Scientists have discovered an American parasitic worm infecting Japanese snakes. An American snail, Physella acuta, likely brought the trematode, Ochetosoma elongatum,to Japan via imported freshwater aquarium plants. The other possibility is that an American snake introduced the parasite through the pet trade. Parasites from the Ochetosomatidae family are found throughout North America. They typically infect snakes in the final stage of their development, which starts with snails then likely jumps to frogs as intermediate hosts. “Ochetosoma elongatum was frequently found in the lungs and oral cavities of Japanese host snakes in the Kanto region,” the authors of the study published in Parasitology International wrote. Infected species of snakes include the Japanese striped snake (Elaphequadrivirgata), the Japanese rat snake (E. climacophora) and the tiger keelback (Rhabdophis tigrinus). While the symptoms in these snakes are unclear, the trematodes can cause inflammation in the mouth and lips in snakes found in the Americas such as the fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper). This trematode isn’t the first American invader in Japan—researchers also reported a related species, (O. kansense) infecting snakesin western Japan.
Thousands of wildlifers arrived in Baltimore, Maryland for The Wildlife Society’s 31st annual conference. The Out in the Field community welcomed attendees to Baltimore with a walk before the conference started to ramp up.
Credit: Colleen Olfenbuttel
TWS President Bob Lanka passed the gavel to incoming president Art Rodgers.
Credit: Katie Perkins/TWS
Attendees convened at a number of different receptions to catch up, including the Aldo Leopold reception to congratulate the 2024 Aldo Leopold Memorial Award winner Maurice Hornocker, the Canadian Section reception and others. The Oriole bird joined the receptions to meet TWS members.
Credit: Mike Stoll/TWS
In other parts of the conference TWS members got to work as sections and chapters met to collaborate on ideas.
Networking and meeting up with new and old friends is an important part of attending TWS conferences. Wildlifers gathered at the Maryland Science Center to network and unwind after a day of learning.
Modern film often presents wetlands as woes, or as a difficult challenge for the characters, potentially giving the viewer a negative perception of these ecosystems. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign scoured movie databases of films from 1980 to 2019 and found 163 films with at least one wetland-related scene. They determined that more than half of the films presented wetlands as areas filled with sadness, danger or troubling emotions. “A lot of people today are disconnected from nature, and the way they experience nature is through film or on screen in some way,” said study co-author of the study and wetland ecologist Jeff Matthews. “We were interested in how the portrayal of wetlands in film might influence attitudes about these ecosystems.” However, other films highlighted wetlands as places that were initially frightening, but eventually led to an important part of the character’s journey. Even if wetlands were portrayed negatively, films most often provided a realistic depiction of wetland biodiversity.
Above all else, wildlife professionals love conducting fieldwork. But three plenary speakers at the 2024 TWS Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, recently highlighted that in order to make a difference in conservation, the science resulting from that fieldwork must be combined with policy and culture.
“Scientists need to do a better job connecting with laypeople,” said James Cummins, the executive director of the nonprofit Wildlife Mississippi.
Julie Robinson, the deputy director of earth science at NASA, kicked off the plenary session, titled “Merging Science, Policy, and Culture to Advance Conservation,” presented a truly planetary outlook on this theme. Robinson showcased some of the ways that NASA can see the world, whether via satellite imagery, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology, or various modeling tools and software.
“The problems of the world are so severe that they need our focus,” Robinson said. “Good scientific data helps us to understand this noise.”
Julie Robinson is deputy director of earth science at NASA. Credit: Katie Perkins/TWS
Satellites can provide regional and long-term landscape imagery, revealing the ways that climate change is causing deviation from standard temperatures as well as how beaver (Castor canadensis) restoration can improve forest cover and bolster wetlands on the landscape. LiDAR imaging can reveal the ways that drought can reduce vegetation biomass in the Amazon.
But none of this is important, Robinson said, if scientists can’t present this data in a meaningful way that gets through to policymakers and the general public.
“If the public doesn’t believe you, they will be against you, and they will interfere with great, scientific evidence-based management,” Robinson said.
James Cummins is the executive director of the nonprofit Wildlife Mississippi. Credit: Katie Perkins/TWS
In his address, Cummins built on this idea, encouraging wildlife professionals to get involved with policy and decision making. “If you’re not at the table, then you’re on the menu,” he said, adding that presenting science and data in a meaningful way is critical to getting conservation funding and support.
Although 80% of people live in cities now, people care about the outdoors more than ever before, Cummins said. Conservation is important not just for recreation and enjoyment but as a means to protect clean water supplies, promote healthy lifestyles and create jobs. It’s important for wildlife professionals to stress these benefits to the public and lawmakers to ensure conservation funding, because “enlightened self-interest is the greatest motivator,” he said.
At the end of the day, he said, “It’s cheaper to prevent habitat destruction or pollution than to pay to clean it up.”
Jason Baldes is the director of the Tribal buffalo program for the National Wildlife Federation. Credit: Katie Perkins/TWS
Jason Baldes, the director of the Tribal buffalo program for the National Wildlife Federation, discussed the direct benefits that wildlife restoration has on culture—and vice versa—on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
After 131 years of absence, 10 bison (Bison bison bison) were reintroduced to Wind River—the first cohort of an ongoing mission to restore a larger population of the animals. “There were tears,” Baldes said. “It’s like bringing home a long-lost relative.”
The reintroduction has benefited the ecosystem at large, he said. Bison have created wetlands with their wallows, and the many birds use the hair bison shed as nesting material. Bison spread seeds, and on top of these material benefits, they provide something priceless to the Eastern Shoshone and Arapaho on Wind River.
“We’ve integrated buffalo back into our diet, our ceremonies,” Baldes said.
Carol Chambers vividly remembers her parents instilling the value of “leave it better than you found it” on her and her sister.
The past TWS president and 2023 Aldo Leopold Memorial Award recipient said this sentiment comes to mind when she thinks about leaving a legacy in the wildlife field.
In her keynote at this year’s 31st annual TWS conference in Baltimore, Maryland, she compared this lesson from her parents, including their emphasis on caring about others, with Aldo Leopold’s enduring land ethic.
“We’re tasked with building upon the legacy left before us,” she said. “Leave a legacy that doesn’t have to be undone by the next generation.”
Chambers has spent years working in the southwestern United States in many of the same areas that Leopold himself managed, studying bats, Ponderosa pine snag dynamics and the recovery of the New Mexico jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus). The mice have experienced significant habitat decline as a result of wildfire.
Indigenous people first managed these lands in Arizona’s White Mountains through the use of fire, leaving the surrounding areas with beautiful wildflower covered meadows, she said. That is, before colonial intervention.
“Now, we have an unfortunate legacy of wildfire,” she said. “But in some cases, that’s not such a bad thing. Now, we have an appreciation for Indigenous land management.”
Carol Chambers is the 2023 recipient of the Aldo Leopold Memorial Award. Credit: Katie Perkins/TWS
Just as impactful as Chambers’ work with wildlife is her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the wildlife profession. She harkened back to more memories of her family, growing up during a time when women and people of color faced significant discrimination.
“Today, women feel as though things are getting better, but we still don’t feel like everyone is represented,” she said.
Chambers shared that she hopes that current wildlife professionals will take every opportunity to not only mentor the next generation but also give everyone in the field a voice.
“Hire people that don’t look like you,” she said.
She also encourages wildlifers to recognize role models and donate to groups and organizations that are working toward similar inclusive goals.
Some of her final slides displayed what she hoped would be her legacy: a utopia for New Mexico jumping mice and helping women get more involved in the wildlife profession, touting the Women in Wildlife community.
In closing, Chambers noted that Ponderosa pine trees that are over 250 years old are considered legacy trees because they carry the past forward. She brought her own mini legacy trees, even engraved with the word “legacy,” for conference attendees to take with them as constant reminders to do just that.
“I have been surrounded by the most passionate and most capable students and colleagues who made me who I am,” Hornocker said. “I may have written music, but for the most part, they’ve conducted.”
Members of the state and federal government are excited to welcome The Wildlife Society members to Baltimore for the 31st annual TWS conference.
“My fellow Marylanders and I are proud to host this crucial gathering in our home state,” said Steny Hoyer, a congressman from Maryland’s Fifth District and the former majority leader of the United States House of Representatives, in a video addressing TWS members. “For the first time this week, researchers, educators, advocates, policymakers and students across the country and around the world gather in Baltimore for the same purpose—preserving this planet we all call home.”
Government officials, from congressmen to the Maryland Secretary of the Environment, feel connected to the mission of The Wildlife Society and the theme of this year’s conference.
“This year’s theme, ‘merging science policy and culture to advance conservation,’ is especially relevant here in Maryland,” said Senator Ben Cardin, who has championed landmark environmental protections, including Chesapeake Bay restoration. “These resources not only define our natural heritage but also drive our local economy, from tourism to agriculture, ensuring the health and well-being of our communities. The intersection of science, policy and culture is crucial in Maryland’s conservation efforts. Through sound science, we understand the challenges facing our ecosystem. Through informed policy, we protect these resources for future generations, and through our deep connection to local culture, we ensure conservation is a shared priority for everyone.”
The officials urge TWS conference attendees to check out all of the natural resources that the state has to offer.
“For those of you who are visiting Maryland for the first time, I hope you’ve had a chance to explore the state’s incredible natural beauty,” said Serena McIlwain, the Maryland Secretary of the Environment. McIlwain urges attendees to visit the sea turtles at the new wetlands exhibit at the National Aquarium and the river otters that have returned to the state with the help of the government, NGOs and academic institutions. “We’ve made great strides, but as you know, we still have challenges like, for example, habitat loss, invasive species and the overall impacts of climate change,” she said.
But these leaders also feel that TWS members will make a positive impact on our ecosystems and the wildlife that live in them.
“I know each of you will make the most of this week by sharing research, building new partnerships and coming up with new ideas for how we can best protect our wildlife,” Hoyer said. “Thank you for your crucial work, not only this week but, more importantly, year-round. Good luck and Godspeed.
The Wildlife Society has awarded the Distinguished Service Award to Richard Williams for a long career of outstanding service.
The award recognizes TWS members who have made a long-term commitment to the Society based on at least 20 years of membership and their actions to further the mission of the Society
Williams has worked as a biologist for a wide range of entities, including energy companies, consultancies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others.
In TWS, he has served a number of positions on the executive board of the Western Section and was president of the section in 1992. He also developed the Jim Yoakum for Outstanding Service and Commitment to the Western Section, an award that recognizes people who have provided outstanding work and commitment to that section. Williams later received the Jim Yoakum award himself.
Williams at Devil’s Tower National Monument. Courtesy of Richard Williams
“Rick continues to remain a tremendous resource to TWS-WS,” said Richard Burg, Awards and Grants Committee Chair of TWS’ Western Section, in his nomination letter. “He continues to preach the ‘gospel’ of benefits to be derived from both TWS and TWS-WS membership to students and young professionals over the years.”
Williams joins Leland Pierce and Mark Lindvall as this year’s winners of the Distinguished Service Award. He will be presented the Distinguished Service Award at the 2024 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
Clemson University’s online Master of Wildlife and Fisheries Resources program (MWFR) and Ameris Alanis Ribeiro are the recipients of the 2024 TWS Diversity Award.
Led by Thea Hagan, the MWFR is an innovative and successful online program that delivers graduate-level course work to those who would not normally have access to an advanced degree. Hagan recognized the need for such a program to provide additional education to already working natural resource professionals as well as underserved groups in the field.
Housed in Clemson’s Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, the non-thesis master’s degree consists of 30 credit hours with 15 credit hours of electives. Despite initial resistance from faculty, some of whom feared program graduates wouldn’t be competitive in the job market compared to traditional students, the MWFR launched in the fall of 2017 with 15 students. Since then, the program has grown significantly with an annual enrollment of over 100 students from across the country.
The MWFR program has increased graduate student enrollment in unrepresented minorities, including working women and veterans. With the coursework being delivered entirely online, the program attracts those who are place-bound, as well as those who must maintain a full-time job during their education.
“One of the greatest benefits is the added inclusivity of this teaching mode,” said Lillie Langlois, a professor in the MWFR program, in an award nomination letter. “I have many students who work full-time jobs and have families but are still able to take courses and work toward a graduate degree. Most of these students could have never gone back to school in-person with their current life responsibilities.”
She goes on to say that because of the online program, she is thrilled to see more members of the BIPOC community than ever before.
Amaris Alania Ribeiro is dedicated to incorporating DEI into every aspect of Chicago’s North Park Village Nature Center. Courtesy Amaris Alania Ribeiro
Ameris Alania Ribeiro wins individual award
Ameris Alania Ribeiro is the director of Chicago’s North Park Village Nature Center. The public facility and urban preserve provides year-round nature educational programs to over 75,000 visitors per year.
Ribeiro incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion in every initiative that she leads at the nature center. Of her many projects, she has led a grant-funded time-banking ecosystem project that invited community-based and social service agencies to the nature center for free use of the space.
“This project was more than the access to green space. It intentionally reframed the Nature Center as a social service agency, and shifted the idea that ecological knowledge exists in the community and that the relationships between environmental organizations and the community should be reciprocal,” said Ryan Vance in a nomination letter.
Vance, a current supervisor at the Belle Isle Nature Center of the Detroit Zoological Society, worked with Ribeiro for many years.
“Amaris thinks access through inclusion in everything that the Nature Center does,” Vance continued. She believes in intentional actions to invite visitors that have been historically excluded from conservation, such as teens of color, people of color, Latino communities, immigrant communities, and more.”
Ribeiro works tirelessly to ensure that bilingual programming is offered alongside many of the nature center’s activities including bird walks, a Little Naturalists program for children, and more. However, she recognizes that language is only one way of connecting with communities.
She has led efforts to work with Indigenous communities to decolonize land management and related narratives surrounding native species, prescribed burns, and maple tapping, among others. Additionally, Ribeiro often works to ensure revenue generated by the nature center goes back to the community it serves by contracting with people of color, women, and local artists.
Hagan, as a representative of Clemson’s MWFR program, and Ribeiro will be recognized at the 2024 TWS Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Chronic Wasting Disease Ambassadors program has received The Wildlife Society’s 2024 Conservation Education Award.
The award recognizes those that are involved in a long-term effort to support conservation education. Since inception of the Chronic Wasting Disease Ambassadors in 2021, a collaborative effort among Iowa State University (ISU) and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), it has continuously provided invaluable information about the deadly wildlife ailment.
Led by Adam Janke of Iowa State University, Tyler Harms and Rachel Ruden of IDNR, along with support and instruction from various faculty and staff from IDNR and ISU, the program helps community leaders and resources managers effectively communicate about the management and mitigation of CWD. Thus far, over 120 people have completed the voluntary educational program. While most who “graduate” are community leaders, the ambassadorship is open to the public, inviting hunters or landowners that have an interest in deer management to learn more about CWD.
Program participants have an opportunity to learn from wildlife biologists and get hands-on experience in sampling for the disease. Courtesy of Chronic Wasting Disease Ambassadors
“The CWD Ambassadors program stands out as a beacon of proactive engagement and education on this issue, equipping hunters, landowners, and concerned citizens with the knowledge and tools to effectively communicate the importance of CWD management within their communities” said Todd Bishop, head of Wildlife Bureau at IDNR, in a nomination letter for the award. “By fostering dialogue and a sense of collective responsibility, the program empowers local communities to become active partners and take meaningful action to protect Iowa’s deer populations.”
With a combination of in-person and online study sessions, the program makes a difficult subject accessible and enjoyable for participants. In addition to opportunities for networking with wildlife biologists, participants learn about the ecology of the disease and get hands-on experience sampling deer for CWD testing.
“The facilitation team brought innovative ideas to help explain the complicated disease,” said Debra Kahler, an office manager at the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach office in a nomination letter. “I never expected so much laughter and joy coming from a classroom of a program about a deer disease.”
Program facilitators continue to engage with graduates of the program in order to support their outreach and education efforts, and to keep them up-to-date with changing CWD knowledge and conditions throughout the state.
“Chronic wasting disease is a terrible disease and not something the average public wants to talk about,” said Brad Mormann, director of the Jones County Conservation Board, in a nomination letter. “This program gave us the tools necessary to further understand the disease and effectively communicate its management and mitigation.”
Janke, and the other program leaders, will be recognized at TWS 2024 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society has won an award for the second year straight.
TWS’ Student Chapter of the Year Award recognizes outstanding achievements each year for these scholastic organizations.
The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) builds the Society’s requirements for Certified Wildlife Biologists right into its major program.
The student chapter also makes efforts to invite wildlife professionals to speak at its weekly meetings, and encourages its members to attend state and national TWS conferences—many of them presented research at the 2023 Annual Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
Furthermore, the chapter is active promoting the work and progress of its members on social media, including their Instagram page, Facebook and website.
In total, the student chapter has now won the award nine times since 1994, the award’s inception year. Representatives from the student chapter will be presented the Student Chapter of the Year Award at the 2024 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
