| The public is invited to attend a series of free interactive discussions on important emerging issues in natural resources and environmental policy this spring semester, convened by the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at the University of Montana. A noted conservationist specializing in aquatic ecology, the Endangered Species Act, river management and research coordination will present the first installment of the spring semester Natural Resource and Environmental Policy Forum at The University of Montana.
Yvette Converse with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will deliver a talk, “The Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative: A Collective Vision for our Landscape,” at noon Tuesday, Feb. 14, in Law Building Room 101. The lecture and interactive discussion are free and open to the public.
Converse is the Coordinator of the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GNLCC), a partnership among state, provincial, and federal agencies, tribes, nongovernmental organizations, and universities that have come together to collaboratively develop conservation planning and design for sage/steppe ecosystems, high elevation mountain habitats, diverse wetland ecosystems, and important river basins (e.g., Columbia, Upper Missouri, Yellowstone), stretching from Southwest Wyoming to northern British Columbia.
Converse brings professional experience in conservation with an emphasis in aquatic ecology, the Endangered Species Act, river management and research coordination. Yvette has been with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1999 as an endangered species biologist and later as senior fish biologist working on sensitive, threatened and endangered fish listing, recovery, consultation and conservation.
Since 2004, she has been the Assistant Director at the Bozeman Fish Technology Center. In July 2009, she began a detail as the Interim Coordinator of the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative.
UM will host two other lectures in the forum series this spring:
· March 22, 7 p.m., Urey Lecture Hall: Ian Stirling, Canadian polar bear biologist, will speak on "The Ecology of Polar Bears, Climate Warming, and the Effects on Human-Polar Bear Interactions” (in cooperation with the fourth International Human-Bear Conflicts Workshop), Urey Lecture Hall
· April 10, Noon: Law Building Room 101: Chris Smith, natural resource policy expert with the Wildlife Management Institute, “From Ancient Rome to the Ruby River: Why the Public Trust Doctrine Matters to You.”
Since 2010, UM’s Natural Resource and Environmental Policy Forum has featured speakers from a variety of disciplines, providing insights into the ways we make decisions, resolve conflicts and plan for sustainable use of our air, water and lands.
The series is convened by the UM Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy in collaboration with the UM College of Forestry and Conservation, School of Law, Bolle Center for People and Forests, Resource Conservation Program, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Program, as well as the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.
Sarah Bates is an Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Fellow at the Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy, University of Montana. |