Count, track and manage wild animals so governments and companies can decide what happens to their habitat.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $83,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $53,000 at the lower end to about $139,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 6 years after high school, on the usual route.
$26,000 to $42,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in British Columbia. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Limited demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$83,000
Lower end
$53,000
Upper end
$139,000
Job Bank's national median is $40 an hour, about $83,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The low is $25.71 and the high is $66.67 an hour. The page pools wildlife biologists with other biologists, so the figures cover that whole group.
$74,292 a year
The first step of the federal working level for biologists, from October 1, 2025
It rises to $101,162 at the top step. New graduates are often hired one level lower, where starting pay is set anywhere from $39,565 to $68,373 depending on your education and experience. Many people first spend a few seasons on field crews before any permanent job.
$58.34 an hour
The median in the Northwest Territories, the highest in Canada
Nunavut is close behind at $57.46 and Yukon pays $48.19. Among the provinces, Saskatchewan ($42.85), British Columbia ($42) and Alberta ($41.44) lead. Ontario's median is $40, Quebec's $38.46, and Prince Edward Island's is the lowest, at $35.90.
Roughly, all in
$26,000 to $42,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is four years of tuition at about 6,200 dollars a year, the rate at Guelph and the University of Northern British Columbia, plus a basic set of field tickets. The high end is about 9,800 dollars a year at the University of New Brunswick, the full ticket set of wilderness first aid, bear safety, chainsaw and off road vehicle training, and the 500 dollars of required courses for professional registration in British Columbia. A master's degree is close to standard for research and government work but is usually funded with a stipend, so it is not added here. A reliable vehicle and good boots are effectively job requirements and are not counted as entry costs, but plan for them.
Budget for a reliable vehicle and good boots. Both are effectively job requirements.
Provincial ministries
Fish and wildlife branches that set hunting quotas and manage species at risk.
Federal government
The Canadian Wildlife Service, part of Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Parks Canada.
Environmental consulting
Wildlife surveys and impact assessments for mines, roads, pipelines and wind projects. A major private employer.
First Nations and land trusts
A growing share of the work, especially in guardian and stewardship programs.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
The degree is the entry ticket. Field seasons and a professional registration are what turn it into a career.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Biology, chemistry and math. Get a driver's licence as early as you can, because field jobs assume it.
Biology, wildlife or natural resources degree
4 years
Four years. Guelph has a Wildlife Biology and Conservation degree and UNBC (University of Northern British Columbia) a Wildlife and Fisheries one, and a general biology degree works too. A two year fish and wildlife technician diploma at Fleming or Sault College is a cheaper technician route.
Field seasons
2 to 3 summers
Bird banding, surveys of deer, moose and other hoofed animals, camera traps, plant plots. Apply in January for the coming summer, every year, everywhere.
Master's degree
2 years
The usual step up from technician to biologist. Funded, and built around a real management question.
Professional registration, in the west
After at least 3 years of work
In British Columbia you must be registered with the College of Applied Biologists to do this work, and the RPBio (Registered Professional Biologist) title needs at least 3 years of experience. Alberta has its own P.Biol (Professional Biologist) title.
Biology
Ecology, genetics and animal physiology.
Math and data management
Population estimates are statistics. There is much more math here than students expect.
Geography
Maps, landforms and land use, which is the daily language of the job.
Shop or outdoor education
Being practical with vehicles, boats and gear genuinely helps in the field.
Since September 1, 2022, anyone practising applied biology in British Columbia, such as advice on habitats, wildlife or ecosystems, must be registered with the College of Applied Biologists. Only its members may use titles such as RPBio (Registered Professional Biologist) or Biologist in Training. In Alberta, only members of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists may call themselves a P.Biol (Professional Biologist), but you can work there without it. In the rest of Canada there is no registration requirement, and the job title is open to anyone.
Quebec has no professional registration for biologists, and its 3 year college diplomas offer a technician route that can count toward a degree later.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
With Secondary V physics, chemistry and math in the TS (Technical and Scientific) or SN (Science) sequence. These are the entry courses for the CEGEP (public college) science program.
Science DEC (Diploma of College Studies, 200.B1)
2 years
2 years at a CEGEP (public college), leading to a 3 year biology bachelor's. A 3 year technical DEC (Diploma of College Studies) in bioecology is the other way in: see the technician route card.
Bachelor's in biology
3 years
The Université du Québec à Rimouski has a wildlife and habitats concentration in its 90 credit biology bachelor's. In English, McGill's Macdonald Campus offers a Wildlife Biology specialization taken with a major such as Environmental Biology.
Field seasons
2 to 3 summers
Summer field work for provincial and federal ministries, consulting firms and research groups, the employers that hire biologists here.
Master's degree
2 years
Still the usual step up from technician to biologist.
Techniques de bioécologie (bioecology technology, 145.C0)
A 3 year DEC (Diploma of College Studies) at the cégeps of La Pocatière, Saint-Laurent, Sainte-Foy and Sherbrooke. Needs Secondary V chemistry and TS (Technical and Scientific) or SN (Science) math.
The same program in English
Called Environmental and Wildlife Management at Vanier College in Montreal.
Techniques du milieu naturel (natural environment technology, 147.A0)
3 years, only at the Cégep de Saint-Félicien, with a wildlife management option.
Later, a degree
The Université du Québec à Rimouski counts up to 30 credits from the bioecology DEC (Diploma of College Studies), and up to 18 from Saint-Félicien's natural environment DEC, toward its biology bachelor's.
Unlike British Columbia and Alberta, Quebec has no ordre professionnel (professional order) for biologists. The Association des biologistes du Québec (the Quebec association of biologists) is voluntary, though it recommends membership. Enforcing hunting and fishing law is a separate job in Quebec, done by provincial wildlife protection officers.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Species identification by sight and sound
Bird song identification alone can get you onto survey crews every spring.
Mapping software
Geographic information systems. Almost every wildlife report is a map plus an argument.
Statistics and the R programming language
Models that estimate where a species lives and how many there are are the core analysis in the field.
Animal handling and telemetry (tracking by radio or satellite)
Netting, collaring and tracking. Learned on crews, not in class.
Wilderness first aid and bear safety
Most field employers require both before you set foot in camp.
Off-road driving, boat and snowmobile tickets
Cheap, and they widen the jobs you can take.
Comfort working with communities
A lot of wildlife work now happens with First Nations partners, and being able to listen matters as much as the science.
A two-year college diploma, such as Fleming College's Fish and Wildlife Technician (about $2,600 a year in tuition), gets you onto field crews faster and cheaper than a degree. You will be counting, trapping and measuring rather than designing studies, but plenty of people build a full career this way, especially in provincial agencies and parks. Some later bridge into a degree with credit for the diploma.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
In season, you are up in the dark to reach a survey point at sunrise, then walking set survey lines, checking cameras or collars, and recording everything in a tablet or a waterproof notebook. Bugs, weather and long drives on logging roads are the constant. Out of season you are at a desk: entering and cleaning data, running models, writing reports and permit applications, and explaining to someone who wants to build something why the answer is complicated.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Canada has 51 boreal caribou ranges, and only 15 of their herds can sustain themselves, says the federal recovery strategy. About 33,000 to 34,000 boreal caribou are left. The rule biologists work to: keep at least 65% of a range undisturbed.
Of the world's 19 polar bear populations, 14 live wholly or partly in Canada, and Canada holds the majority of the species, says the 2018 national status assessment. Counting them is Canadian wildlife work.
About 30,900 biologists and related scientists worked in Canada in 2023. Job Bank rates the next 3 years as very limited in Ontario and Quebec, and moderate in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Life and lab first, then the rest of the field. See every career in science and environment.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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