Minister Response: COSEWIC species at risk assessments - January 2025

Official title: The Minister of the Environment's Response to Species at Risk Assessments submitted by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) on October 21, 2024

Table 1. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (13 species). Normal consultations: until May 19, 2025. Extended consultations: until October 19, 2025

Table 1. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (13 species)
Normal consultations: until May 19, 2025
Extended consultations: until October 19, 2025
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Birds	Endangered	Grey-headed Chickadee	Poecile cinctus	YK, NT	Extended
Molluscs	Endangered	Domed Disc	Discus patulus	ON	Normal
Vascular plants	Endangered	Cleland’s Evening-primrose	Oenothera clelandii	ON	Normal
Vascular plants	Endangered	Pine Broomrape	Aphyllon pinorum	BC	Normal
Amphibians	Threatened	Mudpuppy, Manitoba population	Necturus maculosus	MB	Normal
Birds	Threatened	Grey-cheeked Thrush minimus subspecies	Catharus minimus minimus	QC, NS, NL	Normal
Vascular plants	Threatened	Forked Bluecurls	Trichostema dichotomum	ON, QC, NS	Normal
Vascular plants	Threatened	Hibberson’s Trillium	Trillium hibbersonii	BC	Normal
Vascular plants	Threatened	Rough-leaved Aster	Eurybia radulina	BC	Normal
Amphibians	Special Concern	Mudpuppy, Great Lakes / St. Lawrence population	Necturus maculosus	ON, QC	Normal
Arthropods	Special Concern	Finlayson’s Oakworm Moth	Anisota finlaysoni	ON	Normal
Arthropods	Special Concern	Pacific Sandpirate	Lasiopogon pacificus	BC	Normal
Vascular plants	Special Concern	Prairie-dock	Silphium terebinthinaceum	ON	Normal

Table 2. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (7 species)

Table 2. Terrestrial species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (7 species)
Taxon	Proposed change to Schedule 1 status	Species	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Amphibians	From Endangered to Extirpated	Blanchard's Cricket Frog	Acris blanchardi	ON	Normal
Birds	Merge from one Special Concern and one Endangered species to one Special Concern species	Horned Grebe^{Footnote 1}	Podiceps auritus	BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NS, YK, NT, NU, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean	Extended
Birds	From Special Concern to Threatened	Long-billed Curlew	Numenius americanus	BC, AB, SK	Normal
Mosses	From Endangered to Threatened	Rigid Apple Moss	Bartramia aprica	BC	Not Applicable^{Footnote 2}
Vascular plants	From Threatened to Special Concern	Macoun's Meadowfoam	Limnanthes macounii	BC	Normal
Vascular plants	From Threatened to Special Concern	White Wood Aster	Eurybia divaricata	ON, QC	Normal
Vascular plants	From Threatened to Special Concern	Willowleaf Aster	Symphyotrichum praealtum	ON	Normal

Table 3. Terrestrial species on Schedule 1 and recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (3 species)

Table 3. Terrestrial species on Schedule 1 and recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (3 species)
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species	Scientific name	Range
Birds	Endangered	Ivory Gull	Pagophila eburnea	NL, NT, NU, Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean
Birds	Endangered	Kirtland's Warbler	Setophaga kirtlandii	ON, QC
Birds	Special Concern	Yellow Rail	Coturnicops noveboracensis	BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NB, NT

Table 4. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (3 species)

Table 4. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for addition to Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act (3 species)
Taxon	COSEWIC status	Species (designatable unit or DU)	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Fishes (freshwater)	Threatened	Little Quarry Lake Benthic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC	Addition to Schedule 1 for which there will be no further consultations^{Footnote 3}
Fishes (freshwater)	Threatened	Little Quarry Lake Limnetic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC	Addition to Schedule 1 for which there will be no further consultations^{Footnote 3}
Mammal (Marine)	Special Concern	Killer Whale, Northwest Atlantic / Eastern Arctic population	Orcinus orca	Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean	Addition to Schedule 1 for which there will be no further consultations^{Footnote 3}

Table 5. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification or, for extinct species, for striking from Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (4 species)

Table 5. Aquatic species assessed by COSEWIC and eligible for reclassification or, for extinct species, for striking from Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act, with consultations to be conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) (4 species)
Taxon	Proposed change to Schedule 1 status	Species (DU)	Scientific name	Range	Consultation path
Fishes (Freshwater)	From Endangered to Extinct (strike from List)	Enos Lake Benthic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC	Normal
Fishes (Freshwater)	From Endangered to Extinct (strike from List)	Enos Lake Limnetic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC	Normal
Fishes (Freshwater)	From Threatened to Endangered	Salish Sucker	Catostomus sp. cf. catostomus	BC	Normal
Fishes (Freshwater)	From Special Concern to Endangered	Unarmoured Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC	Normal

Table 6. Aquatic species recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (11 species)

Table 6. Aquatic species recently reassessed by COSEWIC with the same status - status confirmation (no consultations) (11 species)
Taxon	Status confirmations	Species (DU)	Scientific name	Range
Mammals (marine)	Endangered	Killer Whale, Northeast Pacific southern resident population	Orcinus orca	Pacific Ocean
Fishes (Freshwater)	Endangered	Misty Lake Lentic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC
Fishes (Freshwater)	Endangered	Misty Lake Lotic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC
Fishes (Freshwater)	Endangered	Paxton Lake Benthic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC
Fishes (Freshwater)	Endangered	Paxton Lake Limnetic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC
Fishes (Freshwater)	Endangered	Vananda Creek Benthic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC
Fishes (Freshwater)	Endangered	Vananda Creek Limnetic Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC
Mammals (marine)	Threatened	Killer Whale, Northeast Pacific northern resident population	Orcinus orca	Pacific Ocean
Mammals (marine)	Threatened	Killer Whale, Northeast Pacific offshore population	Orcinus orca	Pacific Ocean
Mammals (marine)	Threatened	Killer Whale, Northeast Pacific transient population	Orcinus orca	Pacific Ocean
Fishes (Freshwater)	Special Concern	Giant Threespine Stickleback	Gasterosteus aculeatus	BC

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Horned Grebes are currently listed on Schedule 1. The Western population is on Schedule 1 as Special Concern and the Magdalen Islands population is on Schedule 1 as Endangered. In late 2023, COSEWIC assessed the Horned Grebe as one wildlife species instead of two, citing that a lack of evidence for unique adaptations no longer justifies separate assessments.

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Footnote 2

No consultations are planned for this reclassification, as the proposed change to the status for this species would have no impact on protections or prohibitions.

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Footnote 3

This is a reassessment at the same status of an unlisted species for which consultations were previously undertaken.

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Date modified:: 2025-01-17

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