Past Events
Click here for information about our past conferences, courses, and meetings. Download free Conference Summaries, view lists of our event partners, and more.
Upcoming Events
You may wish to review our Registration and Cancellation Policy before you register.
Our registration deadline is generally two weeks before each event.
If we have space we will still acccept registrations, so please call the office to check.
Ecological Approaches to Invasive Plant Management
September 13-14, 2010, Revelstoke
We have space for more participants.
Soil Bioengineering Course cancelled.
September 15-16, 2010, Revelstoke.
Statistics for Biologists - A Refresher Course
September 21-23, 2010, Revelstoke BC
As of August 23 we have 4 spaces left.
Trend Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment
September 28-30, 2010, Revelstoke BC
Course full. We are repeating the course again in spring of 2011. Click here to receive our event announcements.
Public Participation Skills for Natural Resource Managers
October 4-5, 2010, Revelstoke
Please register before September 20. We may still have space after that so check with us at office@cmiae.org
Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management conference
October 6-7, 2010, Revelstoke
Carbon management in the ecosystems of British Columbia: A search for opportunities to mitigate climate change conference
Coming in 2011, date and location to be announced.
Ecological Approaches to Invasive Plant Management
September 13-14, 2010
Coast Hillcrest Hotel, Revelstoke BC
Instructor: David Polster, Polster Environmental Services
Class size: Class size is limited to 25 people.
Cost: $350.00 + $42.00 HST = $392.00 to be paid before the course.
Course fee includes: Instruction, course manual, and coffee breaks (not lunch). For the field trip day we provide a bag lunch and bottled juice. Participants are responsible for their own hotel arrangements. Car-pooling will be required for the field trip day.
Registration: Click here.
As of August 23 we have spaces available.
Course Description
This two day course will present an ecological approach to invasive plant management, where vegetation management systems are designed to work with natural successional processes. The first day is a classroom session, and the second is a field day with the participants evaluating sites. This is an intensive, content-heavy course. A course manual is supplied.
In British Columbia, this course has been approved for 6 Continuing Education credits in pest management and 2 Continuing Education credits in application technology, for people holding Industrial Vegetation pesticide applicator certificates. In Alberta, this course has been approved for 6 credits in pest management and 2 credits in application technology, in the landscape applicator class of certificate. The course does not include instruction on the use of pesticides. |
Class size is limited to 25 people.
Click here to see the course outline. Topics to be addressed include:
- Identification and ecology of invasive species
- Strategies for dealing with invasive species
- Identification of the problem – mapping and sampling
- Decision support tool for invasive species
- Ecological Approach to Vegetation Management
- Hand and power tools for dealing with invasive species
- Herbicides
- Management of crews
- Monitoring
Our Instructor
David Polster, MSc, RPBio, of Polster Environmental Services is a plant ecologist who has been involved in reclamation and restoration of degraded sites for the past 30 years. He has pioneered the use of soil bioengineering for treatment of riparian areas and unstable slopes in British Columbia. David teaches courses on soil bioengineering and integrated vegetation management at the University of Victoria, University of Northern British Columbia and a variety of other venues. He is a former president of the Canadian Land Reclamation Association, secretary of the B.C. Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration, director with the Garry Oak Ecosystem Recovery Team and director with the Invasive Plant Council of BC.
Cost
$350.00 + $42.00 HST = $392.00
Payment must be received before the course.
Please read the Cancellation Policy on the registration form.
Your course fee includes one day of classroom instruction, coffee breaks, and a course manual; and one day of field instruction with a bag lunch supplied on the field day. Carpooling will be needed.
Registration
Click here for the online registration form. You may wish to print the form, and fax it to 250-837-9311. Register before September 1.
- Be sure you read the Cancellation Policy on the registration form.
- You may wish to view our Policy on Registration and Cancellation .
- When the course fills, we will begin a wait list.
Who should attend?
Anyone wanting to learn effective strategies for the management of invasive plants.
Where is the course?
The classroom day of the course will be held at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel in Revelstoke. A map showing their location is on the hotel’s web site: http://www.hillcresthotel.com . Locations for the field day will be near Revelstoke.
Where should I stay?
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel at the rate of $119.00 plus taxes. This is a full service hotel. You are responsible for the cost of your accommodation and making the actual booking for your room. Be sure to mention that you are part of this Columbia Mountains Institute course. Book early to get a room at this special rate; as the rooms will be “released” two weeks before the course.
Coast Hillcrest Hotel
http://www.hillcresthotel.com
250-837-3322
Information about other accommodation in Revelstoke can be found at:
http://www.seerevelstoke.com/vacation .
Course outline: Ecological Approaches to Invasive Plant Management
Classroom Session, September 13, 2010
8:30 a.m. to about 5 p.m. (Pacific Time)
1. Introduction
- Goals and expected outcomes for course
- Need for invasive species management
- Focus mainly on plants, but animals can cause major problems
- Organizations involved in invasive species management
2. Identification and Ecology of Invasive Species
- Common invasive species of BC
- Problem species of southeastern BC
- Ecology of invasive species - woody and herbaceous species, graminoides
3. Strategies for Dealing with Invasive Species
- Identification of the problem – mapping and sampling
- Assessment of treatment area
- Mapping scales and base maps
- Sampling procedures and timing
- Documenting changes over time
- Decision Support Tool for Invasive Species
- Adaptive management approach
- Incorporation of ecological values in treatment design
- Ecological Approach to Vegetation Management
- Use of ecological characteristics to manage invasive species
- Strengths and weaknesses – vulnerabilities
- Common techniques for dealing with invasive species
- Successional distancing
- Soil seed banks and regeneration from roots and rhizomes
- Tools for dealing with invasive species
- Hand tools
- Power tools
- Herbicides
- Definitions and types of herbicides
- Herbicide use and regulations
- Ecological issues with herbicide use
4. Management of crews
- Volunteers, contractors, and employees
- Crew safety and specific training
5. Monitoring
- Types of Monitoring
- Implementation
- Effectiveness
- Validation
Field Session, September 14, 2010
8:30 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. (Pacific Time)
1. Assessment of site to be treated (mapping and planning).
2. Identification of approaches for treating invasive species.
- Select species to treat
- Work from greatest concentration to least concentration
- Only tackle what you can deal with on a continuous basis
- Plan for dealing with plant wastes
3. Establishing monitoring program
4. Testing treatment techniques
Statistics for Biologists – A Refresher Course
September 21-23, 2010
Coast Hillcrest Hotel, Revelstoke, BC
Cost: $600.00 plus HST = $672.00
Class size: Class size is limited to 16 people.
Instructor: Dr. Carl Schwarz, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, at Simon Fraser University (http://www.stat.sfu.ca/~cschwarz/)
Pre-requisites: A "basic" knowledge of statistics, i.e. usually a single course
somewhere in your background.
Registration: Register here.
As of August 23 we have 4 spaces left.
Course description
“The earth is flat (p<0.5).”
Many scientific studies are full of statistical jargon, tables of averages and other statistics, and results of statistical tests which purport to prove a certain hypothesis. The purpose of this course is to review some of the basic sampling and experiment designs used by ecologists and to understand exactly what can and cannot be extracted from a set of data. With the advent of modern statistical packages, the analysis of data is fairly easy, but it is far too easy to get nonsense results. This course will also review common pitfalls in the analysis of data.
Course content
1. Review of statistical concepts on estimates, standard errors, confidence intervals, p-values, bias, precision, accuracy, missing values, etc.
2. Overview of environmental monitoring designs
3. Overview of some basic sampling strategies
- simple random sample
- stratified sampling
- cluster sampling
- two stage sampling
- ratio estimation
4. Details on simple random sampling, stratified sampling, cluster sampling
- how to plan
- sample size requirements etc
- how to analyze
- pitfalls and which to use when
5. Overview of experimental designs (single factor, two factor)
6. Details on single factor designs
- two-sample t-test
- one way ANOVA
- multiple comparisons
- subsampling
- pseudo-replication
- pairing, blocking, etc.
7. Overview and details on single variable regression analysis
8. Overview and details of categorical data analysis.
Participants should bring:
Laptop computer pre-loaded with the program JMP-version 8 or the current version in September (if you have JMP version 6 or 7 that will be fine). The free demo version of JMP has limited functions and you cannot save files, but it is adequate for the course. (Plan your 30-day free trial so it does not expired during the course) Download the demo version here.
Tutorials on JMP are available here. You will get more from the course if you have a familiarity with the program beforehand. It’s harder to learn a new program at the same time as you try to re-learn statistics.
Your laptop needs to have the current version of Adobe Reader to access the course manual during the course. The manual is 65 MB and will be supplied as a download prior to the course. You need at least 65 MB of free space so you can copy the manual to the hard drive and read from the hard drive during the course.
You will need to unzip the course exercises files before the course. They will be available as downloads from Dr. Schwarz’s website. Your laptop needs to have MS Excel installed for opening the un-zipped files.
Supplied with course:
- Downloadable manual (65MB)
- Downloadable sample data sets and course exercises
- Coffee breaks with goodies
Meals and accommodation are not included.
Registration
Register here. Or, print the form and fax it to 250-837-9311. Be sure you’ve read the cancellation policy. Your registration will be confirmed by email. If you don’t hear back within a day or so please call to confirm that your registration was received. As of August 23 we have 4 spaces left.
Where to Stay
Rates of $119.00 per night are available at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel. To receive the rate you need to mention that you are attending this course, at the time you make your booking. This is a full service hotel, located immediately east of Revelstoke on the Trans Canada Highway. The Hillcrest Hotel is a 10 minute drive from downtown Revelstoke.
Coast Hillcrest Resort Hotel
Phone 250-837-3322
For information on other accommodations in Revelstoke, visit the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce website.
Getting to Revelstoke
Revelstoke is on the Trans Canada Highway, approximately 5 hours west of Calgary, Alberta; 3 hours east of Kamloops BC; and 2½ hours north of Kelowna BC. The nearest major airport is Kelowna. Revelstoke is serviced by Greyhound bus.
For questions about course content, please contact: Dr. Carl Schwarz |
For questions about registration, please contact: Jackie Morris |
Trend Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment
September 28-30, 2010
Coast Hillcrest Hotel, Revelstoke, BC
Cost: $600.00 plus HST = $672.00
Class size: Class size is limited to 16 people
Instructor: Dr. Carl Schwarz, Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, at Simon Fraser University (http://www.stat.sfu.ca/~cschwarz/)
Pre-requisites: Basic knowledge of regression and ANOVA (e.g. the Statistical Refresher Course)
Registration: Click here.
This course is full. We will be running this course again in spring 2011. Please click here if you'd like to receive CMI event announcements.
Course description
Environmental monitoring often looks at trends over time. Environmental impact assessments want to know if trends over time differ between control and impact sites. Statistical methods for the analysis of trends over time use many of the same methods as the analysis of experimental data (e.g. ANOVA, regression) but must now deal with problems such as autocorrelation and process error.
Course content
1. Review of statistical concepts on estimates, standard errors, confidence intervals, p-values, bias, precision, accuracy, missing values, etc.
2. Detecting step changes over time
- ANOVA and non-parametric methods
- Power and how many years to monitor
- Dealing with seasonality and autocorrelation
- Sampling vs process error
3. Detecting linear changes over time
- Regression and non-parametric methods
- Power and how many years to monitor
- Dealing with seaonality and autocorrelation
- Sampling vs process error
- Pooling slopes (ANCOVA)
4. BACI designs and variants
- Simple Before and After Controlled Impact design (BACI) - Introduction to two factor ANOVA
- BACI with multiple sites
- BACI with multiple years/multiple sites before/after
- Paired BACI with multiple years/multiple sites before/after
- Regression BACI (analysis of covariance)
- Power/sample size
Participants should bring:
Laptop computer pre-loaded with the program JMP-version 8 or the current version in September (if you have JMP version 6 or 7 that will be fine). The free demo version of JMP has limited functions and you cannot save files, but it is adequate for the course. (Plan your 30-day free trial so it does not expired during the course) Download the demo version here.
Tutorials on JMP are available here. You will get more from the course if you have a familiarity with the program beforehand. It’s harder to learn a new program at the same time as you try to re-learn statistics.
Your laptop needs to have the current version of Adobe Reader to access the course manual during the course. The manual is 65 MB and will be supplied as a download prior to the course. You need at least 65 MB of free space so you can copy the manual to the hard drive and read from the hard drive during the course.
You will need to unzip the course exercises files before the course. They will be available as downloads from Dr. Schwarz’s website. Your laptop needs to have MS Excel installed for opening the un-zipped files.
Supplied with course:
- Downloadable manual (65MB)
- Downloadable sample data sets and course exercises
- Coffee breaks with goodies
Meals and accommodation are not included.
Registration
Register here. Or, print the form and fax it to 250-837-9311. Be sure you’ve read the cancellation policy. Your registration will be confirmed by email. If you don’t hear back within a day or so please call to confirm that your registration was received.
Where to Stay
Rates of $119.00 per night are available at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel. To receive the rate you need to mention that you are attending this course, at the time you make your booking. This is a full service hotel, located immediately east of Revelstoke on the Trans Canada Highway. The Hillcrest Hotel is a 10 minute drive from downtown Revelstoke.
Coast Hillcrest Resort Hotel
Phone 250-837-3322
For information on other accommodations in Revelstoke, visit the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce website.
Getting to Revelstoke
Revelstoke is on the Trans Canada Highway, approximately 5 hours west of Calgary, Alberta; 3 hours east of Kamloops BC; and 2½ hours north of Kelowna BC. The nearest major airport is Kelowna. Revelstoke is serviced by Greyhound bus.
For questions about course content, please contact: Dr. Carl Schwarz |
For questions about registration, please contact: Jackie Morris |
Public Participation Skills for Natural Resource Managers
October 4-5, 2010
1.5 day course beginning at 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time on October 4.
Hillcrest Hotel, Revelstoke BC
This is a FORREX course, hosted by
the Columbia Mountains Institute.
Instructor: Dr. Ajit Krishnaswamy, FORREX Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources
Class size: Class size is limited to 25 people.
Cost: $350.00 plus $42.00 HST = $392.00, $200 + HST for students and non-profits.
Course fee includes: Instruction, course materials and resources, coffee breaks with goodies. Participants are responsible for meals and their hotel arrangements.
Registration: Click here for the registration form.
Registration deadline is September 20. We may still have seats available after that time so please check with us at office@cmiae.org .
Course description
Participation is…“various forms of direct public involvement where people, individually or through organized groups, can exchange information, express opinions and articulate interests, and have the potential to influence decisions or the outcome of specific issues.” (UN FAO 2000 )
This course will introduce the basic concepts and skills for planning and implementing a public participation process. Although participation is widely recognized as a critical aspect of natural resource management, and is a regulatory requirement for a variety of environmental and natural resource management processes, few resource managers have had formal training or professional development opportunities in this field. Many practitioners "do" participation every day, but do not have the opportunity to reflect on their practice or to contemplate ways to do it better. This course will provide this opportunity, by using the collective experience of participants themselves as the key learning content. The course will also provide a suite of resources that allow these activities to be grounded in some basic common concepts, and a set of tools that can be adopted and adapted by practitioners.
This course seeks to assist participants in developing:
- An understanding of basic concepts and best practices of participation;
- Familiarity with different tools that can be used for effective public participation, and an awareness of which tools are appropriate under different circumstances;
- Strategies to assess the effectiveness of participatory processes; and
- An understanding of the limits of their knowledge and where they can go for help.
The course approach will be participatory, experiential, interactive, and is based on a group problem-solving model. Participants will be encouraged to share their stories, think creatively, take risks, and reflect on and learn from their past experiences.
Ajit (red vest) and participants at a similar FORREX workshop
Course outline
To view the course outline, click here.
Our instructor
Dr. Ajit Krishnaswamy provides extension services to help people access information and research related to the human dimensions of natural resource management, including public participation, cultural diversity, community capacity-building, climate-change, socio-economic and cultural indicators, non-timber resources and valuation, and certification. Ajit has published several papers on participatory research, community forestry, participatory land use planning, and international forestry. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management. Prior to joining FORREX in 2006, Ajit was the Director of the National Community Forestry Center at the US-based National Network of Forest Practitioners. Ajit also was the Senior Researcher of the Institute for Culture and Ecology located at Portland, Oregon, and the Project Manager of the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development at the International Institute of Sustainable Development in Winnipeg. Ajit worked for the Indian Forest Service in Bihar state for several years. He has a PhD in Forest Resources (Social Sciences) from the College of Forest Resources, University of Washington at Seattle.
Who should attend?
This course in intended for resource management practitioners and planners who work with communities, governments and First Nations, and whose job involves facilitating participation in resource planning and management. This may include practitioners working for, or with, local government, First Nations, industry, and non-profits; as well as university-based researchers, consultants, and provincial government employees working on policy.
Registration
Registration deadline is September 20. We may still have seats available after that time so please check with us at office@cmiae.org .
Be sure you've read the Cancellation Policy on the form.
- You may prefer to print the form, and fax it to 250-837-9311.
- When the course fills, we will begin a wait list.
- You may wish to view our Policy on Registration and Cancellation .
Where is the course being held?
The classroom day of the course will be held at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel in Revelstoke. A map showing their location is on the hotel’s web site: http://www.hillcresthotel.com .
Where should I stay?
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel for $109 plus taxes. You are responsible for the cost of your accommodation and making the actual booking for your room. The hotel is full at this time, so be sure to mention that you want one of the rooms set aside for the Columbia Mountains Institute. Book early to get a room at this special rate. The rooms will be “released” two weeks before the course.
Coast Hillcrest Hotel
http://www.hillcresthotel.com
250-837-3322
Information about other accommodation in Revelstoke can be found at:
http://www.seerevelstoke.com/vacation .
Suggested readings
Ambus, L., and A. Krishnaswamy. 2009. Developing a curriculum on the basics of public participation. LINK 11(1). FORREX Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources, Kamloops, British Columbia. http://www.forrex.org/publications/link/ISS55/vol11_no1_art6.pdf
Beckley, T., Parkins, J. and S. Sheppard. 2006. Public Participation in Sustainable Forest Management: A Reference Guide. Sustainable Forest Management Network, Edmonton, Alberta. http://sfmnetwork.ca/docs/e/SR_200506beckleypub_en.pdf
Auditor General of British Columbia. 2008. Public Participation: Principles and Best Practices for British Columbia. Victoria, British Columbia. http://www.bcauditor.com/online/pubs/394/394
For questions about course content, please contact: Dr. Ajit Krishnaswamy |
For questions about registration, please contact: Jackie Morris |
Course outline for "Public Participation Skills for Natural Resource Managers"
This course will be delivered over 1.5 days in six modules, each with a specific learning outcome. The six modules and learning outcomes are:
| Module | Learning Outcomes |
| The many facets of participation |
|
| Benefits, challenges, and best practices |
|
| The context and purpose of participation |
|
| Identifying who participates |
|
| Planning to evaluate |
|
| Tools for participation |
|
Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management
October 6-7, 2010
Revelstoke Community Centre, Revelstoke BC
Register here. Registration deadline is September 20. We may still have space available after that time so please check with us at office@cmiae.org .
Click here to view the speaker list, poster titles, and field trip descriptions.
Click here to download the presentation abstracts as a 160 kb PDF file.
“Human Dimensions … is a reference to the social attitudes, processes, and behaviors related to how we maintain, protect, enhance, and use our natural resources. Today’s natural resource managers are increasingly recognizing that natural resource management involves not only ecological processes, but also social processes and consequences as well. In a very basic sense, Human Dimensions examines how the “science of human systems” or theory-based social science can aid in natural resource management.” - Cornell University, Department of Natural Resources |
Conference description
Natural resource practitioners are accustomed to integrating biological and other natural science and technical factors into their decision-making. Integrating data from the natural sciences with information about social values and human behaviours increases the effectiveness of natural resource management. At this conference, we will present how addressing human dimensions can make your decisions more robust and your plans more likely to be implemented successfully.
During the conference we will examine, mostly through case studies:
- How to address the values, perceptions, motivations, and preferences of different demographic and cultural groups;
- How considering human dimensions can help resource practitioners resolve controversial issues;
- How to manage conflicts in the use and allocation of natural resources; and
- How fostering shared stewardship can improve the success of natural resource management.
Through 1.5 days of presentations (followed by optional field trips during the afternoon of the 7th), a poster session, and opportunities for informal dialogue, this conference will strengthen the ability of managers and practitioners to incorporate human dimensions into the many aspects of natural resource management. A conference summary will be available on the CMI website after the event.
Thank you to our conference sponsors
Columbia Basin Trust's Environmental Initiatives Program is a contributor to this conference. CBT is a regional corporation created to deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits to the residents of the Columbia Basin.
Parks Canada and CMI share a common goal of maintaining the ecological integrity of regional ecosystems. We acknowledge Parks Canada's financial support for this conference.
BC Hydro supports groups that are active in environmental sustainability. We are proud to have BC Hydro as a conference supporter.
Who will attend this conference?
CMI conferences attract a multidisciplinary group of people. We anticipate attendance by: natural resource practitioners in both the public and private sector; stewardship and conservation groups; consulting foresters, biologists, and agrologists; First Nations; students; and all others with interests in the fields encompassed by the conference theme.
Posters and displays about your projects are welcome.
You are required to send a title, and an abstract or description of your initiative, at least two weeks before the conference. Your abstract will be included in the conference proceedings. Submission guidelines for posters are available here.
Commercial exhibitors who are not conference sponsors are required to pay a fee. Please review our guidelines here.
Registration
Register here. Or, print the form and fax it to 250-837-9311. Be sure you’ve read the cancellation policy. Your registration will be confirmed by email. If you don’t hear back within a day or so please call to confirm that your registration was received. Registration deadline is September 20. We may still have seats available after that time so please check with us at office@cmiae.org .
Where to Stay
Rates of $99.00 ( + taxes) per night are available at the Coast Hillcrest Hotel and the Sandman Inn in Revelstoke. Be sure to mention that you want one of the rooms set aside for the Columbia Mountains Institute. Book early to get a room at this special rate; as the rooms will be “released” two weeks before the conference.
Coast Hillcrest Resort Hotel
Phone 250-837-3322
Sandman Hotel
Phone 1-800-726-3626. Please quote group reservation # 78165.
For information on other accommodations in Revelstoke, visit the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce website.
Getting to Revelstoke
Revelstoke is on the Trans Canada Highway, approximately 5 hours west of Calgary, Alberta; 3 hours east of Kamloops BC; and 2½ hours north of Kelowna BC. The nearest major airport is Kelowna. Revelstoke is serviced by Greyhound bus. The Sandman Hotel is in the same block as the bus depot. The Coast Hillcrest is about 3 km east of the bus depot on the Trans Canada Highway.
The BC Wildlife Federation's Wetlands Education Program increases the capacity of community members to steward wetlands.
Here, participants learn to sample soils in the 2009 Wetland Construction Workshop course held in Lillooet, BC.
List of speakers
Our Keynote Speaker
Mike Robinson is a Member of the Order of Canada who has led three major Canadian NGOs in his career: the Arctic Institute of North America, the Glenbow Museum, and the Bill Reid Foundation and Trust. He has worked as a mediator and applied anthropologist in the Canadian provincial mid-north and the circumpolar world, from Tetlit' Zeh to Fort McKay to Lovozero. Today he continues as an Adjunct Full Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Design of the University of Calgary, executive director of the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver, and consultant to Kaay Llnagaay Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate.
Stories that Won't Leave My Mind: My Life as a Human Ecologist Drawing on career experience earned, delivered, and suffered over a thirty year period, Mike Robinson reflects on key lessons about integrating humans into natural resource management. Drawing on his nearly completed memoir, Stories that Won't Leave My Mind, he considers how engineers at Syncrude, trappers at Fort McKay, caribou hunters at Tetlit' Zeh (once called Fort McPherson), Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian Sami reindeer herders, certain BC bureaucrats and the CEO of Amoco learned how to combine human needs with environmental constraints in the creation of a shared vision of what might just be possible. Mike also ponders the onrush of modernity, the destructive powers of the internet, and the growing urban assumption that the backcountry is boring in thinking forward about our common future. |
Abstracts for the following presentations are available as a PDF document, here . These presentations are not listed in a particular order. An agenda will be posted a few weeks before the conference.
- Source water protection in British Columbia’s community forests: Opportunities for integrated resource management, Lauren Rethoret, Simon Fraser University
- Exploring opportunities and challenges of British Columbia's Community Forest Agreement Program with the Katzie First Nation at Blue Mountain and Douglas Provincial Forests, Anna Usborne, Simon Fraser University
- Urban Ungulates Conflict Analysis, Mike Badry, BC Ministry of Environment, Victoria, and Gayle Hesse, BC Conservation Foundation, Prince George.
- Assessing mechanisms for engagement in access management planning for public lands in southwestern Alberta, Rachelle Haddock, University of Calgary
- Strategies and tools for effective public participation in natural resource management, Dr. Ajit Krishnaswamy, FORREX Forum for Research and Extension in Natural Resources
- Good management is not only wildlife management: Understanding public preferences for wild boar management in a protected area of central Italy, Beatrice Frank, Memorial University
- Challenges for grizzly bear management in BC, Jennifer Smith, BC Ministry of Environment
- Incorporating Structured Decision Making into wildlife management, Ian Hatter, BC Ministry of Environment
- Creating shared knowledge: The role of trust and credibility in resource management decisions, Jean Carey, Environment Yukon
- Assessing public preferences using trade-off analysis to inform and support natural resource policy and management, Dr. Howard Harshaw, University of British Columbia
- Social science in Canada’s mountain national parks, Dr. Kathy Rettie, Parks Canada Agency
- Managing grizzly bear / human conflicts in a high human use landscape, Jon Jorgenson, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
- Making the New Relationship work: Crown-First Nations shared decision-making in the “Great Bear Rainforest”, Laura Bird, University of British Columbia
- People are the problem and the solution: Characterizing wildfire risk and risk mitigation in a wildland-urban intermix area in the southern Gulf Islands, Matthew Tutsch, Fireweed Consulting
- WildCoast Project – The investigation of the links between wolves, cougars, prey, people and landscape dynamics on the West Coast of Vancouver Island – An overview of the research and mobilization of the knowledge, Bob Hansen, Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
- As the world burns: Social dilemmas in climate change adaptation for nature, Dr. Jenny Feick, BC Ministry of Environment
- Why people help: Motivations and barriers for stewardship volunteering, Veronica Wahl, Douglas College
- The Elwha River: Large scale dam removals and opportunities for community engagement, Ryan Hilperts, Laurelwood Consulting.
Poster titles
At the end of the first day, participants will have an opportunity to chat with people who have brought posters or exhibits.
- 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, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, and Annie Booth, Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia
- Wildlife and Private Land Stewardship –Provincial Agriculture Zone Wildlife Program, Donna Thornton,Environmental Stewardship Division, Ministry of Environment
- Exploring Wildlife Viewing Experiences in Canada’s Mountain National Parks, Dani McIntosh, MNRES Candidate, University of Northern British Columbia
- Exploring “Humane” Dimensions of Wildlife, Sara Dubois, PhD candidate, University of British Columbia
- Exploring the human dimension: visitor use analysis of Willmore Wilderness Park, Debbie Mucha, MA candidate at University of Alberta, and Dr. Elizabeth Halpenny, Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, University of Alberta
- North America and Italy: shared concepts and challenging differences, Jenny Anne Glikman, Memorial University PhD candidate, and Beatrice Frank, Memorial University PhD candidate
- Networking in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management, Dr. Bob Payne, Lakehead University.
Field trips
The conference finishes at about noon on October 7, and we are organizing concurrent field trips for the afternoon. Field trips can accommodate a limited number of people on a first-come-first-served basis. Lunch is not provided as part of the conference but for a small charge you can request a bag lunch on the registration form.
Sign up for field trips on your registration form. If another field trip becomes available after you register, you will be notified and invited to switch field trips if you wish.
In collaboration with a community: A walk through BC Hydro’s involvement at Downie Marsh, Revelstoke
Trip leader: Giles Shearing, BC Hydro Biologist in Revelstoke
Number of people: 20 maximum
Duration: 2 - 2.5 hours return
Transportation: On foot from the Revelstoke Community Centre.
From the Revelstoke Community Centre (location of the conference) we will walk down to Centennial Park to talk about a BC Hydro recreation study, issues about the boat launch, and the sturgeon release program conducted with Fresh Water Fisheries, First Nations, school groups and BC Hydro’s sturgeon team. Then we’ll walk south to look at the plantings along the non-functional section of dyke beside the walkway. The group will walk to the Illecillewaet River Bridge while talking about BC Hydro’s physical works habitat projects, our dyke pump maintenance, our collaboration with the Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society, and the decommissioning of the Illecillewaet Dam in the late 1960s.
Revelstoke's Bear Aware Program
Trip leader: Janette Vickers, Coordinator, Revelstoke Bear Aware Society
Number of people: 20 maximum
Duration: 2.5 - 3 hours return
Transportation: Car-pool to drive to various locations in Revelstoke.
Revelstoke has been a pioneer in developing bear awareness within a community. On this 2- 3 hour field trip the Revelstoke Bear Aware Society’s coordinator, Janette Vickers, will take the group to various sites around town to get a behind the scenes look at a Bear Aware program in action. You can read more about Revelstoke Bear Aware at www.revelstokebearware.org.
Carbon management in the ecosystems of British Columbia:
A search for opportunities to mitigate climate change
Conference coming in 2011, date and location to be announced.
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- This information is subject to change as conference planning continues.
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Conference description
Climate change is one of the most important environmental challenges facing civilization. Managing how carbon is taken in, stored, and released from natural systems has the potential to mitigate the rate and extent of future climate change. Ecosystems are made of carbon in many forms, which change states (solids, gases) at different rates as natural and human disturbances occur.
This conference will focus on the ecosystems of British Columbia – forests, grasslands, wetlands, rangelands – and how moving towards a low carbon economy may alter management strategies, plans, and on-the-ground practices.
The conference will focus on:
- the science of carbon dynamics in ecosystems in relation to natural and man-made disturbances;
- carbon accounting and modeling;
- opportunities to maximise carbon storage, including land management, and landscape- and stand-level strategies and restoration;
- opportunities for and barriers to carbon management in the current management systems of BC.
This event will include 1.5 days of presentations, a poster session, and opportunities for informal dialogue among participants and presenters. A conference summary provided on the CMI web site will ensure the conference information is widely available.
Who is the conference for?
We anticipate attendance by natural resource practitioners, land management planners, conservation biologists, policy makers, and people who would like to know more about the impacts and opportunities related to the trading of carbon credits.
Major themes
Understanding the science
Studies of carbon pool dynamics focused on different ecosystems (wetlands, grasslands, forests, peatlands, rangelands), will provide insight into how carbon moves in natural systems and over diverse time-scales. How climate change itself may alter carbon dynamics into the future will also be of key interest.
Doing the math
Modeling of carbon itself is a speciality. Understanding the available models will become increasingly important in this field. In addition, the most effective approach to accounting for carbon in global economic systems is a source of interest and debate. Alternative strategies will be discussed.
Looking for opportunities to store carbon
Where are the key opportunities in BC? How can science be translated into effective action? What needs to happen in planning, in managing landscapes and stands, and in restoration actions? This section will focus on case studies from local ecosystems (BC and US). What is the role of and protected areas in carbon sequestration? Are there links with climate change adaptation for ecosystems and biodiversity conservation?
Is carbon management the way of the future?
Will carbon management equal or surpass an emphasis on timber management or agriculture? What may cause this to occur? What would some ramifications be? How does this link to current policy in BC, such as developing biomass industries?
Links for Presenters and Sponsors
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Our Purpose
The purpose of the Columbia Mountains Institute of Applied Ecology is to improve ecological management by increasing and sharing knowledge about the ecology of the Columbia Mountains and regional ecosystems.