EcoWest News, November 10, 2026

Welcome to EcoWest News, a weekly round-up of news and resources that you can put to use in addressing environmental issues and protecting the wild in your community.

Biodiversity

Bright green ring-necked parakeets are a dazzling sight in London, UK. It’s not sure when or how they arrived, but they have now spread as far north as Scotland. To some, they are a menace, responsible for economic damage and ecological disruption. Others link anti-parakeet sentiment with hostile attitudes toward human arrivals and question what species are considered invasive (parakeets) and which are welcome (wheat, lentils, peaches). [The Guardian]

You don’t need to go far to explore nature. NatureScot has published a Grubby Guide for 5–11-year-olds packed with mucky activities, curious creatures and other weirdly wonderful things to spot. The Unlovelies will soon be your favourite creatures. [NatureScot]

Mitigation Strategies

A river was dammed and the cottonwood vanished – and cottonwoods are important to insects, fish, birds, mammals, and much more. In BC, local people are lending a helping hand and planting saplings, but they’re only buying time. A future generation will need to plant them again. [The Tyee]

“When wild fish populations dwindle, the standard recourse is to breed more in a hatchery and then restock rivers with truckloads of captive-raised fish … but sometimes fewer than one in 20 hatchery fish survive after they’re released into the wild.” [bioGraphic]

Relocating frogs, snakes, and turtles helps developers get permits. A review finds it rarely helps the animals. “We need to prioritize protecting habitat and explore alternatives to current mitigation practices, which this review shows are often failing to achieve meaningful conservation outcomes.” [Anthropocene]

Climate

Weaker chinook winds are leading to cooler winters and springs in southern Alberta, in stark contrast to observed weather trends throughout the rest of North America. [UCalgary]

Urban Matters

There is growing recognition of cities as shared human-wildlife spaces. Should more-than-human stakeholders be given a stronger voice in urban wildlife management? Do we look beyond scientific and administrative voices to hear from local citizens? How do we balance competing interests and different values? [Nature of Cities]

Richmond, BC’s geoexchange (ground-source heat pump) provides much of the energy for about 2,000 homes, an Islamic temple, and a firehall. Geoexchange can be very effective, but upfront costs are high and it requires a large parcel of land. [The Tyee]

A study in Zurich shows that daylighting buried streams often improves pedestrian accessibility and can support active mobility, place-making, and the reintegration of nature into the urban fabric. [Urban Morphology]

Assessment

“We're looking at this expansion of the port [of Churchill] without any understanding of what the impacts would be, not only to the marine mammals, but also to the tourism industry.” [CBC]

Over the past 5 years, the Living Lab – Central Prairies project has brought farmers, ranchers, researchers, and conservation organizations together to study agricultural practices aimed at improving soil health, grasslands, and biodiversity while supporting the economic sustainability of agricultural operations. [SaskToday]

Making a Difference

Purolator delivered more than seven million packages using electric vehicles in 2025, while Quebec-based Nationex delivered more than 3.5 million parcels using 130 electric vehicles and established a fully electric freight corridor between Montreal and Quebec City. [Pembina Institute]

While commercial electric-powered planes aren’t yet an option, electric aviation is proving beneficial for emergency medical response and environmental monitoring (e.g. wildfires, ice melt). [Grist]

The youth-led Brain Climate & Equity Collaborative was founded by neurologists, physicians, and neuroscience students who recognized that the climate crisis was having a profound impact on brain health and that no Canadian organization was addressing it. [Brain-CE Collab]

Nature’s Wonders

Mammals evolved live birth just once in the Jurassic Age; lizards and snakes did it over and over. What can we learn from animals that have switched back and forth about shared steps, features, or genetic changes? [Knowable Magazine]

Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/45824729774

EcoFriendly West informs and encourages initiatives that support Western Canada’s natural environment through its online publication and the Nature Companion website/app. Like us on Facebook, follow us on BlueSky, X, and Mastodon, or subscribe by email.