Workshops 1 & 2 - Friday Morning
Name: Heather and Anastasia Poitras
Organization: Sawridge First Nation (retired from the Northern Forestry Centre)
Room: Wild Rose Ballroom
Topic: Medicine Wheel & Friendship bracelets
Description: Join Elder Heather to learn about Medicine Wheel teachings and their significance as a teaching and learning tool. Participants in this workshop will make a friendship bracelet based on the four directions of the medicine wheel.
Name: Terra Lottermoser
Organization: Alberta Regional Caribou Knowledge Partnership
Room: Wolverine
Topic: Collaboration and Communication in Science!
Description: Discover how research and science communication work together in this interactive workshop! Participants will learn about the work of the ARCKP and discover how they connect government, industry, and researchers to make important decisions around the management of this iconic species at risk.
Name: Sarah Kristoff and Sara B.
Organization: ABMI
Room: Caribou
Topic: Caribou Habitat Recovery Program
Description: Learn about caribou ecology and discover how human impacts have an outsized impact on this unique species! Participants will hear from ABMI researchers about how resource development and human land use affects the ecology of caribou in Alberta. This will be followed up by a game that demonstrates how their narrow niche impacts their survivability in comparison to other deer species!
Name: Shannon Wagner and Corrina Copp
Organization: ABMI
Room: Cougar/Grizzly
Topic: From Wetlands to Wildlife: Exploring Alberta’s Biodiversity with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Description: We invite participants to explore Alberta’s wildlife and habitats with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) using a variety of interactive online tools and platforms. This includes the Online Reporting for Biodiversity (ORB) tool, which allows users to explore wildlife observations, human footprint, and habitat information for an area of interest that interests them (e.g., city, county, watershed); the Wetland Atlas of Alberta, highlighting wetland types, human pressures, and ongoing research; the Biodiversity Browser, Alberta’s encyclopedia of life featuring the province’s plants, animals, and other species; and the Mapping Portal, offering detailed maps of land cover and biodiversity patterns across Alberta.
During the session, we’ll provide a high-level overview and demonstration of each tool, showing participants how to navigate the data and uncover insights about the province’s ecosystems. Following the demonstrations, participants will have the opportunity to test their knowledge of local biodiversity in an area that matters to them, make predictions about wildlife and habitat patterns, and then verify their answers using the interactive tools. This hands-on approach allows participants to actively engage with real scientific data collected over nearly 20 years, fostering a deeper understanding of Alberta’s diverse landscapes and species.
Workshops 3 & 4 - Saturday Morning
Name: Patti Campsall
Organization: Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory
Room: Wild Rose Ballroom
Topic: Monitoring Birds of the Boreal Forest
Description: Every spring, the Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory monitors the population status of hundreds of bird species migrating up to their breeding grounds in the boreal forest. Learn how our researchers use long term data collected from visual counts and bird banding to determine the health of migratory and breeding bird populations at Lesser Slave Lake and which species may be in trouble. Then test out your bird bander skills with hands-on activities.
Name: Court Rustemeyer
Organization: Global, Environmental & Outdoor Education Council (GEOEC)
Room: Outside (Meet by back door)
Topic: Tree-mendous Futures - Games That Grow Leaders for a Sustainable Future
Description: Tree-mendous Futures is an energetic, game-based session designed to help students and teachers develop leadership skills through movement, teamwork, and challenge. Participants will engage in interactive team-building games inspired by forest ecosystems, where communication, adaptability, and collaboration are essential for success. Through play and reflection, the session connects sustainable forest management, climate innovation, wildlife stewardship, and green energy to real-world leadership and decision-making. Participants will leave with practical strategies and a renewed sense of confidence to take action in their schools and communities.
Name: Forrest Battjes, Laura Brandon and Aaron Krips
Organization: Work Wild
Room: Cougar/Grizzly
Topic: Forest Planning Challenge
Description: Students will step into the roles of forest stakeholders and work together to develop an in-depth forest management plan. Come ready to use your science, critical thinking, and communication skills to collaborate with others in making decisions about managing a forest in Alberta!
Name: Mike Wagner
Organization: Alberta Forestry and Parks
Room: Outside (patio on the way to the pool, meet on concourse)
Topic: Forest hydrology and measuring snowpack
Description: Learn about the importance of snowpack and the work of a forest hydrologist in this hands-on session. We will discover how our yearly snowpack influences forest ecosystems and wildlife habitat, and learn about how this is actually measured and managed in real life in Alberta. This will be followed by a hands-on activity that demonstrates how snowpack is measured and quantified by hydrologists!
Name: Trevor Nichols
Organization: Junior Forest Rangers
Room: Outside (meet at front door)
Topic: Birds: How to identify birds by sight and sound
Description: This session will get the students outside to get a better understanding of how to identify birds by visual cues, as well as some common songs heard across the province.
Workshops 5 & 6 - Saturday Afternoon
Name: Mike Toffan
Organization: Project Forest
Room: Caribou
Topic: An Introduction to Silviculture in Alberta
Description: In this session we will cover the basics of silviculture:
- The art and science of growing trees
- The right tree in the right place for the right reason
- Seed zones and legislation
- Seed collection and seed collection timing
- Stratification
- Summer vs. spring seedlings
- Difference between silvicultural for forestry vs. oil and gas reclamation
- Career paths
- Questions
- Hands on exercise with a seed kit and introduction to the Young Roots Scholarship
Name: Diane Haughland
Organization: University of Alberta
Room: Cougar/Grizzly
Topic:
Description:
Name: Emily Williams and Students
Organization: NorQuest College
Room: Wild Rose Ballroom
Topic:
Description: Students form NorQuest’s Environmental Technician Program will be sharing their research from their “Environmental Research Project” course with a mini-poster conference! Participants will have the opportunity to engage with the students and learn about their research, all while learning about academic research and poster presentations.