2024 Executive
Joanna Burgar – President-Elect
Jason T Fisher – President
Alexia Constantinou – Past President
Erin Blythe – Secretary
Rory Fogarty- Treasurer
Rod Davis – Director and Chair of Conservation Affairs
Bill Harrower - Director
Mackenzie Howse – Director and Chair of Communications
Erin Ryan - Director and Co-Chair of Communications
Myles Lamont – Director and Member of Conservation Affairs
Erin Tattersall – Student Affairs Director, Co-chair
Isabel Giguere – Student Affairs Director, Co-chair
Jamie Clarke – Director
Inge-Jean Hansen - Director
Joanna Burgar – President-Elect
Jason T Fisher – President
Alexia Constantinou – Past President
Erin Blythe – Secretary
Rory Fogarty- Treasurer
Rod Davis – Director and Chair of Conservation Affairs
Bill Harrower - Director
Mackenzie Howse – Director and Chair of Communications
Erin Ryan - Director and Co-Chair of Communications
Myles Lamont – Director and Member of Conservation Affairs
Erin Tattersall – Student Affairs Director, Co-chair
Isabel Giguere – Student Affairs Director, Co-chair
Jamie Clarke – Director
Inge-Jean Hansen - Director
Joanna Burgar - President-Elect
Joanna is the provincial Carnivore Conservation Specialist, leading the mesocarnivore team, within the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. The mesocarnivore team predominantly focuses on fisher and badger but is responsible for all 18 terrestrial mesocarnivores, ranging from wolverine and lynx to least weasels and ermines. Her interest is wildlife interactions across human influenced landscapes, particularly the use of applied ecology and adaptive management to conserve biodiversity. Joanna has extensive experience working with terrestrial mammals beyond mesocarnivores, from the furry fliers (bats) to the Canadian icons (caribou), and has dipped her toes in the marine world doing a stint as a leatherback turtle research supervisor in Grenada, West Indies. She did her BSc at UVic, MSc at Oxford, PhD at Murdoch Uni (Australia), and a post-doc at UVic and UBC, with focuses on resource management, conservation biology, and restoration ecology. Jo is an adjunct professor at Thompson River University and is currently co-supervising two MSc students. Jo has been involved with The Wildlife Society for nearly a decade, formerly as an active member and then Director of the Alberta Chapter, and now as an active member, and recent Director, of the BC Chapter. |
Jason T Fisher - President
Jason (Ph.D, UVic; M.Sc., UAlberta; B.Sc.H, Carleton) is Director of the University of Victoria's Applied Conservation Macro Ecology (ACME) research lab. He researches mammalian responses to landscape and climate change across western Canada, including coastal, mountain, boreal, and Arctic landscapes. He has worked with bears, canids, moose, deer, caribou, and mustelids, but his favourite is wolverines. His team has authored over 75 publications and works with governments, industry, and agencies across Canada to translate research into effective wildlife conservation decisions. Jason has a long history with The Wildlife Society, joining in 1996. He was former Director and then President of the Alberta Chapter, and helped resurrect the BC Chapter in 2017. He is a member of the Terrestrial Mammals Specialist Subcommittee of COSEWIC, and Senior Editor at the journal Ecology & Evolution. When not chasing mammals on land, he is chasing salmon and halibut at sea. |
Alexia Constantinou - Past President
Alexia is an instructor in the Department of Renewable Resources at BCIT, teaching Wildlife Ecology and Management. Alexia’s work has mainly focused on the intersection between forest harvesting, wildlife habitat and First Nations-led conservation and stewardship. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with her BSc in Forest Sciences and MSc in Forestry in the Wildlife Coexistence Lab led by Dr. Cole Burton, and co-supervised by Dr. Suzanne Simard. Alexia absolutely loves working with The Wildlife Society and feels strongly about supporting students and early career professionals in their journey. When she’s not teaching or playing with camera traps, you can find her on a bike, with a paddle in hand or on skis.
Alexia is an instructor in the Department of Renewable Resources at BCIT, teaching Wildlife Ecology and Management. Alexia’s work has mainly focused on the intersection between forest harvesting, wildlife habitat and First Nations-led conservation and stewardship. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with her BSc in Forest Sciences and MSc in Forestry in the Wildlife Coexistence Lab led by Dr. Cole Burton, and co-supervised by Dr. Suzanne Simard. Alexia absolutely loves working with The Wildlife Society and feels strongly about supporting students and early career professionals in their journey. When she’s not teaching or playing with camera traps, you can find her on a bike, with a paddle in hand or on skis.
Rod Davis - Director, Conservation Affairs Committee Chair
(Past - President 2018) Rod Davis is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at UVic, and a past President of the BC Chapter of The Wildlife Society. Prior experience includes a career with the provincial government working on fish and wildlife conservation, forest and range practices, land use planning, and environmental protection. He has a PhD from the University of Victoria focused on wildlife conservation and is a Registered Professional Agrologist (re red). His interests relate to implications of resource development and climate change on wildlife and ecosystem conservation. |
Erin Blythe - Secretary
Erin has recently completed her Bachelor of Natural Resource Sciences at Thompson Rivers University, where she served as the President of the TRU Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society for two years. She recently defended her Honours thesis, examining small mammal abundance and its relation to Western Rattlesnake body condition in Osoyoos, BC. She has experience in the field working on student research projects relating to Moose nutrition and the movement and ecology of Western Rattlesnakes, Great Basin Gophersnakes, and Western Yellow-bellied Racers. She is currently pursuing MSc opportunities relating to wildlife research and ecology, and has a special love for and interest in working with species at risk. |
Erin Tattersall - Director, Student Affairs Co-Chair
Erin is a PhD student in the Wildlife Coexistence Lab at the University of British Columbia. She first joined the Alberta Chapter of The Wildlife Society as a MSc student in 2017, followed by the BC Chapter in 2019. Erin served the UBC Vancouver Chapter of the Wildlife Society as Treasurer in 2018-2019. Erin's PhD work focuses on developing a long-term biodiversity monitoring program in the Northwest Territories in collaboration with the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Erin’s research interests include Indigenous data sovereignty, multi-species modelling, and community responses to landscape change. Prior to her PhD, Erin researched caribou recovery and large mammal responses to anthropogenic disturbances in northern Alberta, and also worked as a Wildlife Information Specialist for the BC government’s Caribou Recovery Program. Erin lives in Sinixt territory near Nelson, BC. |
Isabel Giguere - Director, Student Affairs Co-Chair
Isabel is an M.Sc. student in the Applied Conservation Macro Ecology Lab at the University of Victoria. Isabel is using camera trap data to study the effects of reproduction and immigration on the short-term population dynamics of urban black-tailed deer. Isabel graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.Sc. degree in Zoology in 2019. Since then, she has contributed to projects relating to human-wildlife co-existence, specifically addressing human-wildlife conflict issues. Isabel has worked with the Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society since 2020 on the Oak Bay and Esquimalt deer projects. She has contributed to research looking at how vessels impact southern resident orca whales in the Salish Sea, factors that influence the reintroduction success of post-release sloth populations in Costa Rica, and differences in baboon foraging patterns between natural and agricultural landscapes in South Africa. When she’s not following animals around, Isabel spends her free time doing aerial performance arts, scuba diving, hiking and kayaking. |
Myles Lamont - Director,
Conservation Affairs Committee Member Myles is a wildlife biologist, zoologist and naturalist hailing from the west coast of British Columbia. He is a Registered Professional Biologist, Certified Wildlife Biologist, Certified Ecologist and Articling Agrologist, but in real life, is mostly a hobby farmer. He has operated his own wildlife consulting firm (TerraFauna) since 2012, and while his professional interests are broad, he has a passion for understanding and protecting wild spaces and places and the biodiversity found within them. His research interests are varied, but is particularly fond of species-at-risk, shifting baseline syndrome and quantifying ecosystem services and mitigating wildlife habitats. He completed his Bachelor of Science at the University of the Fraser Valley majoring in biology and ecology and is a past recipient of Wildlife Preservation Canada’s fellowship program. He is an active member in many wildlife organisations and NGO’s. When not stuck in front of a computer, you can find him getting dirt under his fingernails or skiing up some of the local backcountry mountains. |
Erin Ryan - Director, Co-Chair of Communications
Erin Ryan (MSc, RPBio) is a wild animal welfare specialist and experienced science communicator. She is a Registered Professional Biologist, and holds an MSc from the University of British Columbia Animal Welfare Program, with her research thesis focused on humane rodent control. Erin has more than 10 years experience in the non-profit sector working on wildlife issues, with organizations including the BC SPCA, Humane Society International /Canada, and The Fur-Bearers. Born and raised in Kamloops, BC, Erin is also a proud member of the Syilx Nation. . |
Jamie Clarke - Director-at-Large
Jamie is a Masters student in the ACME lab at the University of Victoria, under the supervision of Dr. Jason Fisher. She is a new TWS member and serving on the executive board for the first time! In partnership with the BC Government and the Wildlife Coexistence lab at UBC, Jamie is testing camera traps as a tool to estimate big ungulate densities. When she’s not chipping away at her Masters or serving on the board, she’s doing other fun stuff – like skiing, running, biking and knitting. |
PHOTO CREDITS: BLACK BEAR, JASON T FISHER; PEOPLE , @THE OWNERS