Our Team

Syd Cannings is a retired biologist based in Whitehorse, Yukon. Growing up in a family of naturalists in the Okanagan Valley, he spent his university summers as a naturalist with BC Parks. After graduation he curated the large insect collection at UBC and roamed western Canada for more than a decade, surveying insects and absorbing natural history. He then took on the zoologist position at the B.C. Conservation Data Centre and became immersed in the science of assessing the status of species at risk. In 2003 he moved north to the Yukon as a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), working on issues dealing with a wide range of threatened species, from wildflowers to bumble bees and caribou. For a dozen years he represented the CWS on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). He is the co-author of a number of books, including British Columbia: A Natural History; Geology of British Columbia; and The New BC Roadside Naturalist. He is obsessed with iNaturalist and loves to learn more about nature every day.