Conference Program
Saturday's Program Abstracts
Conservation in the 21st Century:
Dr. Brad Stelfox, Forem Technologies, University of Alberta, University of Calgary
During the past century, the extent and integrity of North America’s prairie ecosystems have been severely compromised. Future efforts to conserve what remains will require a new dialogue, one that helps stakeholders understand the fundamental existence value of these systems and the full suite of benefits (social, economic, ecological) that native grassland communities provide.
Drawing on data from Alberta’s grassland ecosystems, the land use (agriculture, residential, transportation, energy, mining, recreation) drivers that have and continue to shape prairie ecosystems will be discussed. Plausible future trajectories of these landuses will be identified, and their effects on prairie systems estimated.
Is there a lower limit on native grasslands that we do not wish to violate? Has that limit already been exceeded? The role of scientists and society in defining threshold values for the amount and quality of remaining grassland ecosystems remains elusive.
A case will be made for a prairie conservation argument based on inherent existence value, maintenance of biodiversity, aesthetic appeal, water regulation (both quality and quantity) and storage of biotic carbon. The role of functioning grassland systems in a climate change future will be stressed.
Most importantly, society must accept and understand the finite nature of grassland systems. We can not continue to endorse growth trajectories for agriculture, mining, energy sector, transportation networks, and urban sprawl and expect native grassland systems to persist above minimum critical levels.
Niche market farming and ecosystem management
Don Ruzicka, Ruzicka Sunrise Farm
Adapting to change has been the norm for our farm for the last 14 years. During this period, we have transitioned from a conventional way of farming to a niche market model. In an era where governments and agriculture have embraced global markets, our farm has looked toward local markets to sell what we raise and grow.
This has led me to the conclusion that, as farmers, we have to understand and learn to manage ecosystems well. Conservation and stewardship are a few of the tools required to accomplish this task on the path to sustainability. I was fortunate to be able to learn about these tools by joining a watershed group. Our farm has benefited from the various partnerships that brought the message of “awareness” regarding watershed health to our community.
Another challenge has been to find consumers who support this way of farming. On the radar screen of many consumers, there is a growing concern regarding water quality and quantity, endangered species, local food, carbon sequestration, climate change, Colony Collapse Disorder, biodiversity, along with many other issues. How do we entice these consumers to support conservation and stewardship? We have to feed them; not just great tasting, wholesome, healthy food, but also the importance of caring for the land.
We view the various species that frequent our farm as a barometer that let us know how well we are managing the land. Since 2004, we have noticed the arrival of species of concern, species at risk, as well as endangered species. If we can continue to attract and satisfy consumers, maintain and increase biodiversity, and make a living, it is indeed a win, win, win! In my presentation, I will explain the journey that our farm is on along with the many unexpected but necessary detours.
Blood Tribe First Nation: A Prairie Peoples’ Commitment to Conservation
Paulette M. Fox, Natawawoahkaakii “Holy Walking Woman”, Blood Tribe
The prairie ecosystem has been a source of sustenance for millennia for diverse groups of First Nations peoples. The Blood Tribe (of the Blackfoot Confederacy) is known as the largest “reserve” in Canada; however the traditional confederacy territory spans southeastern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta; extends into Montana and grips Wyoming. The ecosystemic diversity inherent to these regions contextualizes the dynamics of complex yet critical linkages inherent to the Blackfoot way of life over a vast landscape.
The Blood Tribe Land Management Environmental Protection division (established in 2003) is a result of grassroots based guidance: Elders and advisory groups in the community drive research in environmental aspects and participate in dialogues to continue to push the envelop in areas of climate change and biodiversity; youth partake as monitors of species at risk; students and technicians gather and input spatial and attribute data to support a baseline of water quality, target species, critical habitat and invasive species, among other things.
As the community faces challenges not unlike any other, it maintains a linguistic legacy linking the people to the landscape. Preserving the language is directly related to preserving the kinship between the people and the elements in nature. By extension, its relativity to conservation is both a blessing and a challenge.
Moving beyond boundaries and into trans-jurisdictional territory via dialogue is a current area of exploration. Dialogue fosters and facilitates a shift in perceptions, perspectives, and ultimately paradigms. It is arrived at by individuals interested in experiencing the cumulative effect of insight and illumination. At its essence, its purpose and intent is to embrace equanimity and equality. It takes time. It takes a shift in how we view time. It is time.
Conservation and tourism with community partners. Practices and innovation in experiential tourism, to enable guest transformation in support of the planet
Celes Davar, Earth Rhythms, Inc.
The Demand: From local citizens, to local schools, to local conservation projects and from travelers around the world, there is global hunger to take care of our planet – to find meaningful ways to make a difference. This is clearly visible in the volume and passion with which people view nature documentaries or take part in volunteer research adventures. Travelers are seeking out infectious stories of where and how they can make a difference. “Responsible tourism” and sustainable tourism all over the world is a response to this demand. Some of the most powerful beginnings and stories for making a difference come from those who work daily on the ground in research, conservation, and protection of species and spaces.
The Challenge: We live in times that require our creativity and capacity for developing new collaborative business and community models to get things done. Nowhere is this more critical than at local levels within our communities. We need to start looking at each other from our respective areas of expertise in Canada – conservation and science professionals as well as tourism professionals – and ask ourselves how do we collaborate? Whether it is about climate change, water scarcity, or food production, our wild spaces and species, or our practices of conservation, they need to be communicated through entirely new tools of “experience”, communication (stories), and new collaborative initiatives.
The Obligation: At the heart of this new approach to collaboration between environmental scientists, resource conservation specialists and tourism operators, one thing is clear – We are past the point of working within our respective silos; we have an obligation to the citizens of our country to work together, engage them in our work, share our results in meaningful ways, and effect transformations in behaviour that enable ordinary people to become the champions of our emerging low carbon economy.
The Opportunity: People love to travel. We have a tremendous opportunity to use this global passion for travel to craft new western Canadian travel experiences in which researchers and scientists are more accessible to ordinary citizens. This can be done through very simple techniques, by partnering with tourism operators who can provide the marketing and logistical shell and framework, with researchers and conservation specialists providing the programming. How we craft this partnership is the journey that needs to be assessed and developed. Assisting our researchers to open their research to be accessible, to tell their stories, and to be presented as part of a unique partnership with the tourism industry is the opportunity. We can then enable these powerful local stories to be transformed into personal actions, by travelers as new ways to “making a difference in their lives”.
The Presentation: Using examples, rich media, stories, and provocative questions, Celes will tease out this framework of collaboration and opportunity, helping to move us from the past tendency to “presenting knowledge” to a more active approach for our citizens and travelers to experience place, people, and ecosystems, helping to conserve our future.
Balancing the needs of multiple species at risk and sustainable rangelands in a working prairie landscape
François Blouin, MULTISAR Coordinator, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
Alberta’s Grassland Natural Region encompasses 14.4% of the province, but only 34% of it remains in a relatively natural state. Yet it is home to about 75% of the species ranked “At Risk” or “May be at Risk” under the General Status of Alberta Wild Species, and 71% of the 28 endangered and threatened species currently legislated under the provincial Wildlife Act. Recovery planning and actions have traditionally been developed and implemented using a species-specific approach. However, with an increasing number of threatened and endangered species at the two levels of government, the number of recovery actions to be implemented with limited resources on the landscape is becoming overwhelming. In addition, recovery actions for different species sometimes conflict with one another or may negatively impact ranching operations. Landowners or lease holders become confused, frustrated, disillusioned and are often left bearing the costs of recovery. Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and the Alberta Conservation Association have jointly developed the MULTISAR project to address these issues. The MULTISAR process involves working collaboratively with landowners or lease holders in the development of Habitat Conservation Strategies (HCS) for multiple species at risk in priority areas. Each HCS looks at the current land uses and the grazing history of the ranch and completes wildlife, plant community, range and riparian health assessments and a survey of key habitats. It is developed through a team of biologists, agrologists, land management specialists, and the landholder(s) who interpret survey results and provide balanced grazing management and habitat enhancement recommendations for priority species or guilds, as well as recommendations to minimize the impact of industrial development. MULTISAR continues its technical and financial assistance and its personal relationship with the landholder(s) in the implementation of the HCS, while the response of habitats and species at risk are monitored periodically to ensure that the strategy reaches its objectives.
Aquatic Species at Risk - Responding to a Changing Environment
Sherry Nugent, Species at Risk Coordinator, Fisheries and Oceans Canada
When we think of the prairie environment, we often overlook the aquatic component. Fisheries & Oceans Canada is responsible for the protection of aquatic species at risk. As more aquatic species become listed in the Prairie Provinces, we need to find new ways to protect them. The prairie landscape has changed dramatically due in part to industrial development. We will discuss present and future strategies for aquatic protection with regard to implementation initiatives, plans to fill in knowledge gaps, the importance of partnerships in the recovery of aquatic species, and highlight proactive measures to prevent currently secure species from becoming at risk in the future.
Preliminary assessment of cumulative impacts for birds in prairie Canada
Brenda Dale, Canadian Wildlife Service
Grassland birds are declining more severely than any other habitat group in North America and they occupy a disproportionately high number of places in priority rankings and on COSEWIC listings. Many factors have been identified as precipitating this decline but we have almost no information on the magnitude of their specific contributions. While it is important that we collect and utilize the specifics to develop accurate cumulative impact estimates as well as detailed recovery strategies we cannot wait for complete information before vigorously pursuing conservation initiatives that will preserve remaining prairie and safeguard it from further degradation.
Ecosystem Status and Trends Reports
Melanie Dubois, Senior Riparian and Biodiversity Specilalist, Agri-Environmental Services Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Tricia Hayes, Environment Canada
The Ecosystem Status and Trends Report for Canada (ESTR) is a joint federal/provincial/territorial initiative of the Canadian Councils of Resource Ministers (CCRM) to assess the health of Canada’s ecosystems from a biodiversity perspective. The focus is on trends in ecosystem condition, drivers, and stressors. A deliverable under the CCRM’s 2006 Biodiversity Outcomes Framework, its purpose is to inform the national biodiversity agenda, complement the historic focus on species, and help Canada’s resource ministers set priorities. ESTR also delivers on part of Canada’s international obligations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – to assess progress towards the 2010 biodiversity target.
Technical reports are being prepared for terrestrial and marine ecozones, as well as national thematic reports on drivers, ecosystem processes, and trends in selected species groups. The peer-reviewed ecozone technical reports distill and synthesize relevant knowledge on ecological status and trends, highlighting those trends of most significance to biodiversity. They are intended to be “working documents,” forming the scientific basis of other ESTR products and providing information for planning further integrated ecological research monitoring and assessment. This initiative provides an opportunity to bring results from ecological research and monitoring to the attention of Canadians, to highlight results in a policy context to decision-makers, and to highlight strengths and gaps in knowledge and monitoring of Canada’s ecosystems. All ESTR reports will be completed in 2010 and made available primarily as web-based products.
This presentation will cover the purpose, process, and use of ESTR, and present preliminary key findings for the Prairie ecozone.
A Geomatic Approach to Assessing Riparian Health on a Landscape Scale
Grant Wiseman, Remote Sensing Specialist, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, Agri-Environment Services Branch
This riparian health assessment pilot will provide science-based information on the feasibility of classifying riparian areas using air photos and linking the attributes identified through Object Image Analysis (OBIA) to riparian health indicators. The outcome would be a significant improvement in our ability to develop management plans for riparian areas on a watershed scale.
The three main objectives are to determine:
- Can the use of high resolution imagery and OBIA software be used to classify riparian zones by vegetative class?
- Can the health of riparian zones be determined using spectral, spatial and relational attributes of riparian vegetative classes?
- How can we use this information in watershed management plans?
The project will serve multiple purposes including:
- Providing a cost-effective riparian area health assessment protocol that is systematic, replicable and available for use in watershed management planning;
- Filling a gap in information regarding the status of riparian area health in Manitoba. A comprehensive assessment of riparian areas would help to target programs as well as help to detect change;
- Classify riparian areas using spectral, spatial and relational characteristics derived from high resolution imagery by using OBIA.
Preliminary analysis has shown that high resolution imagery and object oriented software can be used to classify riparian zones by vegetative class. The 2009 field season data will be used to correlate the on-ground health assessments to the vegetation classification. Work is being done to link the assessments to management recommendations for individual landowners.
Gaps and overlaps: Northern great plains ecosystems, processes and threats to species at risk
Dr. Darcy Henderson, Environment Canada
Patterns of change in ecosystems and species are all around us, but the challenge is to recognize those patterns and learn something from them. Some of the perceptual filters that prevent us from recognizing patterns include biases from our education and experience as biologists or land managers. In the interest of bridging those gaps, I want to highlight where we may or must overlap our efforts with common understanding. First, I will discuss the scales at which ecosystem processes like drought, fire, and grazing may have operated on the northern great plains in the past. Second, I will briefly describe how settlement, landscape fragmentation, and habitat loss has forever changed those original patterns. Finally, I will discuss why these changes in patterns may account for the way in which we perceive threats and appropriate recovery actions for species at risk. Some recommendations may challenge long-held beliefs in rangeland or wildlife management, and others challenge whether some species at risk can or should be protected. Throughout, I will use prairie sand dune ecosystems and selected plant species at risk from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as model settings and responses.
Conservation of rare reptiles and amphibians: should we conserve isolated populations?
Dr. Pamela Rutherford, Department of Biology, Brandon University
Many species at risk occur in small, disjunct populations and this is certainly true for prairie reptiles and amphibians. From a conservation perspective, geographically peripheral populations may not be of concern if they are only listed because they occur in separate jurisdictions but the species' range is widespread. In contrast, if they are genetically or morphologically unique populations, they may have considerable conservation value. I will discuss the conservation of rare amphibians and reptiles in this context, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of focusing conservation efforts on isolated populations.
Are landscapes changing faster than species can adapt?
Dr. Josef K. Schmutz, School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan
Most prairie species have had over 10,000 years to adapt to a landscape shaped by glaciers. In comparison, perhaps less dramatic yet still substantial landscape changes happened in the last 100 years.
In this analysis, I plan to examine trends in landscape change and compare these with requirements, as I have come to understand them from long-term studies of ferruginous and Swainson’s hawks, and burrowing owls. These raptors may serve as an example of how species are able or unable to respond to change.
In one area near Hanna, Alberta, monitored since the mid-1970s, populations of ferruginous and Swainson’s hawks have exhibited four distinct patterns of abundance: from moderate- to high- back to moderate- and then low population densities. While patterns exhibited by ferruginous and Swainson’s hawks were nearly identical, the less common red-tailed hawk has shown a small but steady increase over the same period. Burrowing owls have declined and have shown no sign of recovery locally. It appears from the data, as one factor facilitated one species it indirectly lead to the detriment of another species. For the red-tailed hawks, breeding at the edge of their range, tree expansion provided new nesting sites. Burrowing owls suffered from ‘incidental’ predation as parkland habitat invaded prairie, a change that favoured the local predator community.
Broad, overlapping categories of ecological change on this northern Great Plains study area include: 1) altered temperature regimes influencing ecosystem productivity, 2) greater human traffic, and 3) altered timing and potential for mis-cues relative to migration-, hibernation- or other coping strategies.
Data sources are from long-term studies of the raptors, complemented with the literature. Trends over the years, from the 1970s to today, lend themselves for analysis, as do comparisons among individual birds or pairs within a year in different agricultural/industrial landscapes within the study areas.
Insofar as the emerging conclusions reflect trends amenable to management, strategies for conservation can be evaluated. Strategies range from the targeted and intensive management of individuals or small populations to an extensive concern for the ecological integrity of a region. While strategies that protect all the parts of a biological puzzle are ideal, the question may be asked, is the protection of all parts possible and/or efficient in a rapidly changing world.
Hybridization in prairie orchids: conservation threat or life as usual?
Dr. Anne Worley and Dr. Bruce Ford, University of Manitoba
Extinction through hybridization can threaten endangered species when hybrids are vigorous and fertile. However, hybridization may also allow the transfer of adaptive traits between species or contribute to the evolution of new species. We are studying hybridization between the endangered small white lady’s slipper (Cypripedium candidum) and the common yellow lady’s slipper (C. parviflorum var. makasin and C. p. var. pubescens) in Canada. Our overall goals are to understand the causes of hybridization in these orchids and to assess the threat that hybridization poses to C. candidum.
To date, DNA fingerprinting in 182 individuals from four Manitoban populations has confirmed the presence of first and later generation hybrids. However, most individuals that appear “pure” have genetic profiles that are consistent with their appearance. Thus, genetic assimilation of the endangered C. candidum by the more common C. parviflorum does not seem imminent, perhaps due to the high local abundance of C. candidum. Ongoing studies will determine if this pattern is consistent over a broader geographic area, and whether or not gene flow is from the common to the rare species.
In addition to describing patterns of gene flow, we are investigating how hybridization among Cypripedium species is influenced by the reproductive biology of the orchids and the diversity of the surrounding floral community. Cypripedium species produce flowers with no nectar reward, and therefore rely on co-flowering rewarding species to sustain pollinators. Pilot data on pollinator visitation, pollen viability, and fruit set in Manitoban populations indicate that Cypripedium candidum may have lower fertility than either hybrids or C. parviflorum. The implications of this trend for the long-term persistence of C. candidum populations will be discussed.
Is it time for a paradigm shift in prairie rare plant conservation?
Nancy Sather, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Protection priorities and management and recovery practices in conservation biology change not only because of advances in scientific knowledge but in response to public perception, politics, and prevailing paradigms. In the 1960s and 1970s, biologists needed to overcome the legacy of fire suppression that probably resulted from cultural memory of wildfire in prairie and cutover. In the 80’s and 90’s conservation priorities turned from protection of small, isolated islands of natural ecosystems to connectivity and protection of large landscapes. Because public, government, and donor acceptance of emerging practices is so hard won, once they have gained acceptance, prevailing paradigms tend to overshadow potentially useful approaches that don’t fit the mold. Case studies from Minnesota rare plant and prairie conservation provide an example of the need for situation-specific decision making with regard to presently controversial conservation practices.
Celebrating the Journey Home: The Reintroduction of Black-footed Ferrets in Canada
Bill Bristol, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Joanne Tuckwell, Parks Canada
After 5 years of planning, the black-footed ferret has returned home to Grasslands National Park in southwest Saskatchewan. The last confirmed sighting of a ferret in Canada took place in the early 1900's and ferrets were thought to be extinct until a small population was discovered in Wyoming. That discovery prompted the start of a captive breeding program that has produced over 6000 kits and contributes to the reintroduction program in the U.S., Mexico and now Canada. Seven zoos across the U.S. and Canada breed ferrets that are all sent to a pre-conditioning facility in Colorado before being reintroduced. This pre-conditioning facility is run by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that is also a part of the Species Survival Program.
The maintenance of whatever genetic diversity is left in
this population is a high priority for the program in order to minimize
inbreeding depression and maximize the success at each reintroduction site.
The successes or failures of each reintroduction site are shared across
North America through the Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction Implementation
Team. The Canadian reintroduction and the yearly monitoring that is
planned for this population will provide valuable information for the
species at the northern extent of its range where the environmental
conditions and the prey populations differ from the reintroduction sites at
the central and northern parts of its range. Through research partnerships
we hope to maximize our learning regardless of the final outcome.
People, place, and posterity: From a dichotomous past to a collaborative future
Dr. Stephane McLachlan, Environmental Conservation Lab, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, University of Manitoba
Tallgrass prairie is at the brink of extirpation in Manitoba. Family farms and rural communities are in extreme crisis. Diverse green spaces and neighbourhoods are being displaced by parking lots, high-rises, and McMansions. In response, wilderness-defined approaches to conservation continue to view human presence as inherently negative and instead affirm the importance of limiting if not excluding human use in protected areas and other high-value natural habitat. While the potential coexistence of conservation and development is still actively debated in the Global South, what about the compatibility between conservation and sustainable livelihoods in a northern prairie context? And what is the role of research and more generally universities in responding to these challenges? Conventional biological research does little to address these questions and as I argue actually accelerates the environmental race to the bottom. Protected areas that exclude the livelihoods of resource generating families and communities, whether related to farming, hunting, fishing, or logging, are a signpost to the past, a past that has failed the environment and one that ensures that this decline will continue. In contrast, those of us working in the Environmental Conservation Lab at the University of Manitoba affirm the mutual dependence of environment and humanity, and thus the importance of directly involving those very same communities and neighbourhoods in the priority setting and management of protected areas and environment. This is especially important for marginalized segments of society – whether they be the Indigenous, the rural, or the urban poor. Yet the input of these lived experts is still denied by most governments and scientists in Canada. I will present a number of case studies that highlight alternative and transdisciplinary approaches to conservation-related research that begin by the bridging the social and biological and by linking scientific and lived expertise. The first case study based on work with Paul Mutch and Jacqui Kotyk shows the biological and socio-political outcomes of longterm urban tallgrass prairie restoration in Winnipeg. The second case study based on work with Melisa Yestrau shows the crucial role that holistic management plays in growing both cattle and tallgrass prairie in rural landscapes. The third case study based on work with Brad Kennedy and Dave Vasey shows how farmer knowledge can be used to assess the implications of and to manage invasive species. I conclude that it is only by rejecting human-natural dichotomies and by affirming the mutual dependence of nature and sustainable livelihoods that we will be able to address the environmental crises that already threaten the futures of our great grandchildren.
Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve - The Evolution of a Partnership
Marilyn Latta, Nature Manitoba and Gene Fortney, Nature Conservancy of Canada
Partnerships are essential both in attracting funding for new projects and in advancing them through the various growth stages. The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve Project is an example of how partnerships can be used to initiate, grow and maintain a project. The search for tall-grass prairie, initiated by Nature Manitoba (formerly the Manitoba Naturalists Society) in 1987, culminated in a proposal to establish a 1000 hectare tall grass prairie preserve near Stuartburn in southeastern Manitoba. Establishment of the Preserve became one of the goals of the newly established Critical Wildlife Habitat Program in 1989 and twenty years after the first piece of land was purchased for the Preserve, it has grown to 5000 hectares. The Nature Conservancy owns most of the properties while others are owned by Nature Manitoba, Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation or are Wildlife Management Areas. Stewardship of these lands today is maintained by a Management Committee, working under a Memorandum of Understanding. A variety of government and non-government partners as well as the general public and the local community have played roles at various times in establishing, growing and managing the Preserve. This presentation will explore how some of these relationships evolved, the changing needs of the project and the difficulties and successes that have been a part of the process.
Bridging the gap — engaging Indigenous urban youth in environmental learning
Natalie Swayze, University of Manitoba and Deanna Kazina, University of Manitoba
Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Bridging The Gap (BTG) is an innovative environmental learning program providing free full-day field trips and follow up programs for Grade Four Students from Winnipeg's School Division's Inner-City School District.
Students visit two of Winnipeg's largest, high quality natural areas; the Assiniboine Forest and Living Prairie Museum. Students engage in curriculum based, hands-on learning activities and participate in relevant initiatives that show respect, gratitude and appreciation of Manitoba's natural environment. BTG's programming incorporates indigenous cultural ideas into program content. A key element of the program is the concept of respect - for the earth, for the animals and for each other.
Cultivating a future for prairie conservation
Dr. Ryan Brook, Postdoctoral Fellow, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary (Address as of February 1, 2009: College of Agriculture and Bioresources, University of Saskatchewan)
The demographics, livelihoods, attitudes, and values of people living on the prairies appear to be changing at an unprecedented rate and these transformations have vital, but poorly understood implications for conservation. While biological issues like landscape change, invasive species, and maintaining networks of native vegetation are essential elements of conservation efforts, generating and maintaining a culture of support for conservation is at least equally important. I will begin by providing an overview of some broad trends in conservation perspectives and issues. I then provide a case study from the ‘corridor’ between Riding Mountain National Park and Duck Mountain Provincial Forest as an example of the trends in changes in land management by protected area managers, farmers, recreational land owners, and aboriginal peoples. Many of these observed transformations mirror broader changes at provincial and national levels. Analysis of use of the corridor region by elk, deer, moose, and wolves indicates that understanding habitat use and conservation attitudes requires an integrated approach involving diverse approaches and datasets. I advocate for a renewed commitment for engaging youth in outdoor activities and conservation research activities. At the same time, all stakeholders in conservation must be more effectively informed about the issues in their region and involved in an integrated decision-making process. Local and traditional knowledge can be used effectively with scientific data to support these decisions and together they can provide effective monitoring of environmental and social change.
