Balancing Outdoor Recreation and Wildlife Conservation: Insights from collaborative recreation ecology research with Annie Loosen, Wildlife Ecologist
plus our AGM (we promise to be brief!)
February 25 @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Catharine Robb Whyte Building, 101 Bear Street, Banff
More people than ever are enjoying the outdoors, and governments are investing in recreation infrastructure—but we still lack the tools to fully understand where and how people are using the landscape. This gap in knowledge is especially critical for at-risk wildlife, like southern mountain caribou and wolverines, whose survival can impacted by human activity. Our research mapped recreation patterns across eastern British Columbia and western Alberta, using multiple data sources to predict where outdoor activities—both motorized and non-motorized—overlap with key wildlife habitat. The presentation will focus on important background information and context for western Canada and the Bow Valley, key findings from the original research, and implications for future research and management.
Photo: Chatter Creek Cat-Ski. Credit: Annie Loosen
Annie Loosen is a wildlife ecologist with a background in mammal and plant research across Canada and Europe. She holds a PhD in Applied Ecology from Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, where she studied moose ecology and how animals respond to changes in their environment. Annie is particularly interested in how science can inform conservation and management decisions. Annie is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, but is presenting research from her time as a post-doc at University of Northern British Columbia and Yellowstone to Yukon. She’s based in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta and is looking forward to sharing her experiences with you today.
Photo subject and credit: Annie Loosen
The Eleanor Luxton Historical Foundation has made the Bow Valley Naturalist speaker series even better with a five year grant to host a special program once a year in honour of early BVN enthusiasts, Bob and Mary Smith. It’s fitting Bob and Mary are honoured as part of the speaker series because they were very active in BVN, loved giving presentations, and sharing their knowledge, especially about wildflowers. Even well into his 90’s Bob was giving talks where he lived at the Bow River Seniors Lodge that would inspired people about nature.
luxtonfoundation.org
