Species at risk
Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site
The Southwest Nova Biosphere Region, which includes Kejimkujik, contains over three-quarters of Nova Scotia’s species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act and/or Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and the Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act.
This makes this area one of Canada’s biodiversity hotspots with many species found nowhere else in Canada! A vast watershed of lakes, rivers, and wetlands contributes to this biological productivity.
On this page
- Species at risk in Kejimkujik and Kejimkujik Seaside
- You can help!
- Species at Risk Act (SARA)
- Southwest Nova Biosphere Reserve
- Learn more
Species at risk in Kejimkujik and Kejimkujik Seaside
Information on some of the species at risk found within Kejimkujik and Kejimkujik Seaside, including monitoring and recovery actions being undertaken by Parks Canada researchers, can be found below.
Endangered species
- American marten
- Barn swallow
- Blanding’s turtle
- Eastern red bat
- Harlequin duck
- Hoary bat
- Little brown myotis bat
- Mainland moose
- Monarch butterfly
- Northern myotis bat
- Piping plover
- Red knot
- Roseate tern
- Silver-haired bat
- Tri-coloured bat
- Vole ears lichen
- Water pennywort
Threatened species
- American eel
- Black ash (Wisqoq)
- Black-foam lichen
- Canada warbler
- Common nighthawk
- Chimney swift
- Eastern ribbonsnake
- Olive-sided flycatcher
- Scaly fringe lichen
- White-rimmed shingle lichen
- Wrinkled shingle lichen
Special Concern species
- Barrow’s goldeneye
- Blue felt lichen
- Eastern wood pewee
- Eastern painted turtle
- Evening grosbeak
- Frosted glass whiskers lichen
- Horned grebe
- Lesser yellowlegs
- Long’s bulrush
- Snapping turtle
- Yellow-banded bumblebee
You can help!
Park staff, researchers and volunteers are involved with hands-on research and recovery efforts to help these species.
Species at Risk Act (SARA)
The Species at Risk Act (SARA) provides legal protection for species under different categories of extinction risk. When a species is listed under any of these categories, it means that measures are being taken to protect and restore their populations.
Categories of extinction risk
Special Concern species
A wildlife species that may become a threatened or an endangered species because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.
Threatened species
A wildlife species that is likely to become endangered if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction.
Endangered species
A wildlife species that is facing imminent extirpation or extinction.
Extirpated species
A wildlife species that no longer exists in the wild in Canada, but exists elsewhere.
Extinct species
A wildlife species that no longer exists.
Southwest Nova Biosphere Region
The Southwest Nova Biosphere Region encompasses the southwestern portion of the Nova Scotian peninsula, including Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site. This area was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2001 as one of Canada’s 19 UNESCO Biosphere Regions in recognition of the region’s "exceptional biodiversity and cultural value."
Some of the wildlife species found within this region are found nowhere else in Canada, with much of this biodiversity centered around the inland portion of the biosphere in and around Kejimkujik and the adjoining Tobeatic Wilderness Area. Within Kejimkujik, many of these nationally rare species can be found in abundance, turning a leisurely walk along a woodland trail or peaceful lakeshore into a journey of ecological discovery!
Learn more
- Species at Risk Act
- Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act
- Species at Risk in Nova Scotia: Identification and Information Guide
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora in Nova Scotia: Identification and Information Guide
- Butterfly Club – Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute
- Simple actions landowners can take to help species at risk - Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute
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