Saskatoon joins UWIN
Saskatoon has become the second Canadian city to join the Urban Wildlife Information Network (UWIN), the Chicago-based research collaborative originally launched at Lincoln Park Zoo. The network now spans 21 partner cities across North America, with Edmonton being the other Canadian member.
The project uses motion-sensitive cameras to monitor wildlife across urban, suburban, and rural sites, allowing researchers to compare how different levels of urbanization affect wildlife behavior and communities. Lincoln Park Zoo wildlife disease ecologist Maureen Murray describes the broader goal as understanding how urbanization impacts wildlife persistence and biodiversity, while minimizing human-wildlife conflict.
For Saskatoon, joining the network means being able to build on methods and findings already developed by other cities rather than starting from scratch. Candace Savage, chair of Wild About Saskatoon, put it simply: pooling information with other cities broadens everyone's understanding of how urban habitats work.
