Nina Morrell, who has a Master of Science degree in wildlife ecology from UBC, is working on developing methodology and spatial GIS layers that identify the relative ecological value of wetland and riparian areas throughout the province. These ecosystems are important for conservation of biodiversity because they provide spawning and breeding habitat, movement corridors, and freshwater sources for fish and wildlife.
These layers will be added to our Relative Ecological Assessment tool to aid in the evaluation of potential conservation acquisitions. In other words, we will have more ecological information to help us select new conservation lands.
This six month project has been generously funded with the help of UBC’s Biodiversity Research: Training and Education (BRITE) and the Federal government’s Mitacs Career Connect internship programs.