Posts Categorized: 2015

Yellow Fish Road

Trout Unlimited Canada

When you walk through the streets of any major city in Alberta, you may see a bright-yellow fish painted on the storm drains reminding ‘only rain should be going down the drain.’ Celebrating its 24th anniversary, The Yellow Fish Road (YFR) program is Trout Unlimited Canada’s premiere environmental education program. This Alberta-grown educational phenomenon has reached more than 65,000 people in schools, community groups and day camps, motivating positive environmental ...

Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta & NWT

For the past 50 years, Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta & NWT has engaged and inspired students from grades 3 to 12 in classrooms across Edmonton, Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories. This has been possible thanks to the great partnerships with education and industry who recognize the importance of educating students about entrepreneurship, workforce readiness and financial literacy. Our approach allows volunteers to deliver our curriculum-based programs while sharing ...

Fish and Wildlife Crowsnest Pass Bearsmart

This program, led by local certified volunteers, assists in managing two species of bears within the Crowsnest Pass area. Over its many years of operation, Bearsmart has reduced the amount of bear mortalities and relocations by engaging their community through various bear behaviour and wildlife/human co-existence management projects. Programs include industry and recreational awareness courses, local public service announcements, the Going Wild Wildlife Expo, annual apple picking, radio-transmitter ...

Camrose Wildlife and Greenspace Stewardship Project

Camrose Wildlife and Stewardship Society

This volunteer-based society is making the City of Camrose’s vision of “a greenspace network that enhances community values and quality of life for [city] residents” a reality. Since 2002, the CWSS increased community knowledge and engagement through interpretive events, high-profile stewardship activities, research projects, and an annual wildlife festival. In 2014, the city adopted a Municipal Greenspace Plan to enhance the management of greenspace and wildlife species, especially their flagship ...

Living by Water

Nature Alberta

In an ongoing effort to educate shoreline residents and communities on lake ecology and riparian health, the Living by Water program encourages responsible lake stewardship through promoting shoreline management.  Advisors work one-on-one with residents to improve the condition of their watershed by evaluating their personal impact on water quality, shoreline health, and fish and wildlife habitat. To date, the program has reduced the use of fertilizer, pesticides, phosphate-containing ...

Dr. Bonnie Shapiro

Dr. Shapiro has been an enthusiastic and passionate Science and Environmental Educator in the Province of Alberta for many years. She has provided tireless and committed support to promote environmental excellence through inspirational advisement and work with a generation of student teachers, practicing educators, hundreds of graduate students and members of the Alberta and Canadian Environmental Education Community. She has developed outstanding university courses, award-winning curriculum materials, ...

Lacombe County Environmental Management System – Leading from Within

Lacombe County

Sometimes the best way to lead is through example. To encourage their community’s commitment to a healthy environment for current and future generations, Lacombe County created the internally-focused Environmental Management System (EMS). Implemented in 2014, and developed through extensive community and staff consultation, EMS establishes targets and deliverables to conserve, protect and enhance the natural environment while balancing the social and economic needs of the Lacombe community. On an annual ...

Designing for Wildlife Passage in an Increasingly Fragmented World

City of Edmonton

Habitat loss and fragmentation is the single largest threat to biodiversity conservation in an urban area.  As large contiguous habitats are quickly converted into smaller more isolated remnants the value of maintaining functioning ecological connections between patches increases significantly.  With the help of a multidisciplinary team, The City of Edmonton incorporated ecological infrastructure with human networks, creating the Wildlife Passage Engineering Design Guidelines (WPEDG), an educational publication that provides clear ...

The Alberta Aquatic Invasive Species Program

Alberta Environment & Sustainable Resource Development

In 2013, the Alberta government launched a pilot program focused on the “Crown of the Continent Ecosystem” in order to address the risks of specific AIS zebra and quagga mussels, as well as Eurasian water milfoil. It became evident there was a need for expansion due to the ecologic and economic risks facing the entire province.  In response, the Government of Alberta created the AIS Program, which focuses on the ...

Caribou Patrol Program

Aseniwuche Winewak Nation of Canada

For decades, AWN, the “Rocky Mountain People,” have witnessed the decline of woodland caribou. Following the advice of the Elders who said, “We must speak for those that have no voice,” AWN created CPP, providing a conduit to share traditional ecological knowledge and to demonstrate their core value of Protection and Preservation of the Environment in a hands-on, meaningful way. The CPP has effectively reduced vehicle collisions with ...