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Raising biodiversity awareness and sharing conservation solutions for a vibrant future for all species. Building a safety NET for our children's children.

04/10/2026

What’s the superpower of Atlantic puffins? 🐧✨

These incredible seabirds can dive beneath the waves, hold their breath for up to a minute, and catch dozens of fish in a single trip! Sometimes as many as 60 at once!

Did you know that around 95% of North America’s Atlantic puffins breed along the coastlines of Newfoundland and Labrador? It’s no surprise this charismatic bird is the official provincial bird and is a symbol of Canada’s rich coastal biodiversity 💚🌊

Have you ever seen an Atlantic puffin in person?! Let us know in the comments!

📸 Zysman / Getty Images / Canva

04/06/2026

Happy Easter from the NET! 🌿🐰

Bunnies have long been associated with Easter for their symbolism of spring, renewal, and fertility! But here in Canada, there’s more to the story. Did you know that most animals in Canada that we call “rabbits” are actually hares? 👀 
🐇 True rabbits are limited in Canada to the Eastern cottontail and Nuttall’s cottontail. They live mainly in southern regions and rely on shrubs, grasslands, and forest edges for cover.

🐰 Hares are widespread across Canada, and are the Snowshoe hare, the Arctic hare, and the White-tailed jackrabbit.

🔍 Key differences: • Hares are born fully furred, with eyes open, and can move almost immediately! They also generally have longer ears and longer hind feet than rabbits • Rabbits are born hairless, with eyes closed, and depend on nests or burrows! They also tend to be smaller than hares

🌱 Both rabbits and hares are essential to healthy ecosystems, supporting predators and shaping plant communities across Canada. They each play distinct roles: hares are key prey species in northern food webs (helping regulate predator populations), while rabbits influence vegetation structure in southern habitats through grazing and seed dispersal.

💚 Protecting their habitats means protecting biodiversity. This includes conserving grasslands and forests and planting native and biodiversity-supportive plant species in our communities.

🚨 While they may look cute, rabbits may not make the best pets. In fact, many domestic rabbits are abandoned weeks after Easter each year. If you’re looking for some bunny love, instead consider supporting a local animal shelter or visiting a local farm!

📸 The Canadian Encyclopedia and iNaturalist

04/02/2026

Hidden deep in B.C.’s southern interior lies one of the rarest ecosystems on Earth: the inland temperate rainforest. Home to ancient cedar trees, endangered wildlife, and species still unknown to science, this forest faces ongoing threats from human activity🌲

🪵 Scientists and conservationists are calling for urgent action to protect these untouched valleys before it’s too late, as two logging companies hold licences here, and BC Timber Sales also operates in the area. In response, a 2019 proposal to permanently protect 10,500 hectares across the Rainbow, Frisby, and Jordan valleys has gained renewed attention, with Revelstoke city council supporting stronger conservation measures for this critically endangered ecosystem.

🌱 Protecting old growth reflects the deeper relationship we choose to have with the natural world around us — ideas central to NET Board Chair Ann Dale’s new book, Beyond the Edge. This newly published work advocates for protecting old-growth forests and putting an end to their destruction as one of the recommended solutions toward a socially just, culturally rich, spiritually fulfilling, ecologically regenerative, and economically circular future.

🍃 Learn more about the proposal and the extraordinary biodiversity of B.C.’s inland rainforest in our latest blog post right at the link in bio!

📸 Louis Bockner

03/14/2026

Who are these mysterious visitors in Vancouver’s harbour? 🐋

ICYMI: A rare trio of killer whales never previously recorded in Canadian waters, made an unexpected appearance in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet this week!

The three orcas, now catalogued as T419, T420, and T421, spent several days circling Vancouver’s harbour, drawing excitement from wildlife watchers and marine scientists across the coast.

Why does this matter?!
Photos shared by local observers helped researchers identify the whales and confirm something remarkable: this is the first time a population of Bigg’s killer whales, other than the well-known West Coast transient population, has been documented in the Salish Sea in more than 50 years of whale research in BC!!

Distinct scarring believed to be from cookie-cutter sharks helped match the trio to whales photographed near Anchorage, Alaska last March. Why they travelled so far south remains a mystery, but scientists say it is likely linked to our changing ocean conditions, impacting food availability and other ecological factors.

This sighting highlights the incredible role of citizen science!! Photos and videos shared by the public helped researchers identify the whales and track their movements before they were later spotted near Seattle.

Moments like this remind us how much there still is to learn about the ecosystems along our coast and how we can all play a role in protecting biodiversity through supporting science with recording community observations!

📸 Photo credit: Alex Coles / Howe Sound and Sea to Sky Wildlife Sightings Group / the Orca Man
orca.man

03/05/2026

March has arrived, and with it some of the first signs of spring! 🌸

Mourning cloaks, eastern commas, and Milbert’s tortoiseshells are often among the earliest butterflies to appear on warm spring days. Did you know that unlike many butterfly species, they spend the winter as adults, sheltering in leaf litter, tree bark, and other protected spaces until temperatures rise. This is why leaving leaf litter in your yard or garden in the fall is important! It can help support these early spring butterflies and the many other insects that rely on it for winter shelter, and helps support biodiversity.

These hardy butterflies are found across much of Canada, and their early emergence helps support spring ecosystems. Next time the sun comes out on a mild March day, keep an eye out. You might just spot one of these early spring fliers.

What’s your favourite early sign of spring? Let us know in the comments! 🌷🦋

02/28/2026

Across Canada, the seasons are shifting! ☀️❄️🍂🌷

Nearly 80% of the country has moved into warmer plant hardiness zones in the last decade. As a result, flowering times are changing.

These changes don’t just affect gardens, but they reshape ecosystems! When plants fall out of sync with pollinators and wildlife, food webs weaken and biodiversity declines.

Protecting plant life means protecting the foundation of the ecosystems that sustain us.

Learn more about what these shifts mean for biodiversity in Canada, right at the link in our bio 👉

📸 Leanne Cadden

ProtectOurPlanet

02/26/2026

Stunning ink illustration of a jellyfish by Leanne Cadden captures the quiet elegance of one of the ocean’s most ancient life forms 🌊✨

Did you know that Jellyfish have existed for over 500 million years? That’s long before even the dinosaurs! Jellyfish are thriving in oceans that now border Canada’s three coasts: the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic.

In Canadian waters, species like the moon jelly play important roles in marine food webs, serving as both predator and prey. Their presence can even signal changes in ocean temperature and ecosystem balance.

Art reminds us that biodiversity isn’t just scientific data, but is also beautiful, rich in history, and fragile.

02/21/2026

“Time for Canadians to get serious about decarbonization and protecting biodiversity, according to this luminous eco-manifesto.”

The next book, Beyond the Edge: Reconciliation Reconnection Regeneration, by NET Board Chair Ann Dale is a powerful roadmap toward a future that is socially just, culturally rich, spiritually fulfilling, ecologically regenerative, and economically circular.

Reviews are in, and Kirkus Reviews calls it “a provocative, informed, and compelling brief for the protection of a beautiful, imperiled world.”

We now have the potential to transform humanity’s relationship with the planet and create a regenerative future. Beyond the Edge is a manifesto offering world-changing solutions to leap beyond the edge towards sustainability.

Visit the link in our bio to read the full review right on our website blog at: oursafetynet.org/net-blog/

02/04/2026

We have the knowledge to transform human and environmental well-being by recognizing that we are inextricably connected to the natural world.

📖 Beyond the Edge: Reconciliation, Reconnection, Regeneration, the new book by NET Board Chair Ann Dale offers a powerful roadmap toward a future that is socially just, culturally rich, spiritually fulfilling, ecologically regenerative, and economically circular. Each chapter includes an original painting from Nancyanne Cowell, one of Canada’s most compelling atmospheric landscape painters.

Over five years, art historian Stephanie Webb made visits to Cowell’s studio, witnessing the evolution of the paintings created for Beyond the Edge. Her review offers a profound tribute to this body of work.

We’re excited to share this excerpt from Stephanie’s full art review celebrating the paintings that illuminate Beyond the Edge! You can read the full art review on our website blog, right at the Link in Our Bio.

👉 Swipe to explore a selection of Cowell’s luminous work for Beyond the Edge.

01/29/2026

What’s the most important thing you can do for the environment? VOTE.

Did you know that municipal elections have the lowest voter turnout? Yet, it is our local governments that profoundly shape our daily lives, from transportation, land use, and infrastructure, to buildings and essential services.

In her new book, Beyond the Edge, acclaimed social scientist and NET Board Chair, Ann Dale reminds us that regenerating our communities begins with local action. Voting is the first critical step.

Regeneration means knowing your community by understanding its social, ecological, and biodiversity assets, and holding leaders accountable for how they protect and strengthen them. When we recognize nature as a community asset, sustainability becomes a tool for regeneration.

📖 Beyond the Edge presents a roadmap for regenerative resilience 👉 Available now at Indigo in print and e-book.

01/26/2026

Since 2022, photographers Jim Elzinga and Roger Vernon have been documenting the Columbia Icefield, capturing the beauty of glaciers while they still exist. Their project, titled Meltdown, is part of an initiative by the nonprofit , combining art and science showing us all what is at stake as glaciers melt ❄️

Glacial loss isn’t simply just ice disappearing. It affects ecosystems, freshwater, and the biodiversity that depends on stable habitats. Meltdown turns climate data into something we can see and feel, helping us understand the urgency for change that is needed to address what’s happening in Canada’s ecosystems and in ecosystems around the world.

📸 Here are just a few of our favourite photos. Explore their striking images and read the full photo essay in , and read our full blog post about melting glacial ice at: oursafetynet.com/blog

All photos: and Roger Vernon

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