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AIPC Invasive Plant Fact Sheets AIPC Newsletter |
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The AIPC Board of Directors Executive Committee
ASRD, Rangeland Management Branch - Raised on a grain farm in Wynyard, Saskatchewan.
Alberta Invasive Plants Council aipc.programdirector@gmail.com Don graduated from the U of S College of Agriculture with a degree in Horticulture and has a Certificate in Horticulture from SIAST. He is completing a Distance Education Certificate in Sustainable Landscapes from the University of Guelph. He spent most of his working career being self-employed as a Landscape Designer/Consultant. He worked as a Park Technician with the City of Saskatoon, Parks Dept. for seven years which included being in charge of the Urban Natural Areas Program for the last three years of his employment. On moving to Calgary in 2006 he worked for two Landscape companies. In 2008 he was employed as the South Region Weed Coordinator for the South Region Association of Alberta Agricultural Fieldmen. As the South Region Weed Coordinator he learned much about invasive plants in southern Alberta and the types of programs in place to deal with the invasives threat. As well as working with the various Ag. Fieldmen, he made contact with urban municipalities and First Nations, with industry reps., various NGO's and a multitude of volunteers. Don is a licensed Commercial Pesticide Applicator (Landscape) in Alberta. He is registered with the Alberta Institute of Agrologists as an Agrologist in Training, working towards being designated as a Professional Agrologist (PAg).
Virginia Battiste - Administrative Coordinator Alberta Invasive Plants Council Virginia comes from a background that has included community activism and involvement with various non-profit sectors where she has assisted with grant writing, media relations and political lobbying. She served as a Village Councilor in her home community in Saskatchewan and was appointed to the local Hospital Board as a community representative. She has been a freelance writer for various newspapers and periodicals for more than 25 years. After living in Okotoks for 6 months, she was appointed to the Board of Sheep River Health Trust as Secretary, a position that began as a volunteer role. She admits her interest in invasive plants was pretty minimal until Don began his work with the South Region AAAF and says she was really introduced to the scope of the issue at the Weeds Across Borders Conference in Banff in 2008. She heard many of the talks, interviewed speakers, and wrote an article that appeared in the AIPC's newsletter. Later, she joined Don in attending the NAWMA Conference in Billings, MT, as well as the Canadian Weed Science Society Conference in Banff. From the CWSS Conference, she wrote an article on the new biofuel plants as potential invasives that appeared in the Western Producer. She also assisted Don in the production of the 2009 Alberta Invasive Plants Calendar by writing most of the text for the calendar. While weeds is not an issue Virginia would have imagined working on, coming from a background that carries with it a concern to protect and preserve a rural way of life, it fits quite nicely into an already established line of interest for her. Virginia grew up in southern Saskatchewan. She has a B.A. in Psychology from the U of S, and a Masters degree in Pastoral Counseling. She has divided her working career between family counseling, including working with families of children at risk, and freelance journalism.Government of Alberta Agriculture & Rural Development Nicole Kimmel, ARD
Nicole Kimmel received a B.Sc. of Environmental
Conservation Sciences from the University of Alberta in 2000 with a
Specialization in Wildlife and Rangeland Sciences.
Andrea, who is originally from Newfoundland, recently joined the Forest Health section of Sustainable Resource Development in Edmonton as a Forest Health Officer. She is a graduate of the University of New Brunswick where she majored in Forestry and Environmental Management with a minor in Parks and Wilderness. She has also completed a 2-year course in Forest Resources Technology at the College of the North Atlantic in Newfoundland. Her main duties with Forest Health will be managing the Invasive Species program for the province of Alberta. Andrea has been involved in a range of field and laboratory work while working for the Canadian Forest Service, the Newfoundland & Labrador Department of Natural Resources, Forest Protection Ltd, and the University of New Brunswick. She has worked with a variety of insects including the yellowheaded spruce sawfly (Pikonema alaskensis), the black-headed budworm (Acleris variana), and the brown spruce longhorn beetle (Tetropium fuscum). She has also worked with the Canadian Forest Service’s insect collection in New Brunswick so has experience in curating and preserving insects. Andrea arrived back to Canada in June, 2009, after spending 2.5 years working for a Crown Research Institute called Scion (formerly known as New Zealand Forest Research Institute) in Rotorua, NZ. Employed as a senior Technical Officer in entomology, as part of the Forest Biosecurity and Protection team, her main duties involved rearing insects for various biological control programs in a quarantine facility to control invasive alien species that have been introduced to New Zealand. Others duties included supporting staff with both laboratory and field experiments.Other Government
Dwight Tannas - Alberta Association of Agricultural Fieldmen Dwight became the Agricultural Fieldman with the MD of Bighorn in 2002. His education and work experience has been in the resource management field. Over the years he has worked with three Provincial Departments: Transportation, Alberta Agriculture as a Range Technologist, and finally as a Public Lands Officer with SRD. He grew up on a family farm south of High River, Alberta, and has ranched for more than 25 years in the Water Valley area. He has a strong background in environmental education having been involved as a youth leader with the Junior Forest Warden program for over 15 years. That included serving on the provincial executive for more than 10 years, most of the time as president. He is still actively teaching outdoor skills to youth and adults, alike, and also does some environmental consulting through his company Grassland Consulting. In his spare time Dwight likes to relax on his small farm in the foothills west of Water Valley, where he grows native plants and enjoys exploring the foothills and mountains. Lisa Guest - Town of Canmore
Sarah Kehler - Agriculture Services Coordinator, Yellowhead County Sarah Kehler grew up on an acreage in the hamlet of Obed, between Edson and Hinton. She graduated from Olds College in 2006 with a diploma in Land and Water Resources majoring in Environmental Stewardship. Following graduation, she began her career with Yellowhead County as a Weed Inspector, moving to the position of Agriculture Services Coordinator in 2007. She now lives on 20 acres east of Edson and says that Yellowhead County programming focuses on weed control, inspection, and education. Yellowhead County has initiated a cooperative weed management area called the Yellowhead Invasive Plant Initiative involving industry, provincial government and private landowners which focuses on lands bordering the Mountain Parks and Jasper National Park west of Hinton.
Mr. Shane Mascarin has been working in the Environment
Section at Base Wainwright with the Department of National Defence since 2001.
His work now focuses mainly on training area issues as the Range Biologist. Industry
Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association Brendan Casement Brendan was born and received his schooling in the Isle of Man. He obtained his B.Sc. in Agriculture from King’s College, University of Durham (now University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne), England and a Master of Science in Horticulture from the University of Alberta. He started his career in horticulture at the Alberta Horticultural Research Center in Brooks, Alberta as the Environmental Horticulturist in 1971, where he conducted research and extension on trees, shrubs and flowers. In 1987 he transferred to the Alberta Tree Nursery and Horticulture Centre, Edmonton where he managed the Shelterbelt Program until it was privatized in 1997, when he retired. Brendan has given many talks on trees and shrubs, shelterbelts, annual and perennial flowers, landscaping and pruning throughout Alberta, and judged horticultural shows, home garden competitions and farmsteads. He has been a judge for the All-America Selections Annual Flower Trial since 1972; has been a member of the International Society of Arboriculture for over 30 years was awarded a life membership in the Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association (LANTA) and has been a judge for >Communities in Bloom= since 1997. He was a charter member of the Friends of the Devonian Botanic Garden of the University of Alberta and upon his retirement joined the Board of Trustees, and helps the Education Department of the Garden with lectures and tours of the Garden and the U. of A. campus. Present activities: = Treasurer of The Friends of the U. of A. Devonian Botanic Garden = Secretary of the Alberta Nursery Growers Group of LANTA. = Secretary of the Society to Prevent Dutch Elm Disease, Alberta = Member of the Alberta Invasive Plants Council (LANTA representative) Gary Godberson - West Country Oilfield Services Industrial Vegetation Management Association of Alberta
Ian MacDonald, Ace Vegetation Control Services Ltd - Vice President, Sales
NGO/Individuals/Academia
Deirdre O'Brien -
Individual Jim Posey Alberta Native Plant Council Jim Posey is an amateur botanist and naturalist whose employment career has been as a construction specification writer. He developed a strong interest in vascular plants in the early ‘70s and taught himself to identify plants using floral manuals and a field microscope. He joined the Calgary Field Naturalists Society in the mid-seventies at the suggestion of C.D. Bird, and was made an Honorary Member of the Calgary Field Naturalists' Society in 1998, having served as Director, Vice President, and President of the society and, from 1980 to 1995, as botany study group leader, leading weekly field trips for people interested in learning the local flora and improving their plant ID skills. He has been a member of the Alberta Native Plant Council Education & Information Committee from the late ‘80s to the present.
Jim became particularly interested in
invasive species in the early ‘90s, a result of a polite but firm letter from
the MD of Willow Creek, offering what turned out to be bad advice on control of
Common Burdock. He prepared a display of invasive species of Alberta for ANPC as
a tabletop display at the 1999 NAWMA Conference. This led to “A Rogue’s Gallery
of Invasive Non-Native Plants”, posted on the ANPC website as a PDF in 2000. It
has since been expanded as a wiki ( Jim was responsible for organizing the technical program, on environmental issues in construction, of Construction Specifications Canada’s 1992 national conference “e92”.
Sarah originally trained
in Environmental Sciences at Lancaster University, England, and worked in waste
water and then solid waste management. Our GoalsCommunication – Education - Awareness Making Albertans aware of the impact invasive plants have on the environment, economy & society. Promote & facilitate partnerships Foster & facilitate cooperation among invasive plant stakeholders. Act as a resource organization Provide expert advice & guidance to government, industry and the public on invasive plant issues. Our HistoryHistorically, weeds have been viewed as a problem of Alberta’s large agricultural industry, and the provincial Weed Control Act was established to protect agricultural lands. In time, of course, weeds spread from the ‘farms and flowerbeds’ into natural areas. While weed control legislation supported the enforced management of provincially designated weeds by landowners and occupants, it became clear that legislation was not enough to stem the tide. Non-native, invasive plants were increasing, and industry and recreation were unwittingly carrying these invaders farther into the backcountry. Through the early 1990’s, a handful of Agricultural Fieldmen began working with crown land managers along the eastern slopes to manage weed infestations on public lands. By the mid-nineties these efforts coalesced into the Eastern Slopes Weed Management Group, with members from several Counties/M.D.s and the Range Management section of Public Lands – a multi-stakeholder approach to weed management. With guidance from the US and NAWMA, the strategy evolved to emphasize the impacts of invasive plants and loss of biodiversity. The Group gained momentum as new leadership within Sustainable Resource Development recognized invasive plants as a forest health problem also. In 2003 the Group changed its name to the Eastern Slopes Invasive Plants Council, and with provincial government support, hosted the Invasive Plants: Understanding the Threat conference in Calgary. Over 200 participants listened to invasive plant managers from Canada and the US. With the success of the conference came new provincial invasive plant strategies, and the council recognized the need to represent more than just the eastern slopes. Thus, the Alberta Invasive Plants Council was formed in early 2004, with members from Forest Health, Fish & Wildlife, Parks Canada, Alberta Agriculture, Dow AgroSciences/IVMAA, Alberta Association of Agricultural Fieldmen, Parks & Protected Areas, and the Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association. Key messages of the council were developed for promoting awareness, along with a communication strategy. The AIPC was formally launched in a news release November 1st circulated to news agencies across Canada and the website updated. During 2006 the AIPC became incorporated into a registered not-for-profit society. This is part of the Council's strategy to develop into a provincially recognized resource on invasive plant issues. In September 2006, the AIPC hosted the 14th annual NAWMA (North America Weed Management Association) conference & trade show in Calgary. A capacity crowd of about 240 registrants arrived from across Canada, the USA and even New Zealand & Australia. In December 2006, the AIPC developed its ambitious 3-year business plan and started taking new members in January 2007. The rest of this story will be written by it’s enthusiastic new members and we have no doubt it will have a happy ending! 1. 1. Profile Committee Activities this committee may be involved in include: a. Reviewing and updating member and board TOR as needed b. Identifying the need for and drafting policies and procedures to govern the activities of the AIPC c. Develop promotional plan to attract membership d. Solicit sponsorships e. Identify grants that AIPC could/should apply for f. Help with AGM and workshops g. Develop an awards/recognition program 2. Education and Outreach Committee Activities this committee may be involved in include: a. Utilizing various forms of media to educate public b. Developing educational material c. Develop icon/persona for AIPC d. Development of templates for signage e. Help with poster sessions, presentations, etc f. Involvement with quarterly newsletter 3. Collaboration Committee Activities this committee may be involved in include: a. Promoting and soliciting funding for key research projects b. Building mutually beneficial partnerships c. Regional Weed Working groups – facilitate formation of these groups as well as facilitate development of regional weed management plans. 4. Expert Advice Committee Activities this committee may be involved in include: a. Legislative review b. Federal/Provincial/Municipal policy review c. Scientific advice to stakeholders/general public (eg. Hotline) d. Scientific advice to policy-makers
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Brad Webb - Chairperson
Paul Watson
- Vice-Chairperson
Candice Manshreck,
Dow AgroSciences
- Treasurer
Don Battiste -
Program Director
Andrea
Sharpe - Forest Health
Shane Mascarin -
Sarah
Nevill -