British Columbia is a bit out of our region but we love spreading good news so here goes: The Vancouver Sun last week reported on the addition of 45 species to British Columbia's list of protected at-risk plants and wildlife.  Canadian conservationists are appropriately skeptical about the on-the-ground impact of the new list since neither Canada nor British Columbia have anything quite like our own Endangered Species Act, but acknowledging species that are in trouble is always a critical first step to effective conservation and our congrats go to the folks that made this happen.