Lessons from Waterways and their Inhabitants

Three undergraduate students from the University of Calgary partnered with community organizations and will be presenting the interconnected lessons they have learned from water and the beaver during these projects.  Emily Tulk will speak about the importance of the beaver. Sadie Popoff will connect that to the concept of wildlife resiliency and Jer Bobosky will speak about the creation of podcasts with the Elbow River Watershed Project (ERWP) that focus on lessons from the water. All three projects are examples of working with not-for-profit organizations to pursue and promote sustainability. This work was kindly supported by the Office of Sustainability at the University of Calgary, Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation, and the Elbow River Watershed Partnership.

  This event is part of  UCalgary Sustainability Week 2023 (October 23-28) and is co-hosted by the   City of Calgary climate Symposium (October 23-27).

Speakers:  

Sadie Popoff is a 5th year undergraduate biology student at the University of Calgary.  Upon graduating high school, she had plans on becoming a journalist or working in humanitarian aid but over her gap year, found that her strong suit was in a more hands-on setting with animals. She then decided on pursuing a career within the conservation and One Health field, where she could work on projects that aim to benefit the health of humans, wildlife, and the environment as a whole. Since starting her undergraduate degree, she has had the opportunity to work directly with Alberta’s injured wildlife, be introduced to conservation field techniques, and is currently studying the concept of resilience as it applies to conservation. 

Dr. Adela Tesarek Kincaid is an assistant professor (teaching) in the International Indigenous Studies program. As a settler scholar, her passion is working with Indigenous communities and organizations as well as with NGOs. Adela is interested in developing experiential learning opportunities for students that honour land-based learning, animals, and Indigenous ways of knowing, doing, being, and connecting.

 Emily Tulk is a 4th year undergraduate student majoring in Zoology at the University of Calgary. She has always had a deep interest in living organisms and systems and knew she wanted to pursue a career in medicine upon entering her undergrad. Through many diverse experiences with wildlife, local farmers, and companion animals she narrowed her focus to veterinary medicine and is currently working towards this goal. Her work is guided by multiple knowledge systems and she hopes to offer a fresh perspective on current animal-human interactions and to consider how this impacts the land. Her work was made possible as a result of the experiential learning opportunities offered by the academic community, and partnerships with a local wildlife rehabilitation hospital and the Office of Sustainability at the University of Calgary.

 Jer Bobosky is Nîhithaw (Woodland Cree) from mihkwâkamîwi-sîpîsis (Little Red River Cree Nation). Jer is a Podcast technician with the Elbow River Watershed Project working on the “10-year Flood Anniversary" podcast episodes as well as with the “Tsuut'ina Aquatic Habitat Restoration” podcast. She was connected to ERWP from community involvement at UCalgary as an undergraduate student in Political Science, with a primary focus on decolonizing political philosophy.