ALBERTA BIOLOGISTS' BIWEEKLY

JULY 15, 2024

SEMINARS, WEBINARS & CONFERENCES

SEPTEMBER

Fiera Biological Workshops:

Introductory Track & Sign Certification

Saturday, September 21, 2024, Hinton, Alberta.

This 1-day workshop is meant as an introduction the Track & Sign certification process and offers the opportunity for participants to earn a Level 1 Certification. Level 1 is the lowest level of certification offered by Tracker Certification North America and requires that participants achieve at least a 70% during skill evaluation. The workshop will be lead by David Moskowitz, one of North America’s top trackers. 

Learn more and register here: Introductory Track & Sign, Hinton

Fiera Biological Workshops:

Standard Track & Sign Certification 

Monday & Tuesday, September 23 & 24, 2024, Hinton, Alberta.

This 2-day workshop is an internationally applied, professional-level training process used to promote wildlife tracking and ecological knowledge. The process emphasises practical tracking and the development of reliable field skills. No prior training is required. Certification depends on performance. Participants will have the opportunity to earn one of up to four tiers of certification, from Level 1 (requires at least 70%) to Level 4 (Professional, which requires 100%). The workshop will be lead by David Moskowitz, one of North America’s top trackers. 

Learn more and register here: Standard Track & Sign, Hinton

TRAINING PROVIDERS

GRASSLAND

RESTORATION FORUM

Walking Tour of the Stavely Research Ranch

Join Barry Adams, Rangeland Management Specialist, for this day-long outdoor walk west of Stavely, Alberta on September 4, 2024. Topics will include the ecological context of the Foothills Parkland Natural Subregion, the role of grasses in building soils and storing carbon, and the role of range health in the capture and storage of water in the watershed.

How to Use Range Plant Community Guides

and Recovery Strategies Manuals for

Project and Reclamation Planning in Grasslands

This one day, classroom-based course at Cassils Hall near Brooks on September 11, 2024 will teach participants how to use the tools listed above. These tools will provide valuable context to interpret results of data collected for AEP Conservation Assessments – Strategic Siting and Pre-disturbance Site Assessments for Industrial Activities on Native Grassland and plan effective restoration for planned or existing disturbances in native grassland. This course pairs well with GRF’s Grassland Assessment Training.

Grassland Assessment Training

This hands-on one-day field-based course takes place at the Antelope Creek Ranch near Brooks on a September 12, 2024. It is designed for students, agrologists, ecologists, land stewards, regulators, planners and reclamation practitioners and anyone interested in learning more about native grassland ecosystems. The course offers training on common plant identification, use of soils and landscape mapping (AGRASID and GVI) in relation to Alberta’s Range Plant Community Guides and Range Health Assessment Manuals. Designed to classify and assess grassland plant communities, these tools are critical for pre-site assessments, reclamation design and restoration of native grassland.

Industry Tour - Grassland Restoration

This field tour on October 3, 2024 looks at multiple use landscapes in the dry mixed- grass of SE Alberta, based from Manyberries, Alberta and designed for industry professionals and practitioners, looking at a variety of reclamation challenges and practices, including wellsites and cropland conversion.

The GRF Perennial Gathering!

This year, the GRF Fall Information Session at Claresholm, Alberta, takes place on November 14. The one-day fall information session gathers a variety of industry and grassland stakeholders to exchange current information on grassland restoration and conservation through a variety of presentations and mini updates. The theme this year is CASE STUDIES.

Check out our website for more details, and to register for all events: https://grasslandrestorationforum.ca.

NATURAL RESOURCES

TRAINING GROUP

Fundamentals of Soil Sampling I: Soil Texturing – Online – July 22nd, 2024

Fundamentals of Soil Sampling I: Soil Texturing – Online – July 22nd, 2024 | Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)

Avian Nest Sweeps and Monitoring Methods – Online – July 24th & July 26, 2024

Avian Nest Sweeps and Monitoring Methods – Online – July 24th & July 26, 2024 | Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)

Amphibian and Reptile Salvage Methods – Online – August 14 – 15th, 2024

Amphibian and Reptile Salvage Methods – Online – August 14 – 15th, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)

Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & Cochrane, August 16th, 2024

Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & Cochrane, August 16th, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)

Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & North Vancouver, August 23, 2024

Electrofishing Certification – Online (self-paced) & North Vancouver, August 23, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)

Ecological Land Classification for Southern Ontario – Online & Cambridge – August 26-30th, 2024

Ecological Land Classification for Southern Ontario – Online & Cambridge – August 26-30th, 2024 Natural Resources Training Group (nrtraininggroup.com)

For the full calendar of upcoming courses, and course details, follow this link:

https://nrtraininggroup.com/schedule/

COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS INSTITUTE

of Applied Ecology

Revelstoke BC

Full course information available at each course link.

Data Manipulation and Visualization in R

October 1-4, 2024. Online

Introduction to `R` software

October 15-18, 2024. Online

QGIS Level I & II – Online

Dates scheduled according to student schedules.

SALMTEC

 COURSES AND TRAINING PROGRAMS

******

SALMTEC Blended Course: Grassland Vegetation Inventory (GVI): A User’s Guide

Online Content + Live Streaming Class

Fall 2024 Registration Now Open!

SALMTEC Blended Course: ABWRET-A Blended/Online Training Course

Online Content + Live Streaming Class, Ongoing

SALMTEC Offers several shorter online courses:

Wetland Policy Basics – Online Course

Understanding ACIMS Tools – Online Course

Alberta Soil Information Viewer – Online Course

Land Use Analysis OnDemand Seminar

Technical Report Review OnDemand Seminar

Landscape Analysis OnDemand Semina

VISIT THE SALMTEC CONNECTOR 

THE CONNECTOR is a compilation of applied science and land management event listings, across a variety of sectors and disciplines, published monthly.

You can find the SALMTEC CONNECTOR HERE.

Of Tree Rings and Tea Leaves

Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.



Towering above a windswept ridge in the Porcupine Hills of southern Alberta is an ancient, gnarled Douglas fir. It’s circumference is measured with multiple tree huggers. A lightning scar runs down the thick trunk to protruding roots, some bigger than your thigh. Some of its branches are larger than the trunks of lodgepole pine trees further down the slope. If you think the tree has been there forever, you are mostly right. If this tree and its cohorts could talk.

In a way, old trees do talk. Not the garrulous narratives of elderly people, but with ancient wisdom acquired with centuries of life experience. Dr David Sauchyn, the Director of the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative at the University of Regina, has “listened” to the stories of these ancient trees.

Read more here

for aerial data

We regularly receive notifications from Google Scholar Alerts and other sources which we select and share below in the BIWEEKLY. Here is the latest batch (the links are HOT):

Integrating Conservation Biology and Paleobiology to Manage Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World

The impacts of recreation on mountain goats in Banff and Yoho national parks

Species at risk: Long-toed Salamander Occupancy Trends in the Kananaskis ISBN 978-1-4601-6081-7 ISSN 1496-7146

Encountering the Hidden Bounty of the Urban Forest: Community Foraging Practices and Policies in Canada

An Evaluation of Non-Seeding Reclamation Techniques on an Oil Sands Pipeline Right-of-Way

Relational forestry: a call to expand the discipline's institutional foundations

Field measurement of wind erosion in Southern Alberta

Estimating encounter‐habitat relationships with scale‐integrated resource selection functions

Understanding the Hidden Costs and Benefits of Living With Grizzly Bears in Montana

Multi‐method sampling increases detectability and assessment of spatio‐temporal interactions of mammals and birds in wetland habitats

A policy scan related to assisted migration as a climate change adaptation tactic in Canada reveals major policy gaps

How to find a wolverine: Factors affecting detection at wolverine (Gulo gulo) bait stations in western Canada

Evaluation of an autonomous acoustic surveying technique for grassland bird communities in Nebraska

Seed dormancy, germination requirements, and implications of herbicides for Penstemon albidus and P. nitidus

Mixed-Grass Prairie Field Restoration: How long does it really take?

15-minute process recycles old clothes

Genotype× environment interaction patterns of dry matter yield in meadow brome, orchardgrass, tall fescue, and timothy evaluated at harsh winter sites

'What is natural in natural playgrounds?': nature, sustainability and environmental education in Calgary's natural playgrounds

The Wolves of Yellowstone: Saviours of the Songbird or Pieces of the Puzzle?

A Worldwide Review of Snowy Owl Feeding Ecology: The Importance of Lemmings and Voles in a Changing Climate

Alberta hunter knowledge and beliefs about the threat of zoonotic diseases in Canadian wood bison

Neutral markers reveal complex population structure across the range of a widespread songbird

Population density and vegetation resources influence demography in a hibernating herbivorous mammal

This week’s banner photo:

BE A COLOUR!

This "Bird on a Wire" may have songwriter Leonard Cohen's famous song in its lexicon! (Photo by biologist Savannah Foged, cropped from the original as submitted to the 2023 ASPB Photo Contest)

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In Alberta, Professional Biologists are registrants of the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists (ASPB), and are subject to a code of ethics, continuing competency requirements, and a disciplinary process. The ASPB is a self-regulated organization under legislation in the Province of Alberta, meaning its purpose is to protect the public of Alberta by ensuring biologists are qualified to practice biology in accordance with that legislation. The society is governed by a Board of Directors elected by its registrants.

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For more information about the Society or to contact the administration, please visit the website: https://www.aspb.ab.ca

Opinions and general news published in this e-newsletter

do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Society or its Board of Directors.