Remembering Sheila Colla
May 4, 1982 – July 6, 2025
Posted onJuly 24, 2025byWildlife Preservation Canada|In Memoriam, News and Events
All of us at Wildlife Preservation Canada deeply mourn the passing of Dr. Sheila Colla. We share our heartfelt condolences with her family, friends, colleagues, and all those whose lives she touched.
Sheila’s loss has been profoundly felt throughout the conservation world. Sheila was widely admired for her scientific brilliance, passionate advocacy and unwavering commitment to fairness and justice. One of her many impacts was as a tireless champion for Canada’s declining native bumble bees. Sheila’s groundbreaking research was one of the first alarm calls documenting staggering decreases in bumble bee populations. While this research continued throughout her career Sheila was also an inspiring example of how to turn knowledge into action, to be a change-maker in a world that needs help. It was Sheila who led the campaign to have the rusty-patched bumble bee listed as endangered in Canada and the US: the first such classification for a bumble bee in North America. In 2013, in response to the disappearance of the rusty-patched, Sheila founded WPC’s Native Pollinator Initiative with focus on concrete action to halt and reverse bumble bee declines. Our pollinator recovery program would not have become what it is without Sheila’s vision, drive, and passion. We continue to strive to uphold her legacy every day.
One tangible and enduringly accessible way that Sheila brought pollinators into the public sphere was by co-founding BumbleBeeWatch.org, where community scientists can submit pictures of bumble bees to be identified by experts. This program mobilizes the public to help scientists understand the distribution and declines of bumble bees across North America and is an invaluable resource for all of us working in bumble bee conservation.
Sheila was far more than a brilliant scientist and conservation leader. She was a fierce advocate for environmental and social justice and was incredibly skilled and determined at bridging the gap between science, community, and politics. As a woman of colour in the largely male-dominated field of entomology, Sheila used her voice and position to uplift those who might not otherwise feel included. She was a strong advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives across the Canadian scientific community, and a powerful role model for her students and colleagues, as well as the community at-large.
Our team reflects on Sheila’s impact…
“Sheila’s impact on my career – and the whole field of bumble bee conservation – was undeniable. She mentored and inspired so many people, including my own mentors in the bee world, and the ripple effect of this continues to shape the work I do today. Her contributions go far beyond her own research; they live on in the countless students, collaborators, conservationists, and community scientists she impacted.” – Annika Wilcox, Ontario Program Coordinator, Native Pollinator Initiative
“Like Annika, Sheila’s impact on Canadian bumble bee conservation guaranteed that I would be guided by her remarkable achievements. Sheila has helped form the early careers of many conservationists. This includes every single person who has been a part of WPC’s Native Pollinator Initiative, which would simply not exist today without her. Everything we do is built on the foundation Sheila laid, and we are forever grateful for her inspiration and wealth of knowledge.” – Cole Blair, Lead Biologist, WPC’s Native Pollinator Initiative.
“Sheila was an absolute legend. I had so much admiration for her. Not only was she an incredibly accomplished and highly respected scientist, she was also such a strong voice and fierce supporter for those who are underrepresented in the sciences. If Sheila was involved with something, you knew that it was either already a great initiative or that people were going to have their feet held to the fire to make sure that it improved. Her work in conservation pushed for a healthier natural world, but she also really pushed for a healthier and more equitable society as well.” – Hazel Wheeler, Conservation Programs Director
“One of the few things I have learned over the years is that it is important to surround yourself with good people. Sheila was the very best example of a good person. While her contributions to pollinator conservation cannot be understated it was the support that Sheila tirelessly provided to her students, her colleagues and her friends that I always noticed the most. Her determination to leave the world a better place, a fairer and more just place, is a shining example for all of us to follow. Sheila will be missed by all that were fortunate to have met her and while she leaves an enormous gap in Canada’s conservation world she has left an extraordinary legacy that will live on in the future accomplishments of all those she helped along their own career paths. So many of us, when we watch a bumble bee visiting a beautiful flower in a sunlit meadow, will think of Sheila and be grateful.” – Lance Woolaver, Executive Director
To read more about Sheila’s remarkable impact from those who knew her best, please visit the Colla Conservation Science Lab where this suggestion for honouring Sheila has been made by those who knew her best:
“In lieu of sending floral arrangements, in Sheila’s honour, please consider planting a flower or tree native to where you live, or uploading a bumble bee sighting to www.BumbleBeeWatch.org, the community science project she helped found; or find the best cannoli in your town and bring some to a friend; or write your government officials and ask them to implement a pollinator protection plan; or make a contribution for Marc and the children through their GoFundMe; or sit quietly and contemplate the overwhelming beauty of this world even as it breaks your heart. Or all of those. Because that’s what Sheila would do.”