Western Silvery Aster

Species information

The following is a report on progress made towards the protection and recovery of Western Silvery Aster (Symphyotrichum sericeum) in Ontario from 2007 to 2023, based on Ontario’s species-specific recovery policy. This report meets the legislative requirement for a review of progress under the Endangered Species Act, 2007  (ESA or “the Act”). Western Silvery Aster is listed as threatened on the Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) List under the ESA.

Western Silvery Aster has been classified as a species at risk since April 2004. It was originally classified as an endangered species and was listed as such under the ESA when it came into force in June 2008.

The species was re-classified as a threatened species in January 2023.

The species-specific recovery policy for Western Silvery Aster, known as the government response statement (GRS), was published in 2019 and includes the government’s recovery goal for the species and the actions and priorities it intends to lead or support to help achieve that goal. The GRS considers science advice provided in the recovery strategy (published in 2018), regarding things such as the species biology, habitat needs, threats to survival, knowledge gaps and approaches to recovery, when developing recovery actions for the species. As legislated in the Act, the purpose of this review is to report on progress made towards implementing the protection and recovery actions in the GRS. The review can also help identify opportunities to adjust and adapt the implementation of protection and recovery actions to achieve the recovery goal for the species.

Further information about Western Silvery Aster, including the threats that it faces and actions being taken to help protect and recover this species, is available on the Government of Ontario webpage for Western Silvery Aster. A summary on the progress towards the protection and recovery of Western Silvery Aster and an annual update on the broader species at risk program (i.e. the Introduction to the 2024 Review of Progress report) is available on the Review of Progress towards the Protection and Recovery of Ontario’s Species at Risk webpage.

Snapshot: Progress towards the protection and recovery of Western Silvery Aster

Progress towards meeting the recovery goal

• The recovery goal in the government response statement (GRS) for Western Silvery Aster in Ontario is “to promote the viability of existing populations across the species’ distribution in Ontario and where feasible, to facilitate natural expansion to adjacent habitat”.
• Progress has been made towards implementing the majority of the government-led actions. Progress has been made towards implementing one of the government-supported recovery objectives and part of an associated action. Examples of progress include:
  • encouraging the submission of Western Silvery Aster data to Ontario’s central repository
  • monitoring habitat in Lake of the Woods Provincial Park
  • conducting presence surveys in areas where Western Silvery Aster is predicted to occur
• In alignment with the GRS, further work is required to:
  • develop and implement a standardized survey and monitoring program
  • conduct research to increase the understanding of the impacts of threats and existing habitat management practices
  • work collaboratively with land owners, land managers and researchers to develop, implement and evaluate strategies to maintain or enhance habitat within and adjacent to areas currently occupied by Western Silvery Aster

Occurrences and distribution

• Five populations of Western Silvery Aster have been documented in the northwestern area of Ontario. Currently, three of these populations^{footnote 1[1]} are extant^{footnote 2[2]} , whereas the remaining two are considered extirpated^{footnote 3[3]}. One population of Western Silvery Aster has been newly identified since 2008.

Government-supported stewardship projects

• Through the Species at Risk Stewardship Program, the Government of Ontario has enabled its stewardship partners to conduct a project that has supported the protection and recovery of multiple species at risk, including Western Silvery Aster. The objective of the project was to determine the distributional status of three northwestern Ontario protected plant species, including Western Silvery Aster, within the West English River system. A total of 102 locations were surveyed, and records of 221 occurrences of plant species were produced, including records of the occurrences of five provincially tracked species. However, no previously undocumented occurrences of Western Silvery Aster were detected.

Supporting human activities while ensuring appropriate support for species recovery

• To date, no permits have been issued for this species.
• No activities have been undertaken in accordance with a conditional exemption that requires registration under the ESA.

Reporting on the progress towards the protection and recovery of Western Silvery Aster

The implementation of government-led and government-supported actions demonstrates progress towards reaching the desired objectives and the recovery goal set out in the GRS.

Progress towards implementing government-led actions

Progress has been made towards implementing the majority of government-led actions identified in the GRS. Common actions for the government to lead as it works towards achieving a species’ recovery goal include:

• Educate other agencies and authorities involved in planning and environmental assessment processes on the protection requirements under the ESA.
• Encourage the submission of Western Silvery Aster data to the Ontario’s central repository through the citizen science project that they receive data from (i.e., iNaturalist.ca) and directly through the Natural Heritage Information Centre.
• Undertake communications and outreach to increase public awareness of species at risk in Ontario.
• Continue to protect Western Silvery Aster and its habitat through the ESA.
• Support conservation, agency, municipal and industry partners, and Indigenous communities and organizations to undertake activities to protect and recover Western Silvery Aster. Support will be provided where appropriate through funding, agreements, permits (including conditions) and/or advisory services.
• Encourage collaboration, and establish and communicate annual priority actions for government support in order to reduce duplication of efforts.
• Conduct a review of progress toward the protection and recovery of Western Silvery Aster within five years of the publication of the GRS.

Additionally, the government has directly undertaken the following species-specific actions:

• continue to monitor and manage habitat in provincial parks and protected areas

In 2017, Ministry of Natural Resources biologists revisited the population of Western Silvery Aster in Lake of the Woods Provincial Park, three years after it was discovered. They enumerated clumps of Western Silvery Aster and estimated the number of stems per clump.

Key progress made towards implementing these actions is described in the following sections.

Occurrences and distribution

Tracking the occurrences and distribution of a species is a useful way to monitor and view where a species is found and how it is doing. Ontario’s Natural Heritage Information Centre (NHIC), the government’s central data repository, gathers and manages this type of biodiversity information. NHIC tracks and maps this data as species observations and individual element occurrences, where an element occurrence is an area of land and/or water where a species or plant community is or was present, and has a practical conservation value. For the purposes of this report, ‘population’ is an alternative name for element occurrence.

Five populationsof Western Silvery Aster have been documented in Ontario. Three are considered to be extant, and two are considered to be extirpated. The extant populations are located in northwestern Ontario. Since 2008, the government’s central conservation data repository at the NHIC has received 10 records of the species. These records are based on observations between 2001 and 2023 and come from Ministry of Natural Resources biologists. Records submitted have helped to refine where the species is known and has been known to occur and have provided additional information on the species’ habitat and threats. A previously undocumented population was discovered during 2014 in Lake of the Woods Provincial Park.

The newly identified population is likely the result of increased search effort and likely does not represent an actual population increase, but rather increased knowledge about the distribution of the species.

It is possible that there are observations of Western Silvery Aster that have not been submitted to the government. Encouraging the submission of observations of this species is included in the GRS as a government-led action. Submission of species observations increases our knowledge of where they occur and can play an important role in assessing the viability of species populations.

Everyone is encouraged, or may be required by an authorization or condition of a regulatory exemption, to submit observations of Western Silvery Aster, and any other species at risk observed, to the NHIC for incorporation into the provincial record of observations.

Government-supported stewardship projects

An important government-led action in the GRS for Western Silvery Aster is to support partners to undertake activities to protect and recover the species. Through the Species at Risk Stewardship Program the government has supported a project designed to contribute to the protection and recovery of Western Silvery Aster. The project was designed to provide benefits to multiple species at risk, including Western Silvery Aster, through evaluating plant communities for protected species. The project was supported exclusively by funding from the Species at Risk Stewardship Program.

The remainder of this section highlights the project as well as the corresponding government-supported recovery actions for the species.

The objective of the project was to determine the distributional status of three northwestern Ontario protected plant species, including Western Silvery Aster, within the West English River system. This river system is approximately 45 km north of Kenora, Ontario. The project was undertaken by the Thunder Bay based ecological consulting company, Northern Bioscience, during July of 2017. Prairie and oak savannah communities along reaches of the West English River and connected lakes such as Lount Lake, Separation Lake and Umfreville Lake were surveyed for Pale Showy Goldenrod (Solidago pallida) and Small-flowered Lipocarpha (Cyperus subsquarrosus) in addition to Western Silvery Aster. Survey locations were accessed by boat from base camps along the river, and surveys were completed by walking transects in areas where plants of these species are expected to occur. A total of 102 locations were surveyed and records of 221 occurrences of plant species were produced, including records of the occurrences of five provincially tracked species. However, no occurrences of Western Silvery Aster were detected during the project.

Although presence-absence surveys were not conducted, the project consisted of presence surveys completed in areas where Western Silvery Aster was predicted to occur. Accordingly, it contributed to the government-supported recovery action related to surveys.

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  1

  project including Western Silvery Aster

Supporting human activities while ensuring appropriate support for species recovery

Supporting partners through authorizations and their associated conditions is an important government-led action. To date, no permits have been issued for Western Silvery Aster.

No activities that pertain to Western Silvery Aster have been registered for the purposes of Ontario Regulation 242/08 under the ESA since the registry was established in 2013.

Progress towards implementing government-supported actions

Government-supported actions are organized under overarching recovery objectives. Progress has been made towards achieving one government-supported recovery objective and partially implementing one of the associated actions identified in the GRS for Western Silvery Aster.

Objective: Increase knowledge of the species’ distribution, population viability and ecology as well as threats and actions that can be taken to address them:

• Actions No. 3 – Conduct presence-absence surveys in areas where the species appears to have been extirpated or where it is likely to occur based on the availability of suitable habitat (e.g., as indicated by habitat suitability models).

Under this objective, initial progress has been made towards implementing Action No. 3

This action has been implemented through the aforementioned project supported by the Species at Risk Stewardship Program. Presence surveys were conducted in areas where Western Silvery Aster is predicted to occur based on the availability of suitable habitat.

Summary of progress towards meeting the recovery goal

The recovery goal for Western Silvery Aster is “to promote the viability of existing populations across the species’ distribution in Ontario and where feasible, to facilitate natural expansion to adjacent habitat.” Effort made towards the government-led and government-supported actions has helped to make progress towards this goal. For example, the government has continued to protect Western Silvery Aster and its habitat through the ESA, and it has encouraged the submission of Western Silvery Aster data to Ontario’s central repository. Northern Bioscience performed targeted surveys for this species in areas where it was considered likely to occur and has submitted its non-detection records of Western Silvery Aster from the West English River system to Ontario’s data repository.

Recommendations

As stated in the GRS, this review of progress can be used to help identify whether adjustments to the implementation of GRS actions are needed, to achieve the protection and recovery of the species. Based on progress to date, the overall direction provided in the GRS for Western Silvery Aster, particularly the implementation of actions identified as high priority, should continue to guide protection and recovery of the species.

Although initial progress has been made towards the action to conduct presence-absence surveys for Western Silvery Aster in areas where it appears to have been extirpated or is predicted to occur, further work is required to fully implement this action. In particular, greater progress would be made through the development of a presence/absence survey protocol for Western Silvery Aster and its implementation at oak savannahs in northwestern Ontario that have not been surveyed for Western Silvery Aster.

More generally, progress would be advanced by the completion of high priority actions related to regular monitoring, threat assessments and collaborative stewardship to increase the viability of Western Silvery Aster populations in Ontario.

Protecting and recovering Western Silvery Aster will continue to be a shared responsibility that will require the involvement of many individuals, organizations and communities. Financial support for the implementation of actions may be available through the Species at Risk Stewardship Program. The government can also advise if any authorizations under the ESA or other legislation may be required to undertake a project. By working together, progress can continue to be made towards protecting and recovering Western Silvery Aster in Ontario.