Follow #TWS2017 live during our
24th Annual Conference in Albuquerque, NM!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

8:00 p.m.

SOUTHWEST SENDOFF NETWORKING EVENT

TWS 24th Annual Conference attendees celebrate the end of a hugely successful conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a Southwest sendoff!
















2:45 p.m.

WILDLIFE PHOTO GALLERY & CONTEST WINNERS

Congratulations to all of this year’s Wildlife Photo Gallery & Contest winners, and a big thank you to all of those who submitted a photo! Look for #TWS2017 photo submissions in the eWildlifer as the Photo of the Week each week. Keep up the good work!

People’s Choice winner: Mark Watson

Best in Show: Kristina Harkins

2:00 p.m.

CAREERS WITH U.S. FOREST SERVICE

Why should a wildlife biologist work for the U.S. Forest Service?

“You get to work in the national forest system. There’s research and development, international programs where wildlife biologists participate. I’ve gotten to work on every type of landscape in the West with many iconic species – elk, deer, grizzly bear, spotted owls, goshawks, pollinators. The diversity of different interest areas you can work on is tremendous. It’s a great way to see the West or get to know new places. There’s a tremendous opportunity to work with different people, organizations and projects within the Forest Service.” – Brian Dykstra, regional wildlife program leader in the southwest region

12:15 p.m.

WILDLIFE FILMS SHOWCASE – DARLING IS BACK!: THE RESTORATION OF LAKE DARLING

What happens when an artificial lake named for conservation pioneer Ding Darling deteriorates? A small community unites in a $16 million restoration project to save Lake Darling. The film “Darling is Back!” tells the story.

11:20 a.m.

CAREERS WITH U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Five employees with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are currently sharing their different experiences and insights from working in the federal sector with wildlife students interested in federal jobs. They’re describing their career paths, talking about lessons learned along the way and answering students’ questions on working for the agency.

“Be patient. Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Get a broad foundation, do a broad suite of jobs and gain a lot of skill sets. Definitely gain people skills. Don’t underestimate writing a cover letter and explain you’ll do something with your passion. Keep your chin up.” – Kelly VanBeek

KEYNOTE: BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS FOR RESTORING NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE

9:20 a.m.

Kathryn Spitznagle, Director of Global Sustainability, Caterpillar, Inc., Lynn Scarlett, Co-Chief, External Affairs Officer, The Nature Conservancy, and Tom Moorman, Chief Scientist, Ducks Unlimited share Wednesday’s keynote, “Business Fundamentals for Restoring Natural Infrastructure.”

There are already ways that these organizations have used green infrastructure including oyster reef restoration, dune restoration and sea marsh restoration, and bringing other natural features back to coastlines.

One challenge for businesses to be environmentally sustainable are regulation policies and “least cost” solutions. For example, Kathryn Spitznagle, the director of global sustainability at Caterpillar, Inc. said dredging is the first step in a lot of building infrastructure. The least cost option is to dump the dredge material right back in the water.

“Where we want to go with the Nature Conservancy and other partners is really to scale up these efforts and make them larger in themselves,” said Lynn Scarlet, the co-chief and external affairs officer with the Nature Conservancy. “We need to make natural solutions not an afterthought. Where resides our challenges are our opportunities.”

“What makes a lot more sense is to take that dredge material, cleanse it, transport it and reuse it,” she said.

Tom Moorman said policy is one of the most important components of implementing green infrastructure.

“Why natural infrastructure? The benefits are obvious. The more interesting thing to me becomes, how do we, from a business standpoint, develop models that lead to scaling up our work?”

“Aldo Leopold had it right. Our connection to the land is ultimately what matters.”

“Floodplain environmental policy in our country is kind of backward,” he said. “What if we had more thoughtful policy that did not incentivize development in the floodplain but incentivized green infrastructure?”

Lynn Scarlett says there are three keys to scaling up natural infrastructure: awareness, will and action.

“Sometimes a lower-cost option seems like the way to go, but really in the long term it’s not. [Realizing that] can really shift some of these scaling opportunities.”

Speakers said it’s important for scientists to be at the table in policymaking.

“How do we set the table for dialogs in national policymaking and think about solutions in coastal risk reduction and so forth? I think sometimes scientists have been nervous being at the table with policymakers, out of concern that it’s undermining objectivity or engaging them in advocacy.”- Lynn Scarlett

“Here we are at The Wildlife Society. What if The Wildlife Society took a message like this or had a session like this with engineers and economists? That’s two potentials. There are all kinds of folks who are part of the solution. Once that dialog starts you realize, hey, we have a lot of similarities here.”- Tom Moorman

9:00 a.m.

New TWS President John McDonald said his goal during his term will be to raise the profile of The Wildlife Society, and has a new TWS President Twitter account.

“That is my one challenge to our staff and to our officers and to our membership. Do what you can to raise our visibility on both local and national platforms.”

McDonald also announced the theme for next year’s conference, recognizing and sustaining conservation successes.

“In my lifetime, we’ve made a lot of gains on the conservation front. I’m 50 years old. I was around the last time the Cuyahoga River, in Cleveland where we’re going to be next year, caught fire. We’ve made incredible progress. … I’m really hoping that we can take a moment next year, our 25th conference, to celebrate all the successes we’ve made. … Not to dismiss the challenges and threats that we face but we’ve made progress on a lot of fronts.”

8:45 a.m.

Passing the gavel to John McDonald, our new President, and thanking Immediate Past President Bruce Thompson for an amazing year!

“Many of you now and any of you can be leaders in The Wildlife Society.”

“I am quite certain that you are in the presence of past, current and future leaders of The Wildlife Society.” – outgoing TWS President Bruce Thompson

Article by The Wildlife Society