Welcome to the SCBNA Blog!
This site provides news on the activities of the Society for Conservation Biology’s North America Section (SCBNA).
SCBNA and its 3,000 members work to advance conservation science and practice in North America.
NACCB2018, the next SCBNA biennial conference, will be held in Toronto, Ontario, July 21-26, 2018.
You can subscribe to SCBNA blog posts via RSS by clicking here. You can also connect with SCBNA on Facebook and Twitter.
Not a member of SCBNA? Join here.
Support SCBNA’s initiatives in conservation science!
–
SCBNA Statement on US Capitol Insurrection and Institutionalized Racism in the United States
The North America Society for Conservation Biology is appalled by the invasion of the Capitol building by white nationalists. We are equally appalled by the clear difference in police response in which white supremacists violently breaking into federal buildings are met with very little resistance and people of color protesting peacefully or simply walking in a national park are met with militarized police violence and brutality, in many cases resulting in their death. We recognize that many of our members know all too well these harsh realities of institutionalized racism in their professional and personal lives and that all of us live within human and natural communities that are negatively impacted by how marginalized peoples are systemically oppressed. We also recognize that these vital issues are inseparable from who we are, how we do our work, and the fate of biodiversity.
The board of SCBNA reaffirms our commitment to continuing to work to address systemic racism and biased power structures in our own organization and within conservation biology, be it in our academic institutions, organizations, research projects, foundations or communities we work within. We also commit to using our unique voice to call on the new administration to make addressing institutionalized racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of discrimination an immediate priority.
*Statement authored by SCBNA Board Member Dr. Jessa Madosky, Past-President
Signed,
The Board of Directors of the Society for Conservation Biology North America
Karen Root, President
Rebecca McCaffery, President-Elect
Jessa Madosky, Past-President
Gerald Singh, Equity, Inclusion & Diversity Officer
Rebecca Hufft, Treasurer
Alysha Cypher, Secretary & Chapters Representative
Jessica Pratt, Vice President for Education & Chapters
Erin Sexton, Vice President for Policy & Programs
Melissa Cronin, Student Representative
Lauren Jonaitis, Member at Large
Paige Olmsted, Member at Large
2021 Student Affairs Webinar Series – Non-Traditional Careers in Academia
2021 Student Affairs Webinar Series
SCB North America’s Student Affairs Committee is hosting a 2021 webinar series on topics of interest to conservation students, early-career professionals, and others!
The first webinar in the monthly series is:
Non-Traditional Careers in Academia
Wednesday, Jan 27
12-1pm PT | 3-4pm ET
Not all academic careers in ecology and conservation are alike! Join the SCBNA Student Affairs Subcommittee to learn from accomplished academics in “non-traditional” academic positions. This will be an interactive panel with questions from the audience. Panelists include Dr. Robin Dunkin, Assistant Teaching Professor at UC Santa Cruz, Dr. Elliott Hazen of NOAA/NFMS and UC Santa Cruz, and Dr. Jessica Pratt, Associate Professor of Teaching at UC Irvine.
Registration is required, please register at this link: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/…
Webinars are available to both SCB members and non-members.
This is the first in our series of monthly webinars; stay tuned for more!
Please contact megan.keville@scbnorthamerica.org with any questions related to the webinar series.
SCB North America is Hiring a Communications Intern!
*As of 12/17/20, SCBNA has completed review of applications and is no longer accepting applications for this position. Thank you to everyone who submitted applications!
The SCBNA board and staff are pleased to offer a remote, part-time, 6-month paid communications internship with our Communications Committee. The aim of this position is to increase SCBNA’s capacity to communicate and interact with members and potential members. We seek applicants who have experience and/or education in communications, writing, social media, and/or marketing, as well as education or training in ecology and/or conservation biology. The successful candidate is expected to provide support on SCBNA’s social media accounts, as well as seek new and innovative ways to reach and interact with our diverse membership. Desired content across communication platforms will include updates and announcements, information about our biennial conference, the North American Congress of Conservation Biology (NACCB), and general conservation news and storytelling. The successful applicant may also assist with other communications outreach, such as e-newsletters and website content. Candidates who have experience in updating website content are highly desired. The intern will regularly interact with and gauge the online/communications needs of SCBNA members, will report directly to the Communications Committee Chair and Director of Operations, and may collaborate with other Communications Committee members. Regular meetings and communications with these parties will be required.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
TIME COMMITMENT: Five (5) to eight (8) hours a week for six (6) months with target start date in January 2021
COMPENSATION: $20 an hour for six (6) months, estimated 5-8 hours per week
APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Applicants should submit the following application materials electronically in a single pdf document to be considered for this position: Resume, cover letter, and names and contact information for two (2) references.
To apply, please email your application to Communications Committee Chair, Lauren Jonaitis, jonaitislauren@gmail.com. Review of applications will begin December 1, 2020. Review of applications has been completed and we are no longer accepting applications for the position. Inquiries about the position should be directed via email to Lauren Jonaitis. The anticipated approximate start date for the internship is January 2021.
SCBNA is committed to increasing equity and inclusion within the field of conservation biology and in its board and staff members. To this end, SCBNA has an Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Officer on the board and an Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee. We offer grants to attend congresses, follow best practices in conference design (including such things as gender neutral bathrooms, providing a private place for nursing or other needs, providing sign language interpreters, etc.), run sessions on equity and inclusion at congresses, and are currently working on an Allyship program to increase the effectiveness of allies in addressing equity issues in the field of conservation. We recognize that this work will never be complete and we are committed to continually evaluating and improving our equity and inclusion work.
As noted above, SCBNA strives to advance equity and inclusion in the field of conservation and within our organization. We strongly encourage members of underrepresented groups in the field of conservation to apply for this position. Applicants are not required to be current members of the Society for Conservation Biology.
2020 Edward T. LaRoe III Memorial Award
SNAP Policy Committee- NACCB Policy Resolution
SCBNA and ASM release comment letter on management of the endangered Mexican wolf
On June 12, The Society for Conservation Biology North America submitted a joint comment letter with the American Society of Mammologists (ASM) to the US Fish and Wildlife Service as that agency prepares court-ordered revisions to its rule governing management of the endangered Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi), which occurs in northern Mexico and the southwestern US. In the comments, SCBNA and ASM explained why the rule revision must take a fresh look at best available science regarding what steps are necessary for recovery of the Mexican wolf, rather than relying on a flawed 2017 recovery plan whose conclusions were distorted due to political pressure from some southwestern states.
The major issues that SCBNA and ASM identified in the recovery plan include 1) arbitrarily high thresholds for acceptable extinction risk, 2) lack of objective and measurable recovery criteria regarding threats from illegal killing and other anthropogenic mortality, 3) lack of objective and measurable recovery criteria regarding genetic threats, and 4) arbitrary limits on the geographic extent of recovery.
Read the full comment letter here.
NACCB 2020 is Going Virtual – Registration is now Open!
Statement from the Society for Conservation Biology North America condemning anti-Black racism and police violence
Announcing New Members for SCB North America Board
To those of you who voted in the SCB North America election – thank you! The votes are in, and we are excited to announce the following new members of the SCB North America Board, with terms beginning 1 July 2020:
Dr. Hufft is the Associate Director of Applied Conservation at Denver Botanic Gardens, where she has overseen plant conservation projects since 2011. Prior to coming to the Gardens, she received her doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California Santa Cruz, conducted a
postdoctoral fellowship at Colorado State University, and served as a Senior Supervising Scientist at the National Ecological Observatory Network. She is a broadly trained conservation biologist whose research interests include restoration, ex situ conservation, long-term monitoring, and phenology. She is currently the co-chair for the North American Congress for Conservation Biology 2020 and has enjoyed helping to shape the meeting and engaging with more SCBNA members. She would like to continue to support the organization and its mission by serving on the board and contributing her many years of experience in grant and project management, research, education, and outreach.
Erin is a Senior Research Scientist with the Flathead Lake Biological Station, at the University of Montana. Erin’s research focus includes transboundary rivers between the US and Canada, with an emphasis on aquatic ecology and conservation biology, in our shared
transboundary watersheds, between British Columbia, Alberta and Montana. Erin is involved in coordinating cross-border research, assessment of mining impacts and ecological condition and the application of science to environmental decision-making. Erin lives in NW Montana with her family. They enjoy skiing, hiking, biking, playing on the river and gardening.
Paige is an environmental scientist whose research focuses how we account for, make decisions about, and value nature – from a personal as well as economic standpoint. At the Smart Prosperity Institute Paige leads a conservation finance initiative, examining financial mechanisms and enabling conditions to catalyze interest and investment to support ecosystem services and the natural world. Her expertise centers around ecosystem services, nature-based solutions for climate change, ecological economics, and environmental and relational values. With a common thread of connecting people and nature, her work has spanned rural agricultural settings in Latin America and South East Asia, to advocating for change in international policy settings, to providing sustainability guidance to private sector actors. In this work and past positions at the Earth Institute in New York City and UNEP in Geneva, she enjoys working with a range of stakeholders to address conservation challenges — including local communities, NGOs, various scales of government, academia, and the private sector. Paige maintains affiliations with the CHANS (Connecting Human and Natural Systems) Lab at UBC, and the Copenhagen Business School as part of the Impact for Innovation Lab. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC and a Master’s of Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University.
NACCB 2020 Registration is Now Open
NACCB Registration now open
Registration is now open for NACCB 2020, July 26-31, 2020 at the Sheraton Denver Downtown in Denver, Colorado.
In addition to registering for the conference, you’ll be able to register for an amazing selection of workshops & short courses, events, field trips, and more! See a sampling of NACCB offerings below, but please check the conference website often at www.scbnacongress.org for the latest NACCB updates.
NACCB Accommodations
The NACCB 2020 organizers and Society for Conservation Biology North America are closely monitoring the changing situation related to the spread of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. For now, NACCB 2020 is proceeding as planned. The health and welfare of NACCB attendees is our highest priority, and we will continue to monitor the situation, consult advice from public health authorities, and provide updates as necessary. All updates will be posted to the conference website and communicated to NACCB registrants.