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Wealth of speakers and knowledge at upcoming conference
Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology is presenting Urban Wildlife: Challenges and Management on April 18/19 at Cranbrook’s Rocky Mountain Prestige Inn.
Wildlife numbers are increasing within many British Columbia municipalities, leading to more interactions with humans and our infrastructure. Interactions can lead to property damage, public safety issues, public health concerns, impacts on biodiversity, and death or suffering of wildlife. Deer, elk, coyotes, moose, geese, bears, and other animals can become more than a nuisance, putting themselves and humans at risk. Through a combination of presentations, posters, and a demonstration, this conference will address the issues about managing the wildlife – and the people.
We anticipate attendance by a multidisciplinary group of people: provincial, regional district, and municipal staff; biologists; resource managers; academics; industry, stewardship groups; and others with an interest in human–wildlife interactions.
We have 23 speakers lined up plus a free evening presentation by Dr. Michael Proctor about co-existing with grizzly bears in the urban/rural Creston Valley. There will be a poster session (more posters are welcome, see guidelines here). The list of presentations and posters is here.
Pre-registration and pre-payment are required for this conference.
List of speakers
– Biology of mule deer and white-tailed deer with implications for urban deer management, Brian Harris, Regional Wildlife Biologist, BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations.
– Challenges to coexistence with urban coyotes: A spatial-temporal analysis of diet and human-coyote interactions in Calgary, Alberta, Victoria Lukasik, Department of Geography, University of Calgary.
– Understanding urban white-tailed deer movement in a Canadian metropolitan centre, Erin McCance, Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba.
– Bats in buildings: Roost conservation and enhancement, Juliet Craig, Silverwing Ecological Consulting.
– Challenges of managing stormwater wetlands for Black Terns: A case study, Erika Almasi-Klausz, City of Calgary, and Kelly Day, City of Calgary.
– Urban elk management in Banff National Park, Blair Fyten, Resource Conservation, Parks Canada.
– Wildlife exclusion fencing in urban areas: Issues and solutions, Bill Harper, Wildlife Advisor, Kicking Horse Canyon Project, and Chris Morley, Environmental Coordinator, Kicking Horse Canyon Project.
– Electric fencing: An effective deterrent to protect fruit trees and small livestock from bears, Gillian Sanders, North Kootenay Lake Bear Smart Program.
– Silencing the dinner bell: how do we reduce the feeding of urban wildlife? Sara Dubois, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Animal Welfare Program, University of British Columbia.
– Changing human behaviour as part of wildlife management, Kai Elmauer, Elmauer Institute.
– Urban deer management in Cranbrook, Chris Zettel, Corporate Communications Officer, City of Cranbrook, and Bob Whetham, Councillor, City of Cranbrook.
– The Grand Forks Deer Committee: A deer town with a people problem, Jenny Coleshill, Grand Forks Deer Committee.
– Meeting the needs of wildlife education and outreach in the East Kootenay, Shaunna McInnis, Kimberley.
– Perils, pitfalls and profiting from the use of social media marketing to present your message to the public, Frank Ritcey, Bear Aware, BC Conservation Foundation.
– A process for solving urban wildlife conflicts at the community level, Mark Hall, Jaffray.
– The rabbit problem: The University of Victoria story, Thomas Smith, Facilities Management, University of Victoria.
– Dealing with rabbits, acting like tortoises: A recipe for messy eradication of a charismatic invasive species, Lindsay Monk and Jason Strata, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria.
– Management of southern sub-populations of Canada geese in British Columbia: The biological and practical challenges of implementing appropriately scaled management plans, Kate Hagmeier, EBB Environmental Consulting.
– A community response to geese management, Janette Loveys, Park Operation Services, Capital Regional District.
– Data collection as a means of validating human-wildlife conflicts management decisions in the Town of Canmore, Jay Honeyman, Bear Conflict Biologist, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.
– Wildlife corridor planning in a rapidly growing community, Gary Buxton, Manager of Planning and Development, Gary Buxton, General Manager of Municipal Infrastructure,Town of Canmore, and Steve de Keijzer, Senior Planner, Town of Canmore.
– How to engage communities in reducing human-wildlife conflict through community outreach and social media, Kim Titchener, Program Director, Bow Valley WildSmart Community Program.
– Evening Speaker : Dr Michael Proctor will speak on co-existing with grizzly bears in the Creston Valley.
List of posters
Offers to bring along a poster will be accepted until two weeks before the conference. Posters should be related to the theme of the conference, not commercial in nature, and not advocacy-oriented. Please read the submission guidelines.
– The Provincial Agriculture Zone Wildlife Program in the Kootenay Boundary Region, Donna Thornton, Agriculture Wildlife Specialist, BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations.
– Evaluating East Kootenay elk use on private land under hunting pressure, Donna Thornton, Agriculture Wildlife Specialist, BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, and Becky Phillips, Wildlife Biologist, BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations.
– Saving those on the not so cute side of the ledger, Frank Ritcey, Kamloops.
– Challenges of wildlife utilizing roadways: Investigating amphibian road occurrence and road mortality mitigation within the south Okanagan, British Columbia, Jonquil Crosby, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo.
– Ecosystem Management and Conservation Biology Extension Cluster at FORREX, Pedro Lara Almuedo, FORREX.
– A practical approach to urban wildlife management: The development and implementation of urban wildlife plans, Oliver Busby, EBB Environmental Consulting.
– Kimberley Wildlife Aware display, Shaunna McInnis, Kimberley.
– Kimberley Bear Aware display, Shaunna McInnis, Kimberley.
– Resident coyotes in the City of Calgary, Alberta: Functional connectivity of urban natural spaces, Karina Lamy, Department of Environmental Design, University of Calgary.
– Managing for human-facilitated wildlife invasions: Lessons from an adaptive management program for introduced frogs in the South Okanagan Valley, BC, Natasha Lukey, Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo.
– Management of resident Canada Geese and restoration of degraded estuaries on eastern Vancouver Island, John Cooper, Cooper Beauchesne and Associates Ltd.
– Rethinking beaver management to reduce conflicts and costs, Glynnis A. Hood, University of Alberta, Augustana Campus.
– Considerations for mitigating moose–human conflict in moose habitats undergoing urban development, Roy Rea, University of Northern British Columbia and Gayle Hesse, Wildlife Collision Prevention Program, British Columbia Conservation Foundation
– Wildlife record keeping at western Canadian regional airports: Implications for risk assessments Gayle Hesse, Wildlife Collision Prevention Program, British Columbia Conservation Foundation, Roy Rea, University of Northern British Columbia, and Annie Booth, University of Northern British Columbia.
– Sumas Mountain Environmental Management Plan, Billi Gowans, Stantec Consulting
– Herding deer and elk with dogs – display by John Zehnder, and demonstration with geese by Chris Jobe, Canine Solutions.
For more details and to register, visit www.cmiae.org/Events
Jackie Morris, Executive Director
Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology
