Overview

Each year, Ontario invests in projects through the Species Conservation Program that contribute to the protection and conservation of plants and animals at risk.

The Species Conservation Program was established in 2025 under the amended Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA). It will be continued under the upcoming Species Conservation Act, 2025 (SCA). It replaces and improves on the former Species at Risk Stewardship Program (SARSP) by increasing investment to boost the valuable work that species experts and community-based protection and conservation projects are doing province-wide.

The Species Conservation Program was created to encourage people and organizations to get involved in conserving species at risk and their habitats through stewardship activities. It’s part of Ontario’s track record of strong environmental stewardship, preserving the rich biodiversity of our province for future generations.

The program objectives include:

  • preserving and rehabilitating habitat, and enhancing other areas so that they can become habitat
  • supporting public education and outreach programs relating to conservation
  • supporting other activities to assist in the protection and conservation of species such as direct threat mitigation, field-based surveys and monitoring, research and local and Indigenous knowledge collection

Who can apply

The fund is open to individuals and groups across Ontario, including:

  • academic institutions
  • businesses
  • consulting companies
  • Indigenous communities and organizations
  • individuals
  • industry organizations
  • landowners and farmers
  • municipal and local governments
  • non-government organizations

To be eligible for consideration, conservation projects must benefit species that have been assessed by the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) as:

  • extirpated
  • endangered
  • threatened
  • special concern

You can find more information, including eligibility requirements and annual funding priorities, in the 2026-27 Species Conservation Program Guidelines.

How to apply

Applications must be submitted electronically through the Transfer Payment Ontario portal by 3 p.m. on November 27, 2025. Please see the 2026-2027 program guidelines for further details.

Current projects

The following is a list of new and ongoing (multi-year) projects being supported by the Species Conservation Program in 2025-2026.

ALUS Canada

Targeted habitat stewardship in riparian and riverine ecosystems in Southern Ontario and Greater Toronto Area.

Birds Canada

Tackling priority research and stewardship actions for Eastern Whip-poor-will in Southern Ontario.

Bird Ecology and Conservation Ontario

Collaborating with farmers and agricultural organizations to implement stewardship for grassland birds.

Canadian Wildlife Federation

Increasing habitat protection and improving reproductive success of Blanding's Turtles in Eastern Ontario.

Carleton University

  • Investigating the abundance of Eastern Small-footed Myotis and their summer habitat requirements to support species recovery.
  • Maximizing recruitment and researching  cryptic threats such as the effects of seismic vibrations from industrial infrastructure (for example, wind turbines, roads and dams) on hatch success and the distribution of pathogens associated with reduced reproductive success of at-risk turtles.

City of Kingston

Installing turtle crossing mitigation measures, including road-side exclusion fencing, with the goal of preserving and protecting turtle populations through reduced road mortality.

Eco-Kare

Mitigating turtle and other wildlife mortality along a high traffic road within a provincially significant wetland.

Federation of Ontario Naturalists

Blue Racer conservation on Pelee Island to support habitat restoration, threat mitigation and local engagement.

Forest Gene Conservation Association

Building the foundation for Black Ash recovery in Ontario through targeted outreach to find remnant and potentially resistant Black Ash tree individuals using University of Toronto's Vegetative Sampling Protocol database and modeling work.

Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve Inc.

Evaluating the effectiveness of an innovative road mitigation design for Massasauga Rattlesnake and Blanding's Turtle in the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere region.

Huron Stewardship Council

Species at risk turtle recovery through collaborative action and habitat improvement — monitoring populations and furthering habitat creating and improvement.

Invasive Species Centre

Mitigating Emerald Ash Borer impacts and supporting long-term ash tree viability.

Matawa First Nations Management

Identifying and protecting critical habitat of at-risk bats in the Matawa member First Nation homelands.

Natural Resource Solutions Inc.

Addressing ecological knowledge gaps for Northern Myotis and other bat species at risk.

Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust

Ontario Kirtland's Warbler Recovery Project to facilitate breeding habitat expansion.

Ontario Land Trust Alliance

Conserving Species at Risk Program — enhancing capacity for land trusts to protect and recover species at risk in Ontario.

Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association

Species at Risk Farm Incentive Program that provides financial and educational support to agricultural landowners for habitat creation, enhancement and protection using best management practices to support species at risk.

Ontario Streams

Redside Dace Habitat Rehabilitation initiative to restore degraded Redside Dace habitat by:

  • implementing restoration techniques to reduce sediment input into streams
  • connect fish habitats
  • engaging community members in stewardship activities

Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre

Direct mitigation of threats to at-risk turtles through:

  • rehabilitation
  • education
  • rearing turtle eggs and juveniles in captivity
  • field studies
  • research
  • disease monitoring
  • data-sharing

Shawanaga First Nation

Creating a management plan for railway tunnel underpasses — mitigation and rehabilitation to benefit bat species and bat hibernacula.

St. Williams Conservation Reserve Community Council

Improving the status of multiple species at risk at the St. Williams Conservation Reserve restoring habitat by:

  • reducing direct threats
  • filling key knowledge gaps
  • engaging the community

The Land Between

Implementing priority mitigation infrastructure to reduce road mortality for turtles at risk. Support for Indigenous inclusion in recovery of species at risk, related to the American Eel.

Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy

  • Post-release monitoring of head-started Blanding’s Turtles, reared at the Toronto Zoo.
  • Indigenous Youth Guardians Camp and Summit for Species at Risk — a land-based learning overnight camp and summit to encourage Indigenous youth to lead species recovery projects in their home territories.

Trees for Life

Improving the recovery and protection of at-risk tree species, including Butternut, through urban plantings in Ontario municipalities.

Trent University

Filling knowledge gaps, and conducting predictive modelling to support recovery of Black Ash in Ontario.

University of Toronto

Filling knowledge gaps and conducting predictive modelling to support recovery of Black Ash in Ontario.

Wildlife Preservation Trust Canada

Ojibway Prairie Reptile Recovery Program: Overcoming knowledge gaps along the journey to recovering Canada's only tallgrass prairie Massasaugas.