Notice of Annual General Meeting

Anne McIntosh, University of Alberta

About the Session: Over the last 70+ years, Alberta has accumulated over 100,000 wellsites that have been certified as re-claimed or are considered exempt from reclamation. To address a lack of long-term monitoring of reclaimed wellsites, the ecological recovery monitoring project has developed protocols for assessing their recovery. We sampled 18 reclaimed wellsites and adjacent native grasslands in Alberta’s Dry Mixedgrass National Subregion using these protocols. We measured soil properties (e.g., pH, bulk density), plant vegetation percent cover by species, and explored the functional diversity of the wellsites. Our goal was to determine if certified reclaimed forested lands were on a positive successional trajectory for recovery. In this presentation I will share our sampling protocols along with some of the findings from the sampled grasslands. 

About the Speaker: Anne McIntosh is an Associate Professor of Biology at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta, as well as Associate Dean of Teaching. As an ecologist, her research program focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying ecological recovery of understory plant community assemblages in northern ecosystems in the face of global environmental change and an increase in human footprint. She has been conducting ecological plant community and soils research for 25+ years in diverse ecosystems in the northern hemisphere (e.g., Canada, USA, Costa Rica, Sweden).

Bart Lardner PAg, Professor, University of Saskatchewan, College of Agriculture & Bioresources

About the Session: Bart’s presentation will highlight aspects of previous, ongoing, and future research focusing on beef cattle and forage management. 

About the Speaker: For the past 30 years, Dr. Bart Lardner has managed a research program focusing on applied beef cattle management and forage production.
Dr. Lardner is a Professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan where he mentors undergraduate and graduate students and teaches courses in beef cattle nutrition and pasture management. His program also focuses on water management in cow-calf systems, summer and winter grazing systems, heifer development, applied genomics and the beef industry’s impact on the environment. Dr. Lardner works closely with producers to ensure applicability of results back to stakeholders.

Jen Beverly, University of Alberta

About the Session: Key insights for understand and assessing the risk of wildfires.

About the Speaker: Dr. Beverly is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta. Her research team currently focuses on various aspects of wildfire risk assessment – with the overarching goal of providing decision makers with tools to ensure social and ecological systems thrive in fire-prone environments. She is a fire behaviour specialist and former helitack crew leader with firefighting experience obtained in multiple Canadian provinces, as well as Montana and Oregon

Leah Clark PAg, Water Security Agency

About the Session:

Leah Clark MSc, Pag  Executive Director of Irrigation and Economic Development will present on Irrigation in Saskatchewan and some of the opportunities Water Security Agency is exploring around the province of Saskatchewan.

About the Speaker:

Leah Clark has been a Professional Agrologist for 15 years. Her background includes a few positions in government including Extension Agrologist, Provincial Cattle Specialist, Director of Irrigation Development and now Executive Director of Irrigation and Economic Development. Leah is passionate about influencing policy that is practical adoptable and outcome focused to support a Sustainable Agriculture Industry in Saskatchewan. She and her husband Patrick have 2 daughters. If Leah is not in the office, you will most likely find her helping out at the family farm or at the Lake.