Alexandra Morton initiated a long-term study on the behaviour and acoustic of killer whales in 1984 in the Broughton Archipelago. When the impacts of industrial salmon farming became apparent, Morton began publishing research on escaped Atlantic salmon, sea lice outbreaks and salmon viruses. Government guidelines were developed but were found to be ineffective and so she took the industry and government to court many times and never lost. Morton converted her home into the Salmon Coast Field Station, engaged in activism, wrote the national best seller “Not on My Watch” and now works as a science advisor to First Nations. Through this work Alexandra has gained enormous respect for the resilience of wild salmon and the science that allows the fish to “talk”. By reading the immune system of salmon, we can learn what stressors are reducing salmon survival and work with the fish to remove some of the impediments to their survival. The power of this research tool is that we can ask salmon if we made it better for them or not, and in this way work with the fish to retore abundance. Morton reminds people that salmon feed the trees that make the oxygen we breathe; that they are essential.

Carl Walters is professor emeritus in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Canada. He completed his doctoral degree in 1969 from Colorado State University and has been at UBC since then. He has participated in over 200 peer reviewed publications and has won several major awards including the Volvo Environment Prize, American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence, and ICES prix d’Excellence. His research interests include fish population dynamics, ecosystem modeling, and adaptive management. He has been particularly interested in the long term dynamics of B.C. sockeye populations, finding simple but effective stock assessment methods, and development of simpler models for understanding ecosystem impacts of fishing. Dr. Walters is a specialist in fisheries stock assessment, adaptive management, and ecosystem modeling. He uses mathematical modeling and computer simulation techniques to better understand the dynamics of exploited marine ecosystems and to find more effective methods to manage them in the face of natural variability and high uncertainty. He advocates cooperative arrangements between governments and fishing industries to provide improved information for stock assessment and management via methods such as industry-based surveys. His main research work is on the theory of harvesting in natural resource management, with a primary interest in the basic problem of how to behave adaptively in the face of extreme uncertainty. He is one of the main developers of the ecosystem simulation program known as Ecosim, which is being used to test ideas about organization of trophic interactions in marine systems, and the implications of these interactions for sustainable harvesting theory. He has written over 200 articles and three books, including Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources (MacMillan Publishing Company), and Quantitative Fisheries Stock Assessment and Management (with Ray Hilborn, Chapman-Hall Publishing Company), and Fisheries Ecology and Management (with Steve Martell, Princeton Univ. Press). He also serves on the Editorial Boards of a number of journals, including the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Conservation Ecology, Ecosystems, The Open Fish Science Journal, and Marine and Coastal Fisheries. Dr. Walters is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1998) and a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation (2001). He was also the 2001-2001 Mote Eminent Scholar at Florida State University and the Mote Marine Laboratory. He has received the Volvo Environment Prize, American Fisheries Society Award of Excellence, Timothy Parsons Medal, the Murray A. Newman Award, the ICES Prix d’ Excellence, and the Order of British Columbia.

Chloe is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia – Okanagan working with Dr. Adam Ford. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florida in 2011 with a BSc in Biology and minors in Anthropology and Wildlife Ecology/Conservation. After graduation she worked as a wildlife technician on multiple research projects throughout the Midwestern USA. In 2018 she earned her MSc in Wildlife Biology at the University of Montana where her research focused on female white-tailed deer survival, movement, and resource selection in Missouri. Chloe is a part of the Southern Interior Mule Deer research team and is using the GPS collar data to understand how landscape change is shaping mule deer populations in southern British Columbia.

The winner of the 2021-22 Young Conservationist Scholarship Program, and recipient of a $1,500 scholarship is Ella Feddersen – a 12-year-old conservationist in grade seven who aims to educate and inspire youth and adults to become empowered to take action towards wildlife conservation and work towards a more sustainable future. Ella has a lifelong love of nature and the environment, which began when she started gardening at three years old with her mother in their local community garden. She is a member of her school’s Green Team and Environmental Stewardship Committee. Through the Young Conservationist Scholarship Program, Ella created a series of three “Green Minute” videos, which show viewers how to be more eco-friendly, and led workshops for her peers. Although her time as a YCSP participant has wrapped up, Ella is planning to continue creating her “Green Minute” videos, serving on the Environmental Stewardship Committee in her community, and planning a native bug box workshop for kindergarteners to further engage youth in conservation initiatives. In addition to her passion for conservation, Ella loves to participate in sports like dance, hockey and volleyball and is learning to play the saxophone.

Jesse Zeman is the Executive Director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation however, Jesse has spent many years speaking on the behalf of the B.C. Wildlife Federation as Director of the Fish and Wildlife Rehabilitation Program. During that time, his extensive knowledge of the Federation, its members, and the issues facing fish, wildlife and their habitat have been his focus as he communicates with numerous organizations and government officials in an effort to affect change throughout our province.

 

Over the past 11 years Jesse has had many achievements, include winning the Conservationist of the Year award from the OCEOLA Fish and Game Club, being awarded the President’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Achievement from the B.C. Wildlife Federation as well as being the Bill Otway Award for Most Effective Regional President by the B.C. Wildlife Federation.

 

He has also contributed his knowledge and expertise to the following projects:

           

• Association Cornerstone of Excellence in Government Affairs: Wildlife Allocations Policy Campaign, Canadian Society of Association Executives of BC.

• BC Wildlife Federation Conservation App. Concept, design and execution

• Southern Interior Mule Deer Project. Concept, design and execution

• Director: BC Wildlife Federation (2004-2015)

• Co-Chair: Wildlife Committee (2004-2015)

 

Jesse heads the Fish, Wildlife and Habitat Coalition, works closely with our Board of Directors and Committees, facilitates our Conservation Webinar series, and shares our passion for the sustainability of our delicate eco-system.

I am 53 years old, self employed as a plumber and have lived the majority of my life here in Ladner BC. I am President of the Delta-Ladner Rod & Gun Club and have been involved with my club most of my life. I am also Past President of the Lower Mainland Region having been involved with the Region 2 Board of Directors for over 20 years. Hunting, fishing and conservation are an integral part of my life and I am passing that passion on to both my children and grandchildren. I am lucky enough to have my son sit with me on the Region 2 Board of Directors. I am also currently the BCWF Resolutions Chairman and recently sat on the Board of Directors as Region 2 President. Hunting and angling have always been a part of my lifestyle, having grown up near the banks of the Fraser. I hunted the marsh areas and fished the banks of the river and continue to do so. Growing up so close to the Fraser River has given me an appreciation for the outdoors and a desire to do my best to help fight for our outdoor resources that we all enjoy. I have recently written the BCWF submission for the environmental assessment of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 proposal that would cause even more damage to the Fraser River estuary. Having been regularly involved for most of my life with my club, the Region 2 Board of Directors and the BCWF Board of Directors, I believe that I have a good skill set to help move the BCWF into the future. Having children and grandchildren, I am deeply concerned about what the future looks like for hunters, anglers and all other British Columbia residents. While history has taught us some ugly lessons, we need to learn from them and continue to move forward to a future that includes ALL British Columbia residents and their access to fish and wildlife resources. We all need to press government for proper science based decisions on fish and wildlife (and habitat) decisions so that we can all have access to the precious outdoor resources that we all cherish

Josie Osborne was elected as MLA for Mid Island-Pacific Rim in 2020. She is the Minister of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship and the Minister Responsible for Fisheries. Josie grew up on Vancouver Island and has lived in Tofino for over 20 years, first moving there to work as a fisheries biologist for the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and later as executive director of an environmental education non-profit organization. She was the Mayor of Tofino from 2013-2020 and served as Chair and Vice-Chair for the Alberni Clayoquot Regional District. During her time in local government, Josie chaired the Tofino Housing Corporation and was a strong proponent for active transportation and regional transit. She has served as Chair of the Board for the Island Coastal Economic Trust, and in 2017, she was appointed by the BC Minister of Environment and Climate Change to the BC Clean Growth and Climate Action Advisory Council. Josie lives with her husband on 10 acres in Tofino with their dog, three goats, and a coop full of chickens.

Katrine Conroy was first elected as the MLA for Kootenay West in May 2009 and has represented the West Kootenays since 2005. Katrine previously served as the Minister of Children and Family Development and worked to make life better for families across the Province. She had a varied career before becoming an MLA. She was one of B.C.’s first female power engineers and worked as an early childhood educator, administrator, college instructor, and a small business person. Katrine has worked and volunteered in her community as the executive director of Kootenay Family Place, an instructor at Selkirk College; co-chair of the Castlegar and District Social Planning Council, treasurer of the Regional District of Central Kootenay Community Futures Board and founding board member of the Community Social Services Employers Association. She lives in Pass Creek on a ranch breeding prize-winning Polled Hereford cattle. She has four children and nine grandchildren.

Neil Fletcher is the Director of Conservation Stewardship with BC Wildlife Federation, and has served the organization supporting conservation initiatives for the last 12 years. The Conservation Stewardship Department includes the Youth Program; Fish Habitat Restoration and Education Program, and the Wetlands Education Program. He has delivered well over 100 educational workshops and coordinated over 40 wetland restoration projects in the Province. In 2021, Neil led the Wetlands Workforce initiative that oversaw the employment of over 100 people in partnership with 7 organizations to advance much need maintenance on wetlands across the province. He is Chair of the Wetlands Stewardship Partnership of BC; a steering committee member on the Canadian Wetland Roundtable and on BC's Water Leaders Network. He aims to advance tools for wetland conservation which has recently involved the advancement of the Wetland Ecosystem Services Protocol in 5 Eco-Provinces of BC, and a Floristic Quality Indices for both east and west of the Province. Neil is the lead author for the Province’s Forest Range Evaluation Program Wetland Health Assessment Protocol, and the Skeena Sustainability Assessment Forum’s State of the Values Report for Wetlands. In 2016, he was awarded Canadian Outdoors Person of the Year by the Canadian Wildlife Federation for his contributions to conservation.