Recovery planning

When wildlife species are listed under the Species at Risk Act as endangered or threatened, recovery strategies and action plans must be created.

Protecting species together

To support the conservation of species at risk in Canada, the Framework for Aquatic Species at Risk Conservation was developed to encourage collaborative, multi-species approaches to conservation and recovery. These approaches focus on species listed under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) but can also benefit species not yet listed, such as those assessed as at risk by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). By aligning recovery actions across multiple species, the Framework aims to improve conservation outcomes, strengthen partnerships, and increase co-benefits for biodiversity, ecosystems, and communities.

Recovery strategies

Recovery strategies are written by recovery teams made up of technical experts from universities, conservation groups, industry and government. These teams review information on each species and also consider the larger ecosystem in which those species reside. If necessary, the strategies can be expanded to include protections for entire ecosystems and not just individual species.

Parties who may be involved in the development of recovery strategies include federal, provincial, and territorial ministers, wildlife management boards, Aboriginal organizations, landowners and lessees.

Recovery strategies outline short-term objectives and long-term goals for protecting and recovering species at risk. They:

• describe the particular species and its needs
• identify threats to survival
• classify the species' critical habitat, where possible;
• provide examples of activities that are likely to result in destruction of the critical habitat
• set goals, objectives and approaches for species recovery
• identify information gaps that should be addressed
• state when one or more action plans relating to the strategy will be completed

These strategies must be completed within one year of a species being listed as endangered, and within two years of a species being listed as threatened or extirpated (extinct in Canada).

Action plans

Action plans are created once recovery strategies are complete. They summarize projects and activities to meet recovery strategy objectives and goals, and include information on habitat, details of protection measures, and evaluations of socio-economic costs and benefits.

More specifically, the action plan includes:

• an identification of the species' critical habitat (unless it is not possible to do so) and examples of activities that are likely to affect it
• proposed measures for protecting the critical habitat
• an identification of any portions of the critical habitat that have not been protected
• a statement of the steps for implementing the recovery strategy and when they are to take place
• an evaluation of the socio-economic costs of the action plan and any implementation benefits

Similar to recovery strategies, action plans are dynamic documents that can be modified over time.