Islands Trust Conservancy held a series of free online speaker events between February 16 – April 12, 2023. The recordings and resources provided in these sessions have been provided below when permissions were received from speakers to share these with the public. All recordings have been uploaded to the Islands Trust Conservancy YouTube channel, under our 2023 Speaker Series playlist.
This series was made possible with funding provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Priority Places funding stream.
'Indigenous Heritage & Ecological Conservation' - February 16
This free presentation and discussion was hosted by the Xwe’etay/Lasqueti Archaeology Project and Simon Fraser University. The event featured a discussion about Indigenous Heritage and Ecological Conservation. Panelists included:
- Alag̱a̱mił Nicole Norris (Halalt First Nation, Indigenous Planning Officer for the Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness)
- Adam Huggins (Restoration Coordinator for the Galiano Conservancy, Sessional Instructor for Ecological Restoration in Continuing Studies at the University of Victoria)
- Gordon Scott (Chair, Lasqueti Island Nature Conservancy)
- Kate Emmings (Manager, Islands Trust Conservancy)
- Eli Enns (CEO and President of the IISAAK OLAM Foundation)
The event recording is available on the Xwe’etay/ Lasqueti Project website.
'Species at risk and critical habitat protection in non-federal lands' - March 2
This is a recording from the 2023 Species At Risk Program Speaker Series event held on March 2, 2023.
This free digital event featured a presentation by Dr. Carrina Maslovat and a Q&A session with species-at-risk biologists Laura Matthias and Undiné Thompson. Islands Trust Conservancy’s SAR Program Coordinator hosted the talk.
Speaker Bios:
Dr. Carrina Maslovat is the owner and manager of Maslovat Consulting. She has worked as a contractor for over 25 years, authoring over 100 reports and journal articles incl. best practice and management plans for protected areas. She is a botanist and ecologist by training and has designed and restored wetlands, forests, coastal sand, and Garry oak ecosystems to create habitats for species at risk. Since 2018 she has been working with Sharp-tailed Snakes and developing environmental DNA sampling protocols.
Laura Matthias is a local SAR field biologist with over 25 years of experience in the field of wildlife biology, habitat conservation, SAR monitoring, ecosystem restoration, habitat enhancement, and invasive species management. Her current research involves the development of protocols for novel environmental DNA to detect rare terrestrial species. She has co-authored dozens of reports incl. species-at-risk inventories, land management plans, baseline inventories, and best management practices. Laura has designed and implemented restoration projects for wetlands, forests, coastal sands, and Garry oak ecosystems to enhance habitat for pollinators, birds, and bats.
Undiné Thompson is the Senior Consultation Biologist for the Pacific Region of the Canadian Wildlife Service, a branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada. She has worked with the federal government since 2013 leading consultation and engagement on species at risk recovery documents and working on the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and knowledge in those efforts. She completed a Masters of Environment in Impact Assessment at Concordia University on the importance of Garry Oak ecosystem conservation for regional adaptation to climate change working with the Galiano Conservancy.
'Growing native plant species for people and place' - March 9
This is a recording from the 2023 Species At Risk Program Speaker Series event held on March 9, 2023.
This free digital event featured a presentation by Kristen Miskelly RPBio and Co-founder of Satinflower Nurseries, a native plant and seed nursery and consulting business in Victoria British Columbia.
Speaker Bios:
Kristen Miskelly co-founded Satinflower Nurseries, a native plant and seed nursery and consulting business in Victoria British Columbia. The nursery inspires and empowers people to connect with nature through native plants. Kristen is a biologist passionate about native plants, ecology, ecosystem restoration, and native plant propagation. Her undergraduate work focused on grass taxonomy, and she completed her master’s in paleoecology at UVic. Over the past couple of decades, her work has focused on the Prairie-Oak ecosystems of Southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Kristen is a steering committee member of the Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership and a sessional lecturer at UVic. Kristen continues to provide ecological consultation to various agencies and groups and teaches courses and workshops on native plants, propagation, and local ecology regularly.