During the month of October, several Paul Smith’s College wildlife science students and I attended the National Wildlife Society Conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As well as being my first time on a plane, this was an exciting and educationally engaging experience for me and for the five other students and the advisor who also attended. We give great thanks to the generous (and anonymous) donor who covered our entire trip to Canada. I am especially grateful for this donation, as I would not have been able to afford the trip otherwise.
The conference began with a plenary session that had four speakers discussing why wildlife is important. The speaker that had the greatest impact on my perception of environmental problems was Richard Louv. Richard expressed how the connections between humans and nature are thinning, and provided ways to promote children’s connection with nature at a young age. “Nature Deficit Disorder” is a term coined by Richard Louv for this problematic issue. Promoting a natural connection in children will foster a desire to protect the environment and stop its destruction at a grassroots level. Many children’s curiosity in nature starts with an interaction with wildlife. They will be intrigued when they are first introduced to a frog in a stream, or shells on the beach. I completely agreed with Richard’s talk. Even though this was a wildlife conference, children’s interactions with nature and wildlife at a young age is crucial for development of consideration for the environment as an adult.
This conference had many presentations throughout the week. We received a booklet with a full schedule of talks, presentations, and workshops; it was up to us to decide which events would be of most interest to us. Some presentations were categorized by either wildlife taxa of study, or associated habitat. Some presentation sessions shared similar goals and themes, such as climate change or land management. If you were interested in bird presentations, you could simply sit in one room for hours and listen to many presentations on ornithological topics. Although I love birds, my plan was to diversify my time and attend talks of a variety of different subjects each day.
I gained a lot of insight on research and wildlife management from attending these presentations. I also gained insight into how and in what format I should present my own capstone research at Paul Smith’s. What styles or formats made presentations boring, exciting, or memorable? Were the researchers reading straight from the PowerPoint, or were there too many words on each slide? Some delivered their work in a monotone voice, making it difficult to sit through the presentation. The best speakers showed excitement about their research, talked without reading off of the slides, included many photographs, and maximized eye contact with the audience. Some presentations were over my head, which I was expecting, since I am a Biology major and not Wildlife. My major does not go over statistics, management, and GIS as much as the Fisheries and Wildlife major here on campus does.
We went on two field trips during this conference. First, we visited Fort Whyte Alive, a nature and bison reserve on the outskirts of Winnipeg. There we went on a bird walk through the woods near ponds and a small lake. We enjoyed views of wildlife including white pelicans, magpies, a juvenile Goshawk, and prairie dogs. Included in this trip was the opportunity to attend a Bison Safari. This expedition included a bus ride through the bison fields, an educational lecture on bison, and several great photo opportunities with these magnificent animals. Although we loved the wildlife at the preserve, we also had the opportunity to experience the Native American culture of the area, including spending time in an authentic Tipi, making fire-roasted bannock (a type of bread), and practicing with the atlatl (a weapon used by historic plains civilizations).
The second field trip was to Oak Hammock Marsh Reserve, the headquarters of Ducks Unlimited Canada. Here, we were shown bird banding techniques and had the opportunity to travel through the managed wetland property in an authentic war canoe. On this trip, I had the opportunity to see wildlife species I had never seen before, including Harris’s sparrows, American coots, and Wilson’s snipe. During the paddle, the group had the opportunity to get up close and personal with waterfowl species in the marsh habitat. Most impressive was the large number of Canada geese at both sites we visited.
At every Wildlife Society conference, there is always a Quiz Bowl for the undergraduate students. Four of the students from Paul Smith’s competed against schools from all over the country in a battle of wildlife knowledge. Our team’s performance was great; beating out two teams and making it to the third round. The questions were tough, and ranged from statistics to wildlife identification and historical conservation events. Admittedly, I was very nervous to compete, as it was my first quiz bowl. We talked to teams that had studied for this competition once a week or even had attended full-time classes devoted to studying for this very event. Our team started with the goal of just winning our first round – and then taking it one round at a time. Claire Nellis, Kyle Nellis, Lewis Lolya, and I were all strong players. Our alternate, Robert Craig, held the team together when nerves got high. Afterwards, the school that won the whole competition let us know afterwards that they were worried about going up against our team in the final round.
It was hard to imagine we packed so much experience into just a few days at the conference. I gained a lot of knowledge about the wildlife field that will definitely aid in my graduate school and career choices after graduating from Paul Smith’s. I hope to attend the New York State chapter of the wildlife society conference in the upcoming spring semester. Hopefully, it will be as fun and as amazing as this!
