Pre-Conference Symposia
PRE-CONFERENCE SYMPOSIA AND WORKSHOPS:
The Professional Development Committee is developing pre-conference events that include a North American Pika Symposium, a Sage Grouse Symposium, an Altamont Pass Symposium, a Wildlife Biologist Construction Awareness Training (WildC.A.T.), and a Wilderness First Aid certification class. Stay tuned for more information!
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Fourth Conference of the North American Pika Consortium
- February 6-7, 2017 at the Peppermill Resort
- Requires separate registration
- Link to Detailed Final Schedule: NAPC4 Full Program_6 (Updated 2/4/17)
For more Information contact:
| Erik Beever, Ph.D.
USGS Northern Rocky Mtn. Science Center 406-994-7670 |
Scott D. Osborn, Ph.D.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife |
Kelly Brie Klingler, Ph.D. candidate
Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology University of Nevada, Reno |
Greater Sage-grouse Symposium Identifying and Managing Threats to Great Basin Greater Sage-grouse Populations
- Tuesday, February 7, 8:30am-5:00pm
- Requires separate registration, $90 pre-registration rate/$65 pre-registration rate for students/early career professional/retirees
Throughout the range of Greater Sage-grouse, populations have experienced declines over the last 50 years. Within the Great Basin, declines of sage-grouse are thought to be attributed to Juniper expansion, altered fire regimes, conversion of sagebrush habitat to annual grasslands, and grazing by non-native ungulates. This symposium will address the effects each of these components have on sage-grouse populations with the best available science and provide recommendations for management. Researchers will discuss how sage-grouse life history and demographic rates respond to these threats. Managers will discuss how to implement conservation actions on private, corporate, and public lands. The goal of this symposium is to provide information regarding perceived and realized threats to greater sage-grouse populations within the great basin. The symposium will conclude with a moderated panel discussion, with the opportunity for the audience to present questions to the invited speakers. Any questions? If so, please contact organizer: Phillip Street: pstreet@cabnr.unr.edu
AGENDA:
| Speaker | Title | Start time | ||
| Breeding biology | Phillip | Street | Introduction and Welcome | 9:00 |
| Gail | Patriceli | How loud is too loud? The impact of gas field noise on Greater Sage-grouse lek trends | 9:05 | |
| Tessa | Behnke | Reproductive cost for female Greater Sage-grouse | 9:25 | |
| Phillip | Street | Late summer habitat as a limiting factor of fitness for Greater Sage-grouse | 9:45 | |
| Kristin | Kane | Using fitness landscapes and life table response experiments to predict the importance of local areas to regional population dynamics | 10:05 | |
| Break | 10:25 | |||
| Juniper and Fire | Christian | Hagen | Greater Sage-Grouse and the big squeeze: conservation challenges and opportunities in the Great Basin | 10:45 |
| Andrew | Olsen | Improved Greater Sage-grouse vital rates after western juniper removal | 11:05 | |
| Pete | Coates | Using sage-grouse habitat suitability and gene flow as ecological currency in spatially explicit decision support tools for pinyon-juniper management | 11:25 | |
| Mark | Ricca | Linked effects of pinyon-juniper encroachment on sage-grouse movements, habitat selection, and fitness | 11:45 | |
| Lunch | 12:05 | |||
| Lunch | 12:25 | |||
| Lunch | 12:45 | |||
| Management | Shawn | Espinosa | The Greater Sage-grouse challenge: Juggling habitat conservation, improvement and cumulative effects of anthropogenic development | 13:05 |
| Jim | Sedinger | Transmission line impacts on Greater Sage-grouse populations | 13:25 | |
| Digger | Anthony | Acute demographic response of Greater Sage-grouse following a mega-wildfire | 13:45 | |
| Katie | Andrle | The Nevada conservation credit system: A mechanism for achieving net conservation gain for Greater Sage-grouse habitat in Nevada | 14:05 | |
| Thad | Heater | NRCS Sage grouse initiative mesic & riparian meadow conservation | 14:25 | |
| Break | 14:45 | |||
| Panel discussion | Sedinger, Coates, Hagen, Espinosa moderator:Street | 15:05 | ||
| Sedinger, Coates, Hagen, Espinosa moderator:Street | 15:25 | |||
| Sedinger, Coates, Hagen, Espinosa moderator:Street | 15:45 | |||
| Sedinger, Coates, Hagen, Espinosa moderator:Street | 16:05 | |||
| Sedinger, Coates, Hagen, Espinosa moderator:Street | 16:25 | |||
| Sedinger, Coates, Hagen, Espinosa moderator:Street | 16:45 | |||
Altamont Pass Symposium
- February 6-7, Peppermill Resort: Monday 1-5:30pm, 7-9pm, and Tuesday 9am-3pm
- Requires separate registration, $110 pre-registration rate/$65 pre-registration rate for students/early career professional/retirees
- Link to Altamont Pass Symposium Program: Altamont Pass Symposium program (Note, printed copies of the program will be available for everyone at the event.)
The Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area (APWRA), located in central California’s San Francisco Bay Area, began industrial-scale wind energy production in the early 1980s. Soon thereafter, a “perfect storm” of conflict evolved between energy producers, scientists, politicians, regulators, consultants, and land owners surrounding the impacts of APWRA operations. Controversy erupted over the methods of reporting, monitoring and estimating avian and bat fatalities, the impacts of those fatalities on local populations, especially raptors, and the development and implementation of mitigation measures to lessen those impacts. This mix of interests spawned numerous lawsuits and settlement agreements between the various players, which have defined the direction and future of the APWRA. That future is leading to a repowering of the APWRA (replacing numerous smaller wind turbines with fewer next-generation mega-turbines). Efforts are underway to inform repowering with adaptive management and the latest science to site wind turbines carefully and reduce collision risk to golden eagles and other raptors. The APWRA is thus at a crossroads. This symposium will present in a series of talks an overview of the history of the APWRA, its controversies, science, and lessons learned, with the goal of promoting use of the information elsewhere to meet the challenges of balancing increasing wind-energy development with minimizing impacts to wildlife. A panel discussion with audience participation will follow the talks. Any questions? If so, please contact meeting organizer, Jeff Smith: jsmith@harveyecology.com
Wilderness First Aid with Foster Calm – 16 hours
- Monday 12:30-9pm and Tuesday 8:30am-5pm, February 6-7, Peppermill Resort
- Requires separate registration, $200, includes cost of WFA class, Monday night dinner, and Tuesday lunch.
In addition to a half day of outdoor scenario practice of first aid and leadership skills, this class focuses on practicing skills and covering: patient assessment, shock and bleeding, head and spinal injuries, wounds, musculoskeletal injuries, heat and cold illnesses and much more. Gain some good tools and knowledge to handle a wilderness first aid emergency. Successful completion of class includes a Wilderness First Aid certificate.
Classes are fun with lots of hands-on skills practice. The emphasis is on making good decisions by staying calm and safe, doing a good patient assessment, and having good communication and leadership. Join our classes, where it is safe to learn and OK to make mistakes.
Wildlife Biologist Construction Awareness Training (WildC.A.T.)
- February 7, 2017: Tuesday 1-5pm
- Requires separate registration, $85 registration rate/$65 registration rate for students/retirees
- A half day afternoon workshop immediately before the 2017 Annual Meeting of The Western Section of The Wildlife Society
- Limited to the first 34 registrants
Wildlife biologists are often called on to provide technical expertise and implement protective measures on construction sites, but rarely receive practical training in environmental permits or safety training as they enter the workforce. This half-day workshop provides an introduction to construction monitoring for recent graduates, early career professionals, and regular construction monitors, and will be taught by experienced wildlife biologists, construction personnel, and health and safety officers. Learn about the environmental permits that require construction monitoring, what to expect on construction job sites, situational awareness and health and safety basics, common environmental protection issues and Best Management Practices, effective communication techniques with construction crews, and useful tools of the trade. Upon completion of the workshop, attendees will receive a certificate of completion and helmet sticker that shows prospective employers and construction personnel in the field that they have attended WildC.A.T. training. Any questions? If so, please contact organizer: Erika Walther: mocker21@gmail.com
Here’s what last year’s workshop participants said:
“I really enjoyed the open and welcome interaction between the speakers and audience. The input from both sides is very helpful for one who is very new to the field of construction bio-monitoring.”
“I’ve been monitoring construction projects for years and some things were presented that I never thought about!”
“Excellent overview – with many helpful details – on the trade. This was a great introduction that covered all aspects well.”