Urban Wildlife: Working Together for a Wilder Future

Special Session

International Urban Wildlife Conference

2017 June 6 - San Diego, CA

Urban Wildlife: Working Together for a Wilder Future

International Urban Wildlife Conference (http://www.urban-wildlife.org)

Tuesday 6 June All Conference Session (1:00PM - 5:30PM)


Join us for this half-day session to explore how challenges of open space and wildlife conservation are being met in urban regions across the US. Through short talks, panel sessions, and audience discussion, we will explore how city planners, policy makers, land managers, and scientists work together to conserve and manage urban open space and wildlife.


Urban Wildlife Context (1:00PM - 2:00PM)

Urban open space and wildlife conservation depends on the landscape, legislative, and legal context of the region. Setting the stage for the program, representatives from six urban regions - Boulder, Chicago, Los Angeles, Raleigh (Wake County), Tucson (Pima County), & San Diego - will introduce the specific contexts in which they work and discuss how place-based factors - including the amount and distribution of natural areas, public, and private land, the number of jurisdictions involved, and the use of regulatory and voluntary approaches - affect urban wildlife conservation.


Living with Wildlife (2:00PM - 3:00PM)

Conservation in urban regions increases interactions - both positive and negative - among people and wildlife. Urban wildlife conservation means balancing conservation and recreation, providing outreach and education about wildlife, mitigating roadway impacts, and addressing other conflicts between people and wildlife. What actions have cities taken in land management, planning, and science to accentuate the positive and reduce the negative interactions?


Semi-Structured Break (3:00PM - 3:30PM)

Gather in the courtyard for refreshments and conversation. Panelists will be grouped by theme - Living with Wildlife, Creating Landscape Linkages, and Working Together.


Creating Landscape Linkage (3:30PM - 4:00PM)

Wildlife movement around and through urban regions is essential to support urban wildlife and their natural systems. However, wildlife movement depends on a urban landscape that includes connected ecological networks. Representatives from several regions will share their experiences supporting and promoting landscape connectivity.


Working Together for a Wilder Future (4:30PM - 5:30PM)

Conserving and managing open spaces and viable wildlife populations in urban regions requires navigating many challenges, including competing priorities for limited funding and differing views about open space, wildlife, and where, whether, and how conservation should be carried out. In this session, panelists and participants will share their experiences on how partnerships among city planners, policy makers, land managers, and scientists have helped to meet these challenges.

Urban Regions and Panelists

- Boulder: Heather Swanson

- Chicago: Stanley Gehrt, Liza Lehrer, Seth Magle

- Los Angeles: Liz Crosson, Andy Shrader

- Pima County (Tucson Region): Carolyn Campbell, Sherry Ruther

- San Diego: Michael Beck, Susan Wynn, Megan Jennings

- Wake County (Raleigh Region): Deborah Fowler


Panelists

- Michael Beck, San Diego Director, Endangered Habitat League

- Paul Beier, Professor, Northern Arizona University

- Carolyn Campbell, Executive Director, Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection

- Liz Crosson, Water Policy Advisor for Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles

- Katie Coyne, Associate Planner & Ecologist, Asakura Robinson

- Deborah Fowler, Open Space Manager, Wake County Parks, Recreation & Open Space

- Stanley Gehrt, Professor, Ohio State University

- Mark Hostetler, Professor, University of Florida

- Megan Jennings, Research Ecologist Adjunct Assistant Professor, San Diego State University

- Liza Lehrer, Urban Wildlife Ecologist, Lincoln Park Zoo

- Seth Magle, Director, Urban Wildlife Institute

- Kristeen Penrod, Executive Director, SC Wildlands

- Sherry Ruther, Environmental Planning Manager, Pima County Office of Sustainability & Conservation

- Niamh Quinn, Human-Wildlife Interactions Advisor, UC Cooperative Extension

- Andy Shrader, Director of Environmental Affairs, Water Policy, & Sustainability for Councilmember Paul Koretz, CD5, Los Angeles

- Heather Swanson, Wildlife Biologist, City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks

- Jan Thompson, Professor, Iowa State University

- Susan Wynn, Biologist, US Fish & Wildlife Service

Organizers

- George Hess, Professor, NC State University

- Rebecca Lewison, Professor, San Diego State University

- Seth Riley, Wildlife Ecologist, US National Park Service

Image Credits