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Together for Wildlife

Last updated on April 9, 2025

Together for Wildlife is the B.C. government’s strategy to improve wildlife and habitat stewardship throughout the province.

The Together for Wildlife Strategy provides additional funding, sets out proactive objectives, and aims to improve data and knowledge sharing—all supported by updated policies, strong partnerships and dedicated resources. 

The strategy's purpose: Wildlife and their habitats thrive, are resilient, and support and enrich the lives of everyone living in British Columbia.

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Together for Wildlife Strategy

Wildlife provides social, economic, environmental and cultural benefits to people living in British Columbia. The province’s rich natural diversity is closely linked to our way of life. This is why it is important to ensure that wildlife and their habitats remain resilient in the face of challenges such as climate change.

The Together for Wildlife Strategy was built collaboratively with the following groups:

  • Indigenous Peoples
  • Rural communities
  • Academic institutions
  • Resource industry partners
  • Conservation, hunting, trapping, guiding, recreation, and tourism organizations

Implementing the Together for Wildlife Strategy requires adaptability, innovation and an ongoing commitment to work together.

Improving wildlife and habitat stewardship throughout B.C. is a big task that cannot be done by the provincial government alone. It requires building strong partnerships, listening to the perspectives of many people and organizations, and working collaboratively with First Nations to create a respectful, empowering and sustained effort by all.

Learn more by accessing the full Together For Wildlife strategy (PDF, 2MB)

Goals and actions

The Together for Wildlife Strategy is committed to 5 goals and 24 actions to achieve its purpose. Each goal has its own set of actions that contribute to the strategy at large. You can review each action in the drop-down menu or view the goals and actions infographic (PDF, 700KB).

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Goal 1:  All people living in British Columbia have a voice in wildlife stewardship

Actions: 

1. Establish a Minister's Wildlife Advisory Council

2. Create or expand regional engagement efforts

3. Increase opportunities for engagement and involvement

 

Goal 2:  Data, information and knowledge drive better decisions

Actions: 

4. Enhance biological, social and economic data

5.  Support wildlife research

6.  Foster citizen science

7.  Ensure data are accessible, reliable and integrated

 

Goal 3:  Stewardship actions achieve tangible benefits for wildlife

8. Establish accountable stewardship objectives

9. Deliver on-the-ground stewardship

10. Improve legislated land designations

11. Support and expand Conservation Lands

12. Recommend improvements to the Wildlife Act

13. Explore new funding models for wildlife

 

Goal 4:  Accountability and transparency build trust and confidence

14. Report out on performance

15. Share financial reports

16. Communicate decision rationales

17. Periodically review and update our strategy

 

Goal 5:  Collaboration advances reconciliation with Indigenous governments

18. Advance co-management and shared decision-making

19.  Communicate the importance of Indigenous worldviews, and Indigenous use of wildlife and wildlife stewardship approaches

20. Incorporate Indigenous Knowledge into decisions

21. Support Indigenous guardian and compliance programs

22. Develop models and approaches for sharing wildlife and habitat data with Indigenous governments

23. Invest in capacity for Indigenous governments

24. Support the First Nations-B.C. Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Forum

Strategy partners and initiatives

Together for Wildlife depends on input from and collaboration with a diverse range of partners to implement and fund its initiatives. Some of these partners, agencies and related initiatives are listed below, along with links to where you can learn more about them.

First Nations-B.C. Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Forum

Together for Wildlife was developed in partnership with the First Nations-B.C. Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Forum, which has been in place since 2018. The forum includes participants from many B.C. First Nations. Members are technical experts and the work done by the forum is not a consultation process. The forum helped draft the Together for Wildlife Strategy, and they continue to collaborate on its implementation with a focus on Goal 5.

Minister’s Wildlife Advisory Council

In 2020, Together for Wildlife established the Minister’s Wildlife Advisory Council. Council members have a range of backgrounds and experience and include members of First Nations, the public, industry and academia. Members bring a wide range of expertise in natural resource stewardship and share a passion for wildlife and habitat stewardship. The council advises and supports the Minister of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship on the ongoing implementation of the Together for Wildlife Strategy. The council also provides advice on: new and existing provincial legislation related to wildlife and habitat stewardship; provincial initiatives across government that affect wildlife stewardship; and other priority wildlife stewardship matters identified by the minister.

Tripartite Framework Agreement on Nature Conservation

In 2023, the First Nations Leadership Council, Canada and B.C. government signed the Tripartite Framework Agreement. The agreement advances ecosystem health and biodiversity conservation through a cooperative approach that respects and integrates the rights and stewardship roles of First Nations.

Together for Wildlife is named in the agreement as a contributing program area of the B.C. government and contributes to many of the commitments within the agreement.  

Strategy implementation

Since 2020, Together for Wildlife has made significant progress on many of its goals to improve the conservation of wildlife and their habitats.

The implementation of the strategy is an ongoing and dynamic process. Below are some examples of the areas being addressed throughout the province:

Wildlife and habitat projects

Explore the project information below to learn more about the work that’s been achieved or is underway through the Together for Wildlife Strategy.

Project dashboard

Explore an interactive map that displays information about projects funded by the Together for Wildlife Strategy.

Access the project dashboard

Project lists

For information about projects that are helping to fulfill the purpose of the strategy, you can download the project lists:

Each project list includes information about the:

  • Region
  • Applicable Together for Wildlife Strategy action
  • Branch of the B.C. government responsible for the project
  • Funds spent
  • Project outcomes

Reports and publications

Together for Wildlife has produced publications and reports to better understand options for research (Action 5), community science (Action 6) and land disturbances in designations (Action 10). Actions under Together for Wildlife can be achieved in many ways. Analyzing these activities and gaining a better understanding of how they’re progressing is part of the implementation process.

If you are interested in the reports that have been produced for the strategy, you can access the following:

Regional wildlife advisory models

Action 2 of the Together for Wildlife Strategy commits to creating or expanding existing regional engagement efforts to represent a variety of perspectives and provide collaboration opportunities for collaboration to improve wildlife stewardship.

This commitment is founded on the principle that wildlife stewardship is a shared responsibility that requires and welcomes diverse viewpoints.

Together for Wildlife Scholarships

Since 2022, Together for Wildlife has awarded 26 scholarships to master’s degree and Ph.D. candidates. The grant recipients are students who are conducting research that will positively impact wildlife stewardship, management, policy, or decision-making in B.C.

Stewardship and management plans

Provincial wildlife stewardship frameworks and regional wildlife stewardship plans are part of B.C.’s overall wildlife stewardship process. These documents provide guidance to managers and decision-makers to help support thriving wildlife populations and habitats. Together for Wildlife has contributed to the development of a range of stewardship and management plans such as the:

  • Elk Stewardship Plan for the Kootenay Boundary Region
  • Bighorn Sheep Management Plan for the Kootenay Boundary Region
  • Commercial Bear Viewing Strategy
  • Dry Gulch and East Side Columbia Lake Wildlife Management Area Management Plans

Stewardship planning documents that are completed or in development can be viewed on the Wildlife stewardship planning documents page.

Other implementation highlights

Some highlights of implementation so far include:

Developing the Together for Wildlife Strategy

The Together for Wildlife Strategy was developed with the participation of Indigenous Peoples, rural communities, academic institutions and a wide range of organizations. The engagement process ran from the spring of 2018 to the summer of 2020. During which the , participants shared concerns and ideas for change. They called for sufficient funding, effective legislation, clear objectives and meaningful on-the-ground work.

The engagement process consisted of the following phases:

  1. Initial discussions
  2. Analysis and collaborative policy development
  3. Validation of policy options
  4. Strategy launch

Phase 1: Initial discussions

During Phase 1 in 2018, Indigenous Peoples, interested parties and the public were asked to share their concerns and ideas. Together for Wildlife staff received hundreds of e-mails, thousands of online comments and met with over 100 Indigenous communities and over 50 organizations. The following reports summarize what was heard during those sessions:

Phase 2: Analysis and collaborative policy development

During Phase 2 (2018-2019), Together for Wildlife helped create the First Nations-B.C. Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Forum. Together for Wildlife worked closely with the forum membership to engage interested parties from a range of sectors to identify priority policy options for the B.C. government to consider.

Phase 3: Validation of policy options

The collaborative work undertaken in Phase 1 and Phase 2 culminated in a draft Together for Wildlife Strategy. During Phase 3, Together for Wildlife continued to engage with First Nations in B.C. and check in with interested parties and the public to make sure that the right actions were identified in the draft Together for Wildlife Strategy. 

Phase 4: Strategy launch

Following these phases of engagement and collaborative development, the Together for Wildlife Strategy was launched in August 2020.