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| Winter 1999 | February 1999 |
The AGM is being held at the Fort Whyte Centre once again. It’s great to see the support that both the Fort Whyte Centre and the Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre have provided the Chapter over the last year. Among other things, both facilities have waved or offered to wave their facility rental fees for Chapter sponsored events: 1998 AGM, Snow Goose Presentation and 1999 AGM. It makes it hard to choose venues! The Chapter thanks them both.
It’s nomination time for the Chapter’s Conservationist Award. It’s an annual award, but was last presented in 1996. I don’t believe that this in any way indicates a lack of individuals doing important conservation work in our province. If you are aware of an individual who deserves recognition for their outstanding contribution to wildlife conservation then please take the time to complete the enclosed nomination form.
I am pleased to welcome Marc Schuster as our new newsletter editor. Based on the quality of this issue I can safely say that the newsletter is in good hands. Marc also has plans to set up a Chapter web site.
This is sounding old hat, but the Manitoba Chapter bylaws are taking longer to revise than anticipated. At press time it doesn’t appear that the revised bylaws will be ready to vote on at our Annual General Meeting. I’m now refusing to promise when they will be ready for member review.
The next Chapter executive meeting is at the Natural Resources Institute conference room, University of Manitoba on Wednesday, February 10th at 5:30pm. Chapter executive meetings are open to all members.
I hope to see everyone at the Delta Getaway Weekend and the Annual General
Meeting. - Bob Emery
In
March 1998, 95-gram satellite transmitters were attached to four tundra
swans at Long Point. After spending several weeks in southern
Ontario, the transmittered birds headed west across Lake Michigan and remained
south of Lake Superior before turning north. The birds spent
several weeks in southern Manitoba before resuming their journey, until
two of them reached Hudson Bay. Interestingly, while three of the birds
were on Cedar Lake, Manitoba, at the same time, they all arrived and departed
the lake at different times. Transmitters were also attached to three tundra
swans at Long Point during the fall of 1998. Two of these birds are wintering
in North Carolina and one is in Maryland.
When tundra swans arrive on their Atlantic coast wintering areas in the fall, they are generally in very good condition. However, they lose weight throughout the winter and depart wintering grounds at their lowest annual body weight. Consequently, during their spring migration to the Arctic, they must acquire all of the energy required to "fuel" the long flight. They must also store enough nutrients to lay eggs on breeding areas, as there is little to eat in the High Arctic when the swans arrive in May and June. Given their massive body size and their extremely large eggs, this calls for putting on a substantial amount of fat and protein. Therefore, staging areas are critically important to these Arctic nesters. While tundra swans historically fed on submerged aquatic vegetation and benthic organisms, the ready availability of agricultural grains has now resulted in this species spending considerable time feeding in agricultural fields. This acquired taste for waste agricultural grains may well influence their present migratory route: tundra swans appear to remain in agricultural regions for as long as possible prior to their arrival on the breeding grounds. We suggest that, while southern Ontario is probably an important area for swans to acquire the necessary reserves to fuel their migration to the prairies, southern Manitoba is probably a critical area for them to acquire the body fat and protein that they will eventually require to lay eggs.
We invite you to follow the movements of these seven swans on our web page at http://www.bsc-eoc.org/lpwwrf.html. Transmitters will be attached to seven more swans at Long Point in 1999 and these birds will also be tracked on the web.
- Dr. Scott Petrie, Research Director, Long Point Waterfowl and
Wetlands Research Fund
The Wildlife Society, Manitoba Chapter’s Annual General Meeting
will be held March 12th, 1999 at the Fort Whyte Centre, 1961 McCreary Road,
Winnipeg. Activities begin at 7:00pm. The AGM has traditionally
been a fun evening, offering the chance to catch up with old friends and
to meet other wildlife professionals active in the province. Keynote
speaker will be Mr. Bob McNabb, a farmer/conservationist from Minnedosa.
He will be speaking on Stewardship. Mr. Peter Joyce (Natural
Resources Institute, University of Manitoba), last year’s Rich Goulden
Student Bursary recipient, will also present the results of his research
on "The Roles of Heterogeneity and Scale in Mallard Nest Site Selection’.
Other activities include a short business meeting, elections for the 1999/2000
Manitoba Chapter Executive, announcement of the 1999 Rich Goulden Student
Bursary recipient and awarding the Chapter’s Conservationist Award.
There will be a silent auction to raise money for the Chapter, and
an array of raffle prizes will be drawn. Pizza and refreshments will
be served. Come out and enjoy the evening.
Featuring technical papers and field trips. Major topics will
include Kansas’ walk-in hunter access program and the ecology of tall grass
prairie habitats. More details when they become available.
The Manitoba Chapter of the Wildlife Society will host the Annual
General Meeting of the Central Mountains and Plains Section of the Wildlife
Society in early August 2000. This is a 2-3 day meeting and will feature
several paper sessions, field trips and evening get-togethers. An
information/organizational meeting is planned as part of the Delta Getaway
Weekend in February. CMPS 2000, as we’re calling it, will require
many volunteers to be successful. Anyone interested in volunteering should
contact any executive member.
Featuring technical paper and poster sessions, workshops, working
group meetings, student activities, exhibits, photo contests and field
trips. For more information call (301) 897-9770 or e-mail tws@wildlife.org.
Or visit the conference website at http://www.wildlife.org
Featuring Technical Papers and posters. This year’s annual
meeting focuses on the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
Other topics are also covered. Contact Bob Emery at 467-3238 or b_emery@ducks.ca
for a meeting agenda. Rick Baydack may have space if you’re looking
for a ride. Contact Rick at 474-8373 or baydack@ms.umanitoba.ca.
Mike Olson at 701-224-8143 (work) or 701-250-4492 (home) or hopemike@btigate.com
is the meeting organizer if you require further information
The 23rd International Prairie Grouse Technical Council Meeting
is now accepting abstracts.
Abstracts will be accepted until June 30, 1999.
Please forward materials to:
Dr. Rick Baydack, Chair
Prairie Grouse Technical Council
Natural Resources Institute
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2
Phone: 204-474-6776
Fax: 204-261-0038
E-mail: baydack@ms.umanitoba.ca
Persons submitting abstracts will be notified of their receipt. Please
provide an e-mail address to facilitate processing. If there are
multiple authors, please underline the presenters name.
All contributed papers will be scheduled at 20- minute intervals. Speakers
will be notified of the day, time and location of your presentations. Please
indicate audio-visual needs in your submission.
Abstracts should follow the format provided in the Journal of Wildlife
Management and should include a statement of objectives, a brief description
of the methods used, presentation results and a summary/conclusion. Abstracts
should be sent electronically, either as an e-mail attachment or via a
3.5" floppy disc. Please indicate file name and file type in all
communications.
If you think you can come up with a name for our newsletter that
is better than "The Manitoba Chapter Wildlife Society Newsletter" ...Prove
It!
Your submissions will be voted on at the AGM in March and the winner
will get a coveted TWS t-shirt! So hurry and get your entries in
to the newsletter editor (Marc Schuster) at 983-5265 or email: marc.schuster@ec.gc.ca,
or Bob Emery at 467-3238.
Karen attended the University of North Dakota and received her BSc.
in Fish and Wildlife Biology. She then entered the Masters of Natural
Resources Management program at the Natural Resources Institute, U of M,
specializing in forest and wildlife management. Karen's research
at the NRI focused on the assessment of prescribed burning versus shearblading
for elk habitat manipulation, in the Duck Mountains of Manitoba.
After graduation, Karen worked for the Province of Manitoba as a policy
analyst with the Sustainable Development Co-ordination Unit. She
then worked as an environmental/wildlife consultant in the private sector,
before she began her career with the Pine Falls Paper Company Ltd. as the
company wildlife biologist. At the time of her death she was employed
with Pine Falls Paper Company Ltd (PFPC). As the wildlife biologist,
Karen focused a lot of her attention on minimizing and mitigating the impacts
to the woodland caribou population from company forestry activities.
She was also instrumental in developing an extremely useful environmental
audit for the woodlands department of PFPC. Karen was also very involved
with the Manitoba Model Forest and chaired various committees and working
groups, as well as serving as a Director on the Board of the Manitoba Model
Forest.
Karen was very bright, had a quick wit, a wonderful sense of humour
and consequently, had many friends. Because of her personality she
became a good friend to many of her colleagues at university and at work.
Karen loved her family, friends and her work. She loved life and
it was fun to just be around her. Karen was a very unique and special
person and she will be greatly missed. -J. Trent Hreno
This graduate fellowship, valued at the available annual income of the fund, will be offered each year to a student who:
(1) is enrolled as a full-time graduate student at the natural
Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba;
(2) is conducting research addressing wildlife/forest management
interaction in Manitoba which will result in practical application of sustainable
forest management;
(3) is working on the most valuable thesis project, as judged
by the selection committee.
Applicants will be asked to submit a summary of their thesis research to the Natural Resources Institute by the annually designated deadline date.
This is the only memorial scholarship offered to NRI students.
Please consider contributing to the Karen Palidwor Memorial Scholarship.
Contributions can be sent to:
Ms. Ewa Morphy
Awards Establishment Co-ordinator
Room 421
University Centre
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2
Please make your cheque payable to:
"The University of Manitoba". Indicate on the cheque that
your contribution is for the Karen Palidwor Memorial Fellowship. The University
will ensure that you are sent a tax receipt. Thank you for your consideration.
If you have any questions please call Trent Hreno at (204) 945-7080 or
Rick Baydack (204) 474-6776.
President Elect:
Rhian Christie
(W) 453-2301, e-mail: rchristie@dillon.ca
Past President:
Jim Fisher
(W) 239-1900, e-mail: jfisher@deltawaterfowl.com
Secretary/Treasurer:
Tanys Uhmann
(W) 474-8152, e-mail: umuhmann@cc.manitoba.ca
Members at Large:
Jackie Dixon
(W) 627-7814, e-mail: jdixon@ducks.ca
Melanie Dubois
(H) 237-4579, e-mail: umdubois@cc.umanitoba.ca
Student Representative:
Christian Hagen
e-mail:umhagenc@cc.umanitoba.ca