POLLINATORS: FOR FOOD. FOR THE FUTURE

Did you know that approximately 90% of of all flowering plants rely on animals, rather than the wind, for pollination? The vast majority of all pollinators are insects such as beetles, bees, ants, wasps, butterflies and moths. However, bats, birds, and even small mammals serve as pollinators, in various parts of the world. Without these pollinators, we would not have chocolate, bananas, apples, and much other food. But as important as pollinators are to agriculture, they also perform key roles in natural ecosystems, by keeping plant communities healthy.

To learn much more about the remarkable job that pollinators perform, how much we depend on them, the threats they face, and how you can help, please join us for the sixth annual Ottawa Wildlife Festival Forum on pollinators. We have three very dynamic and engaging speakers lined up, as well as many informative and interesting displays.

FORUM DETAILS

Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
3rd floor (West), Canadian Museum of Nature
240 McLeod Street , Ottawa
Free admission / No registration required
Displays, Light refreshments
OC Transpo Bus Service: numbers 5, 6 and 14
Limited on site paid parking

ORGANIZERS

Sponsored by the OFNC/Fletcher Wildlife Garden, the Canadian Museum of Nature, The Canadian Wildlife Federation, The Ottawa Stewardship Council and the Ottawa Wildlife Festival.

AGENDA

•  6 p.m doors open, mingle, browse displays, refreshments
•  7:00 p.m. Welcome and Introduction
•  7:05 p.m Josh Van Wieren, St. Lawrence Parks: Restoring the natural environment with pollinators in mind.
•  7:40 p.m Peter Kevan, University of Guelph : A discussion on the role of pollinators in agriculture and the future of our food supplies.
•  8:10 p.m INTERMISSION
•  8:30 p.m Maria MacRae, Canadian Wildlife Federation: Creating a garden for pollinators.
•  9:00 p.m Questions from the audience for our speakers
•  9:30 p.m END

Biographical Information

JOSH VAN WIEREN - St. Lawrence Islands National Park

Josh has been the Park Ecologist at St. Lawrence Islands National Park (SLINP) for 3 years. SLINP is an ecologically diverse national park located throughout the 1000 Islands . Its small size and scattered properties require the park to work with partners throughout the region. Josh leads projects related to ecological monitoring, species at risk, fire ecology, restoration and wildlife management. His background is in Environmental science, but he also has studied park management, environmental assessment and business. Restoration activities Josh works on in the park include shoreline naturalization, meadow and forest restoration, prescribed burns as well as exotic species removal. Josh is an avid naturalist.

PETER KEVAN - University of Guelph

Peter Kevan is regarded as one of the most active pollination biologists world-wide, and has been involved in various multi-institutional teams, in Canada and abroad. As a graduate student, he was leader of the research team at Lake Hazen , Ellesmere Island , Nunavut (1967-68), National Coordinator of the International Biological Program - Terrestrial Conservation (1969-1970), project manager for the Research Unit on Vector Pathology, and Coordinator of one of the U of Guelph OMAF programs. Additionally, Kevan has a proven record of bringing the academic, private, and public sectors together to work jointly in agricultural sustainability and conservation. In the area of pollination, he has been involved in numerous collaborative activities in Canada for about 3 decades and internationally, as one of the primary information resources, for about 2 decades. His reputation and expertise was used most recently by his being a panel member on the São Paulo Declaration on Pollinators in 1999 and US National Academy's panel on the Status of Pollinators in North America (2005-2007).

Apart from pollination studies from both botanical and zoological perspectives in ecology and evolution, he has worked with other aspects of animal -- plant interactions, such as for fruit and seed dispersal by birds, mammals and insects.

In respect of the City of Guelph 's proposed pollination park, Kevan has been involved in the conceptualization and preliminary planning from the very beginning.

MARIA MACRAE - Canadian Wildlife Federation

Maria began work with the Canadian Wildlife Federation in 1995. At the end of her first year, she took a three-year leave of absence to work on a conservation project in Papua New Guinea . She returned in 1999 and now works as the Manager of CWF's Backyard Habitat Programs. Maria looks after the Golden Gardens funding program, Backyard Habitat Certification Program, CWF demonstration gardens, and Wild About Gardening website. She also writes for Canadian Wildlife and creates a series of Wild About education materials that includes posters, handouts and other education materials.

Maria received her biology degree from McMaster University and then went on to specialize in wildlife management at McGill University . This was complemented with an MBA from McGill and Erasmus University in The Netherlands. She has been working in the conservation field since 1990, starting with the publication of her research in Canadian Field Naturalist . Her career in conservation education began when she started doing freelance writing for various newspapers and magazines and then went on to create the Ladybug Survey. From these experiences she discovered the joy of sharing her fascination in all types of wildlife, from beetles and bats to birds, with the public.

DISPLAYS

The Forum will feature displays from the following organizations:
•  Applehill Fruit Farm
•  Canadian Biodiversity Institute
•  Canadian Museum of Nature
•  Canadian Organic Growers
•  Canadian Wildlife Federation
•  John Nelson, Beekeeper
•  The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club
•  The Ottawa Stewardship Council
•  Ottawa Wildlife Festival
•  Parks Canada

More information:
Christine Hanrahan, Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club, vanessa@magma.ca
Johanne Ranger, Parks Canada, johanne.ranger@pc.gc.ca
Katja Rodriguez, Canadian Museum of Nature, KRODRIGUEZ@mus-nature.ca