the distant howl…do animals fear these signs by instinct, or from experience? A recent study by Wildlife Conservation Society scientist Dr. Joel Berger reveals that several large prey species, including moose, caribou, and elk, fear only predators they regularly encounter. If you take away wolves, you take away fear. And with no need to flee prowling predators, the migrant animals change their use of an ecosystem, with penetrating impacts. Berger’s finding could help shape efforts to reintroduce large carnivores in places they have been exterminated.

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History of WCS in North America
Since its creation as the New York Zoological Society in 1895, the Wildlife Conservation Society has played a central role in North American conservation. In 1897, WCS carried out the first survey of Alaskan wildlife, which led to the passage of laws to control overhunting. In 1905, WCS General Director William Hornaday initiated the campaign to save bison from extinction through captive breeding and successful reintroduction in reserves across the American West. In 1912, Hornaday helped draft the first legislation protecting migratory birds and their habitats. 
 
Throughout this past century, WCS has supported pioneering field studies of key species such as bighorn sheep, black-footed ferrets, grizzly bears, mountain lions and bald eagles, and helped create more than 30 U.S. parks and reserves, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Olympic and Wind Cave National Parks.

WCS in North America Today
As it enters its second century, WCS continues to build on this North American tradition by informing and inspiring people to care about native wildlife and ecosystems. WCS renewed its North America program in 1994 with the idea that its cooperative, information-based approach could improve conservation on this continent. In the US, Canada and Mexico, WCS provides technical assistance and biological expertise to local groups and agencies that lack the resources to tackle conservation dilemmas. WCS supports comprehensive field studies to gather information on wildlife needs and resolve key conservation problems.  Our success is bolstered by working with a broad array of stakeholders, including local community members, conservation groups, regulatory agencies and commercial interests.

For more information

For a complete list of WCS North America projects and conservation issues click here

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Telephone: (406) 522-9333 x101

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