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Please note: our website is currently under construction
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President's Message
Dennis Brannen
Caribou Biologist
Wildlife and Fisheries Branch
Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development
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Happy Spring everyone! It is my hope that you and your families are safe and in good health during this incredibly challenging time. As the new incoming President of the Canadian Section, it is an honour to serve in this role and I look forward to working with the many talented individuals who serve on the Board of the Section and the Executives of all the Chapters across Canada.
Only a few months ago, many wildlife field programs were gearing up to launch yet another field season with hopes of rewarding and successful outcomes. What is painfully obvious in many cases now, is that many of these adventures will not be occurring at all or through highly modified approaches. To those who have had field seasons cancelled due to the pandemic, I can appreciate the frustrations and challenges that this poses for your work and research. However, as wildlife professionals, we are very much a resilient and resourceful group of individuals. We will get through these challenging times together and will be well positioned to carry on with our very important efforts to not only conserve but to better understand our natural environment that surrounds us.
Nature’s resiliency takes many forms around our world. During the many lockdowns occurring in many countries, there have been emerging great news stories that demonstrate the incredible ability of nature to not only persist but flourish when human pressures are removed. Stories out of Italy that describe the improving water quality in the Venice canals, dolphins in Cagliari and swans in Milan. Air pollution over both China and Italy has dramatically declined and for the first time in almost 30 years, the Himalayas could be clearly seen in northern India. Sea turtles have been reclaiming empty beaches in various countries to lay their eggs. These are fascinating stories that show us that the work that we do does matter and that the possibility for humans to better coexist with nature is possible. I urge you to seek out these types of good news stories and share them with your fellow wildlifers. What we must never forget, is that the preservation of global biodiversity will be key in helping limit the future spread of pandemics where zoonotic diseases jump to human populations.
I challenge all wildlife professionals, including students, to continue to do the best we can do for wildlife and its habitat. Together, we can use knowledge and science to improve the stewardship of our wildlife in Canada. Wildlife professionals play a key role in educating the public and driving change for the betterment of Canada’s wildlife. I look forward to advancing the mission of TWS in Canada to influence positive policy changes that recognize the importance of our wildlife resources.
To borrow a well-used phrase as of late, “We are all in this together”. Stay safe, don’t forget the magic number of 6 feet and wash your hands frequently. Together, we will get through this and be back in the field again!
“The problem, then, is how to bring about a striving for harmony with land among a people many of whom have forgotten there is any such thing as land, among whom education and culture have become almost synonymous with landlessness. This is the problem of conservation education.” – Aldo Leopold
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Canadian Section
Representative
Dr. Evelyn Merrill Ph.D., CWB®
CSTWS Representative to Council
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alberta
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What a spring! From moving teaching on-line, to Zooming with the grandkids, to FB’s hilarious jokes and amazing music, to widening the garden spot, to finding nooks to hike without others near within the city, to the sadness of those we lost, it will be a spring we will not soon forget.
I had just got back from The Wildlife Society (TWS) Council in Omaha, NE as things started shutting down. Self-isolation!! Then, there were the first waves of TWS Chapters and Section cancellations and resurrected digital AGMs (well done, folks!).
The early March TWS Council Meeting was one of discussion of the budgets, funding for activities that invest in wildlife conservation and paths to tackle wildlife policy issues across North America. Council approved a new TWS working group (WG) under the banner of Nutritional Ecology (see so many other noteworthy WGs). The Annual TWS meeting planned for Louisville, KY is not yet cancelled but contingency plans are also underway.
As of the March submission deadline, there were more symposia and submitted papers than two years ago (last year was the big Joint TWS- American Fisheries Society (AFS) meeting in Reno). In that vein, TWS has opened its resources to provide online resources in the Live Learning Center to wildlife educators and students. The Live Learning Center contains presentations on a wide variety of wildlife topics from The Wildlife Society’s joint conference with ASF last fall. If you are interested, browse the TWS website.
Bret Collier from Louisiana State University stepped in as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Wildlife Society Bulletin. He has a great background with many years of experience as an Associate Editor and is beaming with enthusiasm and new ideas. Canada now has one new TWS Fellow, Erin McCance… congrats! The Leadership Institute (LI) class of 2020 has been selected and the Canadians among them are Julien St-Amand from Parks Canada and Mariana Nagy-Reis from Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute. LI is an annual course established for 10-15 promising TWS members who participate in intensive activities and mentoring that prepare them for leadership positions, both in their workplace and in TWS. If you are applying for TWS certification, there is a big push to try to turn around the application process.
Summaries on TWS demographics are completed. Did you know that that based on self-reporting in 2019, 42% of TWS’ 10,877 members were students or new professionals, which is up almost 10% from over the last few years; the female to male ratio is 41:59% - a shift of 4% toward more women; Hispanics, Asian, Native/Indigenous, African-American each are <1-4%; University is the top employer (27%) followed by state/province (19%) and Federal (16%); MSc is the most common highest degree (36%); Canadian members make up 5.2% (593) with BC having the highest number of TWS members, followed by Alberta and Manitoba (but other Chapters are growing!)
On the home front, the Canadian Affiliation and License Agreement was signed between CSTWS and TWS on 24 January 2020. CSTWS is now trying to facilitate how Canadian Chapters and Student Chapters might go down that road either directly or in alliance with CSTWS; but there is much to discuss and many decisions lie ahead. I have been charged with putting together a geographically diverse committee of long-term Canadian TWS members to help compile information for these efforts. We will be talking to Chapters further, in the near future, in the hope we can find a coordinated path forward that builds upon the rich history of TWS in Canada.
Evie Merrill,
Canadian Section Representative
emerrill@ualberta.ca/ 780-492-2842
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Executive Coordinator
Dr. Erin McCance Ph.D., P.Bio.® EP®
CSTWS Executive Coordinator
Partner, Senior Wildlife Biologist
Ecologic Environmental Inc.
Sessional Instructor, University of Manitoba
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Hello Fellow Wildlifers,
I hope this newsletter finds everyone doing well during these difficult times.
Amid these challenging times, TWS continues to reach out to members to hear about the impacts that COVID-19 has had on our profession and our wildlife resource. The Wildlife Professional as well as the TWS website feature several articles that highlight member experiences and related issues. Please visit the TWS Website and for our TWS members, please watch your mailbox for the May/June issue of The Wildlife Professional. Further, the CSTWS Board of Directors continues to investigate ways to support our students, young professionals, and our natural resources through this global pandemic.
A big thank you to all that attended our AGM on April 23, 2020. Congratulations to our newly elected and/or returning elected board members: Dennis Brannen, Kara MacAulay, Don Sexton, and Adam Sprott. These four board members together with our existing board members: Sonja Leverkus, Rick Baydack, and Art Rodgers make up our seven-member Board of Directors for the spring 2020 – spring 2021 period. Dennis undertakes the role of our CSTWS President, Sonja as our CSTWS Past President, Adam as our CSTWS President-elect, Art as our CSTWS Treasurer, Kara as our CSTWS Secretary with both Don and Rick as our two members at large on the board. We are also blessed to have Evie Merrill continue to serve as the Canadian Section Representative to TWS Council. Congratulations to all and thank you!
Charitable Status:
The CSTWS is still waiting to hear back on our application for Charitable status. During this pandemic, Revenue Canada placed all charitable status application processing on hold. As offices slowly begin to open across Canada, we hope that we will find out soon regarding the outcome of our application process. We will inform all of you when that information becomes available to us.
Leadership Institute:
Please join me in congratulating the 2020 TWS Leadership Institute class which includes two Canadians: Mariana Nagy-Reis from the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute/University of Alberta and Julien St-Amand from Parks Canada, Alberta. Congratulations to all!
Website:
Jessica Lang (Website and newsletter chair), George Loney (our website designer), Kara MacAulay (CSTWS Secretary), and I are working to be able to deliver our new CSTWS website to our members very soon! We look forward to introducing the several new features and functions that are now offered with the website. A huge thank you to Jessica for all the hard work in making this new website a reality!
TWS 27th Annual Conference:
TWS Council and the Annual Conference Planning teams are working hard to determine the best pathway for the TWS conference this fall. Several conference models are being investigated. The opening of conference registration has been delayed until June 15 at the earliest as TWS continues to monitor the situation regarding COVID-19 and its potential impacts on the annual conference. As information becomes available on TWS annual conference plans, we will ensure to notify the CSTWS members. More information, including all updates on the conference, the conference program, events, and activities, can be found at the conference website.
As always, if there are items that you would like to see us address and/or if you are interested in serving on a committee or in the future on the CSTWS Board of Directors, please reach out to us at emccance@shaw.ca. I hope you all enjoy the summer that lies ahead, keep well, and take care of each other.
Sent with best wishes,
Erin McCance
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Conservation Affairs Committee
Christopher E. Smith
Certified Wildlife Biologist
Chair Conservation Affairs Committee
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CSTWS Conservation E-New
- We are now distributing a weekly Conservation E-News to CSTWS members.
- This newsletter provides a weekly “news roundup” on wildlife, environment and conservation and topics from across Canada and beyond.
- We hope you are enjoying this newsletter. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Chantal MacLean (macleanc@myumanitoba.ca) or Chris Smith (chriscransmith@gmail.com).
Engaging Indigenous People in Wildlife Conservation and Management
- The working group on this policy priority has now been established.
- Led by Alana Wilcox, the first meeting of this group is being held on May 26th.
- Focus is to develop a discussion paper on Indigenous issues and inclusion in conservation in Canada.
- Indigenous input into discussion paper is planned and there has been outreach to TWS Native Peoples Wildlife Management Working Group for input.
- The goal is to provide guidance to CSTWS members and beyond.
- For more information or if you are interested in participating, please contact Alana (alanaaewilcox@gmail.com) or Chris Smith (chriscransmith@gmail.com).
Feral Hogs in Canada
- In recent months there has been considerable news about the spread of feral hogs in Canada.
- Given the impact of feral hogs on native wildlife and wildlife habitat, we are currently evaluating how the CSTWS might best engage in this issue.
- We recently reached out to Dr. Ryan Brook from U. of S. who is a CSTWS member and Canadian expert on feral pigs. Ryan provided us with some enlightening information on the spread of this species in Canada, associated impacts, and insight in how CSTWS can become involved.
- Additional outreach was also made to TWS for assistance and expertise and we have several key contacts who have offered support from the U.S.
- To learn more about the issue of feral pigs in Canada, the following article from National Geographic provides a good overview. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/03/huge-feral-hogs-swine-spreading-through-north-canada/
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Certification Committee
Don Barnes M.Sc., CWB®
Retired Lakehead University Thunder Bay ON
Chair CSTWS Certification Committee
Member CSTWS Education Committee
Member TWS Conservation Education Awards Committee
President-Elect OCTWS
Email: CSTWSCertificationCommittee@gmail.com
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TWS Certification Webinar and Follow Up
On May 8th, 2020, TWS delivered a webinar focusing on its Wildlife Certification Program. At the onset I want to express my appreciation to Jamila Blake, TWS Professional Manager and Dr. Steven Castleberry, Chair of the Certification Review Board (CRB) who did a very good job of capturing and preserving the essence of TWS Wildlife Biologist Certification Program for wildlifers everywhere. I was very encouraged to see that of the 300 attendees, 92% were students/working biologists who were not certified. However, it was discouraging to see that only 3% were CWBs. In the webinar, Jamila and Steven Castleberry reviewed all facets of the program. For those of you who could not watch the webinar, you can do so by connecting with TWS website under Certification Programs and clicking on May 2020 webinar.
In my post-webinar communications, I provided Steven with several suggested changes that were generated by the Certification Committee. In response, both Steven and the Chair of Certification Liaison Committee (CLC), agreed to revisit their proposed revisions to the 2019 Wildlife Biologist Certification Program Policies Procedures Manual to incorporate the Certification Committee’s suggestions. They are hoping to have these changes formalized enough to present to TWS Executive Council for approval in the Fall of 2020.
Re-scheduled OCTWS/CSTWS Certification Workshop
Due to Covid-19, this year’s OCTWS/CSTWS AGM and Conference had to be rescheduled to March 26 - 28, 2021. As a result, my Certification Workshop has also been rescheduled to March 28, 2021. This workshop plus my presence on the OCTWS Executive, as President-Elect, will afford me the opportunity to promote TWS certification in Ontario, an area with very few Associate or Certified Wildlife Biologists.
Newly Revised Certification Website
I am indebted to Jessica Lang for inputting the many documents associated with the CSTWS Certification Committee. This revision marks a massive expansion to the original write-up, as it touches on all aspects of committee activities. I have listed the numerous documents which now make up our new website:
- The Terms of Reference
- Certification Committee members
- Certification Mentorship Protocol
- Certification Webinar
- Certification Workshop, i.e. MB Chapter and AGM workshops
- Certification Brochure
- Certification Committee Meeting Minutes—July 2017, June 2018, Aug 2018, Sep 2018, and Nov 2019
- Two Certification Manuscripts (In Prep)
- Curriculum Review Committee
- Certification Committee Annual Reports—2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
- Committee of Professional Biologists Initiative
Jessica has been busy updating other websites to better reflect the many new initiatives and activities associated with our newly incorporated CSTWS.
Manitoba Chapter Certification Workshop and Video
The proposed Manitoba Chapter Certification Workshop planned for their AGM on March 20, 2020 has been a further delay because of Covid-19. There has been no word about whether they will be re-scheduling. I will keep you posted.
The MB Chapter continues to help in the promotion of certification in Manitoba. In 2018, I was involved in a MB Certification Workshop organized by Justine Josephson-Laidlaw (currently she is very active in the TWS - MB as President-Elect and CSTWS as a member on both the Membership & Recruitment and Certification Committees). At that time, the MB Chapter showed a lot of foresight in having this session videotaped. The videographer, Emily Thoroski, is presently working on editing the session. When done, this will be made available for anyone interested in knowing more about certification.
The presentation includes:
1) my overview of TWS Certification in Canada
2) Rick Baydack’s talk about TWS and how the University of Manitoba has streamlined courses so that students can achieve TWS course requirements more seamlessly
3) CWB testimonials from three CWBs operating in Manitoba—Rick Baydack, University of Manitoba; Melanie Dubois, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Jonathon Wiens—; and a CWB panel discussion where Rick, Melanie, and I fielded questions on various aspects of TWS certification in Canada
When it becomes ready for viewing, I will post it as part of the CSTWS Certification Website.
My Vision for 2020-21
Reinvigorating the Curriculum Review Committee
In the latest TWS Certification Webinar, Dr. Steven Castleberry, CRB Chair, identified three course categories that have been problematic for TWS members in Canada and the US i.e., Botany, Communications, and Policy, Administration, & Law. In an attempt to deal with these course issues, the CSTWS Board approved the formation of an ad hoc Curriculum Review Committee (CRC) to ensure that universities and colleges are delivering courses that will better prepare students for a career as wildlife professionals. To date, our steering group—Dr. Lu Carbyn, Dr. Rick Baydack, Dr. Erin McCance, Dr. Everett Hanna, and myself—have roughed out a Terms of Reference and generated a tentative list of Canadian post-secondary educators to populate this committee. In the coming year, I would like to see an escalation of our efforts by having the CRC in place so that they can begin discussing how best to tackle these course deficiencies.
Formation of a Committee of Biological Professionals (CBP)
One of the chief mandates on the Certification Committee is to work towards the creation of a certification standard for Canadian wildlife biologists. The CSTWS Certification Committee has been reaching out to societies and organizations which have programs designed to produce professional biologists in Canada. To date, our committee has identified two other international societies—the American Fisheries Society (AFS) and the Ecological Society of America (ESA)—, one national organization—the Environmental Careers Organizations of Canada (ECO Canada) and two provincial societies—the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists (ASPB) and the British Columbia-College of Applied Biologists (BC-CAB)—. Our strategy for establishing a Canadian-wide certification standard is focused on the creation of a Committee of Biological Professionals (CBP). Our rationale for this approach is based on the reality that these programs are generating professionals who will ensure the well-being of fish and wildlife populations and ensuring their ecological-environmental integrity. I envision that by the end of the next fiscal year, we will have a functional CBP in place.
Publishing of Certification Articles
Over the past year or so, I have been providing updates of two certification articles which I and my team of co-authors (Lu Carbyn, Erin McCance, Dave Ealey, Everett Hanna, Al Arsenault, Justine Josephson-Laidlaw, and Jessica Melsted) have undertaken:
1) Evolution of certification programs designed to create Canadian professional biologists (Canadian Field-Naturalists)
2) Why are there not more TWS members opting for certification: A Canadian Prospectus (the Wildlife Professional).
It is my hope to have at least one of these in for publication in the next year.
Continue our Efforts to Increase AWBs
Over the past few months, I have been involved with mentoring 5 students with their AWB applications. All these students have solid applications and I have agreed to be their CWB reference. Over the past few months, I have been made aware 2 more AWBs—Jessica Melstad (Secretary of the CSTWS Certification Committee) and Matt Dyson (President of OCTWS). If these 5 AWB applicants are approved by CRB that will potentially double the number of Canadian AWBs in Canada. I am very encouraged by this increased interest in certification and hope that more students consider certification as a post-graduation option. By way of a reminder, there are 25 CWBs in BC, AB, MB, SK, ON, NB, and YT, who are poised to act as mentors and potential CWB application references. For more information on our certification mentorship program, please contact Don Barnes.
Maintain Contact with Canadian CWBs
Over the past few months, I reached out to the 41 CWBs for their thoughts on TWS certification. In particular, I asked for comments on the following:
1) the reasons why they underwent TWS certification when so many other wildlife biologists did not
2) any thoughts/comments they may have to shed light on why student/young professionals are not motivated to become AWBs or CWBs
3) any suggestions they may have to increase TWS certification in Canada
4) would they be interested in adding their name to our list of CWB mentors.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that approximately half of the Canadian CWBs responded. At present, I am in the process of summarizing their responses to my inquiries. I hope to have this summary prepared to report back to the CSTWS members about what information I gleaned.
In the upcoming year, I hope to increase the frequency of my CWB communications, as I feel it is important to keep our active professionals informed about changes to TWS certification in Canada.
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Awards Committee
Dr. Joseph Northrup, Ph.D.
CSTWS Awards Committee Chair
Research Scientist, Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
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Dr. Charles J. Krebs - Winner of the 2020 Ian McTaggart-Cowan Lifetime Achievement Award
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Krebs is the recipient of the 2020 Ian McTaggart-Cowan Lifetime Achievement Award, the Canadian Section’s highest honour. This award recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the understanding, conservation, and/or management of wildlife in Canada over the course of their career. The award is named for Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan, a founding pioneer of the wildlife profession, an Honorary Life Member and former President of The Wildlife Society (TWS), and recipient of TWS’ highest honour, the Aldo Leopold Memorial Award.
Dr. Krebs embodies what this award stands for, having made truly outstanding contributions to the understanding of wildlife in Canada over his career. Dr. Krebs is one of the pre-eminent Canadian wildlife ecologists who has shaped the way in which we understand ecological systems in Canada. Indeed, it is difficult to think of any Canadian wildlife ecologist who has not been, in some way, influenced by Dr. Krebs.
Erin McCance - TWS Fellow
We are also pleased to announce that Canada now has one new TWS Fellow, Erin McCance! The TWS Fellowship award recognizes individuals who have been members for over 10 years and who have demonstrated exceptional service and dedication to the wildlife profession.
Erin is a wildlife ecologist at EcoLogic Environmental Inc., a sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba, and is currently the CSTWS Executive Coordinator. Since 2007, she has been involved with TWS, and has since held numerous executive roles with the Manitoba Chapter and Canadian Section. Erin is also a graduate of the Leadership Institute 2014 class and is an incredible role model for many Canadian wildlifers and aspiring students. We are incredibly proud of Erin for this recognition and are truly grateful for her hard work and dedication to TWS. Congratulations Erin!
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Call for 2020 Nominations!
DEADLINE EXTENDED: The Conservation Education Award. The Conservation Education Award is given in each of the following categories on a three-year-rotation basis: Writing, Media & Audio-Visual Works and Programs. This year, the award category is Media & Audio-Visual Works.
Application deadlines have been extended until June 1st, 2020.
For more information, please click HERE.
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Alberta Chapter
How things have changed since our last update in January! As with many chapters across the country, we cancelled our annual conference as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, we have focused our efforts on serving our membership while observing social distancing requirements. Our new executive team is in place, and we successfully hosted our AGM virtually with 31 members in attendance.
We are finding new ways to engage our members electronically this year, including:
- Presenting our professional awards through video conferencing and celebrating the award winners on social media and on our website.
- Presenting research posters from the conference program on our website.
- Providing a speaker’s bureau on our website. This publicly accessible and searchable database will help you find a speaker for your next webinar, online lecture, or event.
- Hosting monthly lunch and learn webinars from conference speakers to share their research with our community.
- Presenting the completed C-5 Cumulative Effects report as our first webinar on May 13th from 12:00-1:00PM MDT, and posting the report on our website.
The video recordings of the AGM, award presentations and webinars will be posted on our website in the members area, so if you are not already an ACTWS member – you should become one!
In addition to finding virtual ways to engage our members, our Conservation Affairs Committee has been incredibly busy responding due to significant cuts to the Alberta Parks system and the sale of a quarter section of native grassland in southern Alberta. We also have members representing the ACTWS in caribou recovery planning.
This year, we are updating our strategic plan. We began this work by surveying our growing membership to determine their needs and expectations of the chapter.
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Manitoba Chapter
The Manitoba Chapter is excited to welcome our new Executive. As most organizations, the Executive is working hard and focusing on how to best reach our membership during these hard times of COVID-19. Our objectives at this time include collaborating with researchers and organizations to provide our members with webinars, presentations, outdoor social distancing activities, and citizen science from the safety and comfort of their own homes. We look forward to updating our website to ensure these resources are accessible and plentiful. Our Certification Webinar, produced by Master's student, Emily Thoroski, will now be held online in the coming weeks and is a highly anticipated workshop that we look forward to offering to students and new professionals.
These are particularly challenging times, but the slow arrival of spring is offering louder sounds of wildlife and warmer days. The wildlife community is working hard to maintain connection throughout Canada, and we thank you all for that. Stay safe and we look forward to seeing what our Chapter can contribute.
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Ontario Chapter
While we are disappointed to have postponed our 2020 joint AGM with the Canadian Section in Peterborough, we are excited to announce we will be rescheduling for March 2021. We hope you will join us in Peterborough! The Ontario Chapter AGM was conducted this year by circulating our presentation digitally to the membership and marked the transition to our new executive. A huge thanks to Pete Hettinga, who is leaving the executive after serving in the President role since 2017. Pete has been instrumental in reinvigorating the Ontario Chapter. We are also excited to welcome Don Barnes as our new President-Elect to the executive. Over the next year, we will continue to work to build the Ontario Chapter. We are currently developing a webinar series that will feature research from students and professionals that was originally going to be presented in Peterborough. This series will be open access so it is accessible to members of the Canadian Section and Ontario Chapter and we would appreciate your support in becoming a member. You can check our website (octws.ca) or social media feeds (@OCTWS_) for updates and more information regarding the webinar series and 2021 AGM.
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Wildlife Job Board and Opportunities
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Post-doc Opportunity
BRAES Postdoctoral Fellowship in Landscape Ecology
Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience and Ecosystem Services, University of British Columbia (Okanagan Campus)
Application deadline: May 29th, 2020.
Salay: $48,000 + $3,000 for research expenses
For details, click HERE
Assistant or Associate Professor Position
Assistant or Associate Professor in Indigenous Natural Sciences (tenure track)
Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia
Application Deadline: September 1st, 2020
For details, click HERE
Full-time/Comtract Position
Wildlife Technician II (Contract)
Government of the Northwest Territories, Environment and Natural Resources Department
Application Deadline: June 5th, 2020
For details, click HERE
... and Many More!
Please check out our Facebook page for frequent job postings
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