CANADIAN SECTION NEWSLETTER

• Certification Application Reviews (AWB, CWB, Upgrade to CWB).  The CRB typically meets monthly to decide on applications that we have independently reviewed, and ad hoc on critical issues.  During my first 3-year term I reviewed 642 applications.  In 2021, the CRB (functioning as 2 teams) collectively reviewed 291 applications.  The current response time for application review has dropped from 5 to 3.5 months.
• Curriculum Reviews - No requests were received in 2021 by the CRB to review a recommended program of study from a university geared toward wildlife certification.  During my first term, there were a few received from North American universities and colleges (including from Canada), which were reviewed with CRB recommendations provided.  I am also supporting the CSTWS Curriculum Review Committee (when requested) with respect to preparing submissions from various Canadian universities for curriculum review by the CRB.
• CSTWS Certification Committee – As founding (former) chair and current CRB rep on the committee, I continue to provide liaison between CRB and our committee, including certification support and advise upon request.
• Email Inquiries / Application Follow-ups – the CRB receives multiple inquiries (typically 2 to 5/ moth) which are discussed on our monthly CRB conference call and responded to.
• TWS Certification Manual Update - During the first 2 years of my appointment to the CRB, we met regularly to discuss revisions to the Wildlife Biologist Certification Program Policies Manual. The CRB recommended a number of updates and one addition for review, all of which were approved by TWS Council on 26 Sep 2020.  NOTE: as your Canadian Section Rep, I successfully lobbied the CRB to ensure Canadian Universities were on par with US Universities with respect to semester length credit.  I continue to reinforce a less US-centric mindset in the CRB certification application review process, to facilitate a flexible approach to the review of applicants educated outside of the US university education system.
• TWS/CRB Certification Application Assistance Workshop – this workshop is offered annually by the CRB during the annual TWS Convention.  During this workshop all CRB members address questions from attendees and will provide one-on one application advise to individuals requesting this.  The following are workshops I’ve participated in as your Canadian Section Rep:
  • 8 Oct 2018 – TWS Annual Conference- Cleveland
  • 30 Sep 2019 – TWS/AFS Conference – Reno
  • 29 Sep and 30 Sep 2020– TWS Virtual Conference – CRB held 2 sessions to assist applicants
  • 2 and 4 Nov 2021 - TWS Virtual Conference – CRB held 2-2hr sessions to assist applicants
• Webinar participation – on 13 May 2021 I participated as a panel member to provide information from CRB perspective, and as a CWB for a certification workshop hosted by the TWS Saskatchewan Chapter
• Mentoring – throughout my first term I provided individual certification assistance advice to several Canadian Section members, and provided same to several international (non-Canadian, non-US) applicants.  I’ve also served as CWB reference for Canadian applicants seeking reference support (several)
• CRB Annual Meeting – the CRB holds an annual business meeting to address wildlife certification program delivery.  During my first term our focus was on updating the TWS Certification Manual for review and approval by TWS Council.  The following are a few highlights of our meeting held on 25 Oct 2021:
  • All on-line TWS Wildlife Certification application forms will be updated with respect to instruction, requirements and content for each subject category verified to reflect consistency with the now revised TWS Certification Manual (https://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Certification-Program-Manual_2021_FINAL.pdf)
  • As of Oct 2021, there are 576 AWBs and 1,843 CWBs in good standing across all TWS sections.
  • There were only 4 Canadian applications of the 291 received in 2021 (Jan- Oct).
  • New Certification Designation - TWS is in the final stages of approving a partnership (MOU) with Bird Strike Committee USA to add a “Qualified Airport Wildlife Biologist” designation to the certification program.  This new certification was vetted through the CRB during our most recent CRB annual meeting.
  • The current 2 team structure of the CRB will continue in 2022, with some members shuffled between teams; I will continue to co-chair one of the teams.
  • CRB will continue offering support to international certification applicants, including ongoing engagement with the TWS International Wildlife Management Working Group.
  • CRB will initiate outreach to AFWA (Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies) to promote TWS certification.
  • CRB members will prepare an article in 2022 for The Wildlife Professional regarding the updates to The TWS Certification Program and Certification Standards.
  • Future recommended updates for the TWS Certification Manual include changing language to reflect calculations based on 40 hr work week (manual specifies 30 hrs/week = full time, but certification applications auto calculate based on 40 hr work week).  A running list of recommended updates will be maintained and future manual updates will occur at 5-yr intervals.

• 2 Family memberships
• 5 Honorary memberships
• 18 Retired memberships
• 230 Professional memberships
• 106 Student memberships
• 7 Other memberships

• From November 16 to December 10, we’re running Wild LOVE, an online fundraiser. People have three ways to support the ACTWS: 1) donate and 100% of proceeds come straight to us, 2) purchase a magazine subscription and 40% of sales come to us, or 3) a 50/50 raffle with 50% of ticket sales coming to us and the other 50% going to a lucky winner. The details and links to all of the above are here: https://www.actws.ca/event/wild-love-actws-fall-fundraiser/ Please share this link as broadly as you’re comfortable and encourage your networks to buy raffle tickets and/or magazines.
• Our Executive Director shared the work of our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee at the TWS Conference at the start of November. We were part of the Moving Forward panel discussion.
• Our EDI Committee launched two new BIPOC student awards! One is for professional development and another is for the first-year of post-secondary learning. Both awards are for $1500. Details and links to the application are here: https://www.actws.ca/blog/2021/10/01/actws-launches-bipoc-student-awards/ Deadline for applications is November 30, 2021.
• We are looking for a new volunteer webmaster. We’ve got a job posting on Good Work Canada. Details are here: https://www.goodwork.ca/volunteer/webmaster-and-website-operations-positions-61646 Deadline for applications is November 30, 2021.
• Our Conservation Affairs Committee continues to be kept busy with several environmental issues in Alberta, including responding to logging plans in caribou habitat, participating in caribou recovery planning, discussing the new Alberta Trails Act, and considering our response to hunting on ungulate farms.
• Our Hot Topic Webinars continue to share great science and stimulate discussion every month. Our October webinar was about the role of hunting and trapping in wildlife management and ethics. On Wednesday, Nov 17, we’re hosting a webinar about climate change, wildfires, and wildlife habitat. December’s webinar will discuss the human dimensions of hunting and trapping, continuing the discussion from our October webinar.

William (Bill) Albert Fuller lived an exemplary career in wildlife. His contributions span a wide range of ecological, conservation, and environmental biology across six decades. He was an outstanding educator, researcher, and activist in defense of the environment. He began his professional career in the late 1940s as an eager young biologist with the Dominion Wildlife Service (later renamed Canadian Wildlife Service) charged with conducting wildlife research in northern Alberta and the District of Mackenzie. His international renown started soon thereafter.  In 1955 Bill was able to confirm active nesting sites of endangered Whooping Cranes in northern Alberta and parts of Wood Buffalo National Park. At a time when crane numbers were less than 25 and only their wintering area in Texas was known, it was a game-changing observation for the species, and North America took notice.   

He is equally well-known for long-term study of population fluctuations of small mammals in the boreal forest.  From his position in the Zoology Department at the University of Alberta, Bill established the year-round Heart Lake Biological Station near Hay River NWT, in part, to feed his enormous interest in winter ecology in northern forests and to share his enthusiasm with like-minded students and wildlife professionals. He was a driving force in the department and opened the minds and hearts and careers of many students during his tenure there and until his retirement from U of A in 1984. 

Bill Fuller was born May 10, 1924, in Moosomin, Saskatchewan.  His church-going family moved to Regina in the late 1920s where he graduated with honours from high school.  He obtained an Entrance Scholarship to the University of Saskatchewan in 1941, the first of multiple scholarships and fellowships through his career.  Bill started as a student with the Northwest Fisheries Investigation of Lake Athabasca and then at Great Save Lake, NWT, where he completed research for his master’s degree.  His formal education was capped off with a PhD from the University of Wisconsin for his work regarding the biology and management of bison in Wood Buffalo National Park.

During his career, Bill was able to delve deeply into research and management projects that ranged from small mammals to bison, wolves, whooping cranes and initial fisheries surveys in the north.  Bill Fuller applied ecological principles to conservation problems.  He chaired a subcommittee of the International Biological Program and the National Research Council of Canada’s Associate Committee on Ecological Reserves.  He served on the board of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources as well as Canada’s Review Panel on Northern Diseased Bison.  Fuller co-wrote five books and authored over 50 scientific papers. 

Bill was very passionate about his work and unequivocally stood his ground. Foremost in this regard, Bill was intimately involved in addressing concerns regarding diseased bison in Wood Buffalo National Park – a subject with which he had a lot of firsthand experience. Bill was convinced the best long-term solution was to remove the diseased bison from the park. But the removal never happened once politicians far-removed from the problem stepped in and overrode the biologists, similar to a previous decision  in the 1920s that resulted in the diseased bison in the first place.  No stranger to controversy, Bill was awarded the political middle finger from Alberta Premier Ralph Klein when the Alberta-Pacific pulp mill in northeastern Alberta was approved despite a large body of environmental evidence against it.  Undaunted, Bill was part of the strong opposition to a proposal to build an environmentally devastating dam on the Slave River and plans to build facilities inside Banff National Park for the 1977 Winter Olympics.  Fortunately, both of these crusades were successful and fully illustrate the true character of Bill Fuller.  He always stood his ground for science and evidence-based wisdom, regardless of the social, political and sometimes practical aspects of the issue.

Among other well-deserved accolades, in 1991 Bill Fuller was the unanimous recipient of the 1^st William Rowan Distinguished Service Award bestowed by the Alberta Chapter TWS. The Rowan award recognizes individuals who make outstanding contributions to management & conservation of wildlife and their habitats.  Bill set the bar high and he and his career remain a challenge for current and future wildlifers to achieve similar standards.

Bill married Marie Tuttle in Regina, Saskatchewan on May 31, 1947.  They were back in Fort Smith the following week where Marie was told by a local that she was just the 21st woman in the town.  They had two sons and two daughters.  Dr. Fuller died in Edmonton, Alberta on June 13, 2009.