NatureTalks: Species at Risk from Summit to Sage

Online

6:30 p.m.–7:15 p.m. MST

From the summits of the Canadian Rockies to the sage brush in the prairie grasslands, how are Canada's species at risk coping and what is being done to help them survive and recover? Our panel of experts will share updates on limber and whitebark pine, grizzly bears and the greater short-horned lizard.

Find out how organizations are collaborating and how habitat conservation is critical to the future of all species at risk.

About the speakers

Leta Pezderic
Grassland Stewardship Manager, NCC Alberta Region

Leta Pezderic grew up in Claresholm, Alberta, and then moved to Lethbridge to pursue her post-secondary education. She received her diploma in renewable resource management as well as a certificate in fish and wildlife technology from Lethbridge College and a degree in environmental science from the University of Lethbridge. After graduating, she was fortunate to work at a variety of places, including Cows and Fish, Lethbridge College and Alberta Environment. She spent nearly seven years with the Oldman Watershed Council as their program coordinator before joining the Nature Conservancy of Canada team in 2015 as the natural area manager for prairie grasslands. She is passionate about all things nature and tries to capture its beauty through photography; you’ll rarely find her without her camera in hand. Leta feels privileged to get to partner with stewards of the land working on initiatives to protect grassland species through the conservation of their habitat. She and her husband have put down their roots in the coulees north of Coaldale, along the Oldman River — the perfect place for their three boys and all their critters to roam free!

Jodie Krakowski
Vice President, Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada

Jodie Krakowski has served on the board as vice president since 2015. She is an independent consultant who has been involved with five-needle pines since the late 1990s. As co-chair of the provincial whitebark and limber pine recovery team, she collaborates to implement the provincial recovery plans throughout their Alberta ranges. In her prior role as a provincial gene conservation specialist for Alberta, she worked on gene conservation of native forest species, and applied forest genetics projects and policy. She spent most of her career gallivanting around the forests of beautiful BC as a consultant, terrestrial ecologist, forester and research scientist with UBC and with the BC Forest Service. If you’re looking for her, she might be out exploring in the mountains.

Megan Jensen
Natural Area Manager - Southeast Alberta, NCC Alberta Region

Megan Jensen has worked with NCC for the past four years, and in that time she has monitored our only property in Alberta that is known to have greater short-horned lizards present. Prior to working with NCC, Megan worked with Alberta Conservation Association on both the multisar team and the pronghorn team. Both of these positions have allowed Megan to work primarily in critical species at risk habitat. Megan has conducted multiple greater short-horned lizard surveys and is looking forward to trying new equipment in the coming years to help monitor their population.

Andrea Morehouse
Carnivores and Communities Science Lead, Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association

Andrea Morehouse is an independent scientist who works on a variety of conservation and management issues related to large carnivores in multi-use landscapes. She moved to Alberta in 2007 and completed both an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in ecology at the University of Alberta. Through her research, she strives to effectively engage scientists, managers, and community members to develop and implement scientifically sound and socially workable wildlife conservation and management strategies. She works with the Waterton Biosphere Reserve as the Science Lead of their Carnivores and Communities Program. She is a 2017 Wilburforce Fellow in Conservation Science, serves on the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Alberta Conservation Advisory Committee, is a member of the IUCN Bear Specialist Group’s North American Bear Expert Team, is a past president of the Alberta Chapter of The Wildlife Society, and is active in other professional societies. She lives in the Pincher Creek area with her husband, two boys, and dog.