Sarah Cox is an award-winning journalist for The Narwhal whose work focuses on environmental issues. Her book Breaching the Peace won a BC Book Prize and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. She lives in Victoria, B.C.
In her new book Signs of Life: Field Notes from the Frontlines of Extinction, Sarah Cox takes us into labs, out on the land, and into conversations with people and projects going to extremes to protect species at risk from extinction. But are desperate measures in these desperate times always the right approach? And will they be enough if habitat itself is not protected? Cox’s boots-on-the-ground immersive work reveals surprising scenes unfolding around the country and reminds us that we’re all on the frontlines of our changing world.
Interviewed by Amy Reiswig
Amy Reiswig (AR): It sounds like some of the people you interview here are folks you’ve known a long time through your investigative journalism at The Narwhal. Others were, perhaps, more recent connections. How and why did this book come about?
Sarah Cox (SC): As journalist, I was writing about some of the increasingly elaborate and expensive things we’re doing to try to save endangered species at the eleventh hour – hatching spotted owls in a lab while forest sounds play in the background, flying pregnant caribou to mountain top pens where they’re fed lichen hand-picked by volunteers, surgically implanting transmitters in Vancouver Island marmots. At the same time, in many instances, governments were continuing to sanction the destruction of the very things – old-growth forests and Prairie grasslands, for example – that these species need to survive and thrive, the places they call home. In the book, I wanted to detail what is happening across Canada and to dig into why our efforts to pull species back from the brink of extinction are so often last-minute and, well, desperate – and also to look at what we can do to turn things around.
AR: Tell me about the subtitle “Field Notes from the Frontlines of Extinction.” It emphasizes your personal experience and also highlights the idea that species extinction is right there in front of us. Why were these two things important to foreground?
SC: I was lucky enough to be able to visit fascinating projects and initiatives across the country that are striving to save endangered species – from reproductive science laboratories at the Toronto Zoo, where sperm and living cells from endangered species are frozen to use for breeding and for future use, to military bases and captive breeding facilities. I also witnessed the annual cull of cormorants in Lake Erie, aimed at saving at-risk trees, which anchors a chapter on killing one species to ‘save’ another. In other instances – cloning black-footed ferrets, for instance — my ‘field’ notes came from Zoom interviews. The threat of extinctions is all around us. In many ways, we’re all on the frontlines. I didn’t realize before I started the book that 5,000 wild species in Canada are at some risk of extinction and about 900 are critically imperiled, meaning they may soon be lost. People think of Canada as a natural wonderland, full of wildlife. The truth is that many species in our country are now at risk of extinction. We have a narrow window to change that, if we act now.
AR: People, particularly those in power, can have difficulty admitting they don’t know things. Is ego/resistance to humility part of the problem when it comes to our approach to endangered species?
SC: People ask, “Don’t we have laws to protect endangered species?” And we do have a federal law, the Species at Risk Act. But for the most part, it automatically applies only to federal land. In B.C., that’s only one per cent of the land base, including national parks, military bases and post offices. B.C. is one of four provinces – plus the Yukon — that doesn’t have a stand-alone law to protect species at risk of extinction. Even provinces that do have laws, like Ontario and Nova Scotia, don’t often follow them. And although the federal government can step in and issue an emergency order to protect endangered species on provincial land, it’s only done this for two species – the western chorus frog in Quebec and greater sage grouse in Alberta and Saskatchewan. We’ve given the federal law a 21-year test drive. It isn’t working very well. Provinces are focused, first and foremost, on resource extraction. Our wildlife is the by-catch. Our approach needs to shift – we need to balance resource extraction with protecting wildlife and biodiversity.
AR: One of the things that fascinates me about science, information and learning is the role of randomness and happenstance. Did coincidence or serendipity play a part in your interviews and/or discoveries for this book?
SC: Serendipity played a huge role, mostly because I had a limited amount of time to research and write the book – I had a 12-month leave from work. I contacted a slew of people right across the country. Some said ‘yes, come and visit our project’ or were willing to jump on the phone or a Zoom call. They are ones featured in the book; I’m very grateful to them for sharing their time and knowledge. I also had other things lined up that fell through because people were sick or the weather was terrible and I simply didn’t have time to reschedule. In the end, it all worked out. I tried to balance things out between the provinces and different types of species – mammals, birds, plants, reptiles, etc. At the very end I realized I had field notes on two owl species. But I loved both sections, so there are still two owl species – the spotted owl and the burrowing owl — in the book.
AR: There were a lot of surprises for me in here, such as the existence and sheer size of wildlife areas on Canada’s military bases. What surprised you the most during your research?
SC: I had heard a podcast about endangered species and rich biodiversity on an American military base and wanted to see if the same held true in Canada. And indeed, Canadian military bases are havens for biodiversity. Because they’re on federal land and the Species at Risk Act automatically applies, they’re obliged to protect at-risk species. Many bases have their own biologists to advise them. I was surprised to find out that some military maneuvers can mimic the traditional role that bison played on the Prairies. Soldiers were even helping build artificial burrows for endangered owls. The more I learned, the more surprised I was. The other eye-opener for me was that I went into this project feeling a bit despondent about the state of affairs but came out of it feeling more hopeful. There are so many people across the country working to help species at risk of extinction. An Indigenous community that helps caribou cross a busy highway. A group called SPLAT here on Vancouver Island that built a highway tunnel for red-legged frogs and other amphibians (SPLAT stands for the Society for the Prevention of Little Amphibian Tragedies). I could list so many examples.
AR: You’ll be reading at the new Re-Story Forest Walk event at W̱MÍYEŦEN nature sanctuary this year. How does telling these stories outside on the land help connect listeners to your message?
SC: The W̱MÍYEŦEN nature sanctuary is the perfect place for a conversation about at-risk species and the many kernels of hope that we can still turn things around. Indigenous Peoples are playing a key role in protecting species and biodiversity right across the country. The sanctuary is on the territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, who traditionally used the area for hunting, gathering food and medicines and spiritual and cultural uses and are involved in its preservation. The property is part of Vancouver Island’s endangered coastal Douglas fir zone, a tiny ecosystem home to almost 30 endangered plant communities. It’s a great example of what a community working together can do to safeguard wildlife and nature.