miistakis institute annual report 2011/2012

2011/2012 Annual Report

At Miistakis, we envision a world where communities have genuine access to the science and research they need to make choices that promote healthy landscapes. We study the landscape, so we can help people conserve it. And we work to make innovative research accessible to communities and decision-makers.

The communities we work with can be landowners and their networks, any

level of government, visionary corporations, leading edge scientists, environmental

NGO’s – anyone in need of science-based support for practical, sustainable,

resource management decision-making.

The areas where we focus our efforts are transportation ecology, ecosystem

services, private land conservation, GIS for conservation, sustainable landscapes

and communities, citizen science for conservation, wildlife management, and

market-based instruments.

In all cases, our approach is the same: identify the need, define the

problem, solve the problem.

Click where you see this symbol for a web link, contact information or to find out more about a project.

Celebrating success. This is something that Miistakis, not unlike many other ENGOs, fails to do enough of. Always moving forward to develop our next research initiative or engrossing ourselves in the myriad of land use issues facing our landscapes, we don’t pause enough to reflect and acknowledge where we have made significant impact and influenced land use decision making in the Crown of the Continent and surrounding region. So, when preparing this year’s annual report we thought what better way to celebrate our successes than to share them with you. You will find as you read through our report we have highlighted our achievements within each of our core research areas.

Many of the successes profiled in the following pages would not be possible without Miistakis’ number one asset: its people. Our board of directors, including many long-standing members, gives us a strong foundation on which to stand. Our staff is comprised of a core group of dedicated professionals with skill sets ranging through spatial analysis, research design, web-based mapping, fiscal analysis, land stewardship, community engagement, communications and wildlife ecology. This diverse set of skills allows us to be strategic, creative and nimble with the environmental challenges we face today.

Perhaps our biggest success of all is our continued relevance in initiating timely, applicable and accessible research to inform critical resource management and land use issues. We would like to extend our thanks for the on-going support of our investing partners and to our collaborators. We look forward to sharing many future successes with you.

Danah DukeEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Miistakis Institute 2011/2012 Annual Report 1

TRANSPORTATION ECOLOGY

Transportation infrastructure across the world poses numerous environmental challenges, affecting our air, landscapes and water.

Miistakis Institute 2011/2012 Annual Report2

From a landscape perspective, roads and railways cause wildlife mortality through collisions and act as a significant barrier to wildlife movements. The Miistakis Institute creates awareness of the challenges that transportation infrastructure poses to wildlife, promotes workable solutions to these challenges, and generates support for implementing these solutions.

n The Miistakis Institute and our Highway 3 partners, including the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, the Western Transportation Institute and Road Watch in the Pass, are working with Alberta Transportation to develop a business case for highway mitigation at Rock Creek and Crowsnest Lakes.

n The Minister of Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development acknowledged her support of the Highway 3 Partnership’s efforts to mitigate Highway 3 to improve human and wildlife safety and wildlife connectivity.

n The G8 Legacy report, authored by researchers at the Western Transportation Institute and the Miistakis Institute, revealed how the underpass at Dead Man’s Flats and the fencing along the Trans-Canada Highway reduced ungulate-vehicle collisions by 79%, significantly reducing costs to society.

n The Miistakis Institute developed and facilitated a symposium with Parks Canada and Canadian Pacific Railway, bringing together experts to identify strategies to reduce bear strikes by trains.

n The Miistakis Institute initiated a research project to examine aquatic connectivity across Highway 3 to complement the research on Highway 3 terrestrial connectivity.

ProjectsHighway Wilding – a wildlife monitoring and research collaborative in the Rocky Mountains

Highway 3 Transportation Corridor Project

A G8 Legacy: Solutions to help wildlife cross the Trans-Canada Highway in the Bow Valley

Waking the Sleeping Giant: Considerations of Ecological and Social Impacts of Linear Infrastructure in Ontario’s Far North

Canadian Pacific and Parks Canada Initiative: Railway Bear Conflict Mitigation Symposium

SUCCESSES


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http://www.highwaywilding.org/

http://www.rockies.ca/project_info2.php?id=35


ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Human well-being is based heavily on the benefits we derive from nature, or ecosystem services.


That utilitarian view is fast becoming a dominant framework for conserving our natural systems, embraced by a range of people from policy makers to landowners. Miistakis is working to understand how that particular approach to valuing nature can best be used to conserve nature.

n Miistakis has entered into a multi-year partnership with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI), Alberta Innovates-Bio Solutions, and the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency to explore how the livestock industries can both provide and benefit from a sustained flow of ecosystem services.

n Miistakis co-hosted an Ecosystem Services Community of Practice event with Alberta Environment and Alberta Innovates-Bio Solutions, bringing together government, non-governmental organizations, consultants, and academics to share their experiences exploring and applying ecosystem services approaches.

ProjectsUnderstanding Landscape Value

ABMI Ecosystem Services Assessment

SUCCESSES




PRIVATE LAND CONSERVATION

Much of the land that is critical for wildlife habitat, water cycling, nutrient flows and other ecological processes across the landscape is privately held.


Land trusts and municipalities are working to ensure those parcels continue to play these important roles. Miistakis supports landowners, individual organizations, municipalities, and the private land conservation community by providing necessary research services, tools, resources, and planning, management and policy assistance.

n Miistakis convened a land trust community meeting to engage Alberta’s land trusts in plotting a path forward to further private land conservation provincially.

n Working with the Environmental Law Centre, and at the request of the Government of Alberta, Miistakis reviewed the new agricultural purpose for conservation easements, and developed a proposed provincial policy direction. Subsequently, Miistakis undertook a similar national review at the request of the Alberta Land Trust Alliance and Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada.

n At the request of the Government of Alberta’s Land Trust Grant Program, Miistakis created a simple and effective decision support tool that integrated spatial and non-spatial conservation information for use in prioritizing land trusts’ applications to this grant program.

n Miistakis maps and planning documents were used by the Government of Alberta to develop a management plan for a Crown land parcel within the Rock Creek corridor, and by the M.D. of Pincher Creek to develop an Area Structure Plan for the Burmis-Lundbreck Corridor.

ProjectsAlberta Land Trust Community Meeting

Policy Review of Conservation Easements for Agriculture in Alberta

Conservation Easements for Agricultural Land in Canada

A Land Suitability Assessment Process for the Government of Alberta’s Land Trust Grant Program

Conservation Easement Web Resource

Rock Creek Conservation Initiative

SUCCESSES








GIS FOR CONSERVATION

GIS is more than just maps. Miistakis’ work involves creating maps that share ideas or research results, and it involves analysing data to understand complex issues, and creating new data sets to fill critical gaps.


We design map-based applications with which users can explore the spatial dimensions of conservation questions, or contribute their own knowledge to an improved understanding of local issues. Miistakis creates maps and data that are useful and accessible to a broad range of users, and map-based tools that are intuitive, replicable, and adaptable to a broad range of conservation applications.

n At the request of the Livingstone Landowners Group and residents of the Lee Lake region of southwestern Alberta, Miistakis created a series of maps to convey the conservation priorities of local residents.

n Miistakis concluded a five-year project with the Municipal District of Ranchland, the goal of which was to use maps to convey conservation and community values.

n Miistakis completed and released an update and expansion to our popular rural residential expansion data set, which now maps rural development from 1900-2010, and includes 12 municipal districts and counties in central and southern Alberta.

ProjectsGrassland Vegetation Index (GVI) Scenario

Livingstone Landowners Group and Lee Lake Residents Mapping

Rural Residential Expansion in Southern Alberta

M.D. of Ranchland Community Values Mapping

SUCCESSES





http://rockies.ca/project_info2.php?id=77

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES AND COMMUNITIES

The ecological sustainability of our landscapes cannot be separated from the social, cultural, and financial viability of the local communities within those landscapes.


Understanding those linkages is critical to maintaining healthy vibrant landscapes and healthy vibrant communities. The Miistakis Institute’s research identifies these links; then we develop tools and information to help communities make decisions that support both.

n Working with Water Matters, Miistakis created and delivered a successful workshop series for rural municipalities that helped them better understand how the conservation and stewardship tools in the new Alberta Land Stewardship Act could be applied locally.

n Miistakis has begun an innovative multi-year partnership with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, University of Alberta, and Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures to understand how Alberta can better manage for biodiversity in the face of a changing climate. Miistakis will look specifically at how Alberta’s local communities can adapt to climate change.

ProjectsClimate Change Adaptation Tool for Local Communities

Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA) Tools Municipal Workshops

SUCCESSES



http://rockies.ca/project_info2.php?id=78

CITIZEN SCIENCE FOR CONSERVATION

Citizens are facing complex conservation challenges.


Sustainable solutions engage citizens in better understanding the issue, contributing personal knowledge and experience, and implementation. Miistakis’ citizen science approach generates data to inform conservation challenges, and creates a knowledgeable and engaged citizenry. Miistakis develops tools and frameworks that contribute to successful citizen science projects.

n Road Watch in the Pass is in its seventh year of operation and has evolved into a community-led initiative that is run by volunteers and is shaping local and provincial policy.

n Miistakis established a multi-partner multi-year project with the Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area to determine the ecological effects of beaver reintroduction, which includes a citizen science monitoring program with the Calgary Science School, and a riparian health assessment and extension program with Cows and Fish.

n Miistakis is working with the landowners of the Drywood Yarrow Conservation Partnership on the Cowboys and Carnivores project, engaging the ranching community with tools and resources to solve wildlife conflicts.

ProjectsRoad Watch in the Pass

Cowboys and Carnivores

Leave It To Beavers: Watershed Stewardship at the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area

Wolverine Watch

SUCCESSES






WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

In today’s changing landscape it is often challenging for wildlife to coexist on the landscape with humans.


Human developments including housing, agriculture, industry and recreation infringe on wildlife habitat and movement areas. Wildlife management attempts to balance the needs of wildlife with the needs of people using the best available science. Miistakis examines ways to improve the coexistence of humans and wildlife by determining wildlife needs, assessing human effects on habitat and exploring adaptive management for both humans and wildlife.

n Working with the Drywood Yarrow Conservation Partnership, Miistakis helped to implement a monitoring program called Cowboys and Carnivores to document occurrences of large carnivores and collect DNA hair samples to better understand carnivore activity in the region.

n Miistakis authored a report reviewing compensation programs for livestock in southwestern Alberta that included an overview of the Alberta Wildlife Compensation Program, a literature review of global examples of predator compensation programs and a presentation of results from a survey of landowner attitudes and perceptions conducted in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve region.

ProjectsCarnivore Depredation Project

Cowboys and Carnivores

SUCCESSES


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MARKET-BASED INSTRUMENTS

Ecological conservation and economic development are not mutually exclusive.


Although markets have traditionally been a powerful force for confounding conservation, they can be – and increasingly, are – a powerful force for supporting it. Miistakis works to identify market-based approaches that support conservation, then works to create the policy and tools that will bring them to fruition.

n Miistakis consulted extensively to the Government of Alberta and was instrumental in seeing the inclusion of the Transfer of Development Credits (TDC) tool in the Alberta Land Stewardship Act.

n At the request of the Government of Alberta, Miistakis assisted in drafting the up-coming Transfer of Development Credits Regulation, which provides direction to Alberta municipalities wishing to create a TDC program.

n Working with the multi-stakeholder Beaver Hills Initiative, Miistakis designed a range of Transfer of Development Credits program administration structures for use in a municipal TDC program.

n Miistakis worked with the Municipal District of Bighorn, assisting them in drafting their TDC Bylaw and re-structuring Alberta’s first Transfer of Development Credits program.

ProjectsM.D. of Bighorn Transfer of Development Credits Program and Bylaw Review

Beaver Hills Initiative Transfer of Development Credits Program

Alberta Transfer of Development Credits Regulation Support

SUCCESSES





SUPPORTING MIISTAKIS

Thank you for your belief in the Miistakis Institute Your commitment to us is what helps us continue to do innovative research, engage communities and work toward healthy landscapes. When you donate to Miistakis you play a crucial role in advancing conservation efforts.

Ways to giveOnline: You can donate to Miistakis through a secure online connection at CanadaHelps.

Mail: Cheques should be made out to The Miistakis Institute c/o EVDS – University of Calgary 2500 University Drive NW Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4

Our charitable number is: 89040 4965 RR0001


http://www.canadahelps.org/Home.aspx

Michael Quinn CHAIRProfessor, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of CalgaryMiistakis Director of Research and Liaison

Marco Musiani VICE CHAIRAssociate Professor, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary

Rob Senko TREASURERRob Senko Consulting

Shelley AlexanderAssociate Professor, Department of Geography, University of Calgary

Len BrobergProfessor/Program Director, Environmental Studies Program, University of Montana

Bill DolanLand and Resource Management Coordinator, Alberta Parks

Ian DysonSection Head, System Development, Alberta Environment and Resource Development

Larissa MullerAssistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary

Robert ParkinsonManager, Geomatics and Asset Record Management Company, Enmax

BOARD OF DIRECTORS


PARTNERS

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

Alberta Conservation Association

Alberta Ecotrust Foundation

Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development

Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures

Alberta Innovates – Bio Solutions

Alberta Land Trust Alliance

Alberta Land Use Secretariat

Alberta Livestock Management Agency

Alberta Motor Association

Alberta Real Estate Foundation

Alberta Public Lands

Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parks & Wildlife Foundation

Alberta Transportation

Alex Taylor

Anatum Consulting Ltd.

Beaver County

Beaver Hills Initiative

Calgary Regional Partnership

Canadian Pacific Railway Company

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Southern Alberta Chapter

Cameron Plewes

Clay Graphic Design

Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation

Cows and Fish

Crown Managers Partnership

Crown Roundtable

Donner Canadian Foundation

Drywood Yarrow Conservation Partnership

Environmental Law Centre

Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary

Foothills Land Trust

Greygates Foundation

Gwendo Greenaway

Kayak Foundation

Land Stewardship Centre of Canada

Livingstone Landowners Group

Matt Knapik

Max Bell Foundation

McLean Foundation

M.D. of Bighorn

M.D. of Foothills

M.D. Ranchland No. 66

Parks Canada Agency

Patagonia Environmental Grants Fund

Loretta Schaufele

Rob Schaufele

Shell Environment Fund

Southern Alberta Land Trust Alliance

State Farm Youth Advisory Board

Strathcona County

TD Friends of the Environment Foundation

The Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area

The Calgary Foundation – Community Grant

The Calgary Science School

University of Alberta

University of Calgary

Water Matters Society of Alberta

Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association

Western Transportation Institute, Montana State University

Wilburforce Foundation

Wildlife Conservation Society

Winding River Pictures – Leanne Allison

Woodcock Foundation

Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative


STAFF BIOS

Greg ChernoffSENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, SPATIAL ANALYST

Greg is a Senior Research Associate with the Miistakis Institute, and has worked with Miistakis since January 2004. Initially hired as a Spatial Analyst to do GIS, remote sensing, and mapping work for Miistakis, Greg has come to play a broader role in Miistakis projects. In recent collaborations with the Government of Alberta, Livingstone Landowners Group and the Municipal District of Ranchland, Greg has played a project management role including chairing meetings and facilitating workshops with the goal of encouraging active participation, fostering respect for disparate opinions, and generating consensus on the best path forward.

Kimberly GoodPROJECT MANAGER

Kim, a Project Manager at Miistakis for the past 5 years, works mostly on private land conservation projects but also gets to dabble in vegetation management research on occasion. She is committed to finding conservation solutions for prairie Canada’s working landscapes and the people who make their living on them. She has a wide ranging background that includes working directly with farmers and ranchers creating conservation management plans and drafting conservation easements, to working on policy related to conservation with municipal and provincial governments.

Guy GreenawaySENIOR PROJECT MANAGER

Guy is a Senior Project Manager with Miistakis, working to understand how ecological conservation connects with private land, financial markets, land use planning, and government policy. That adventure takes him through projects related to community servicing, ecosystem services, conservation planning, market-based instruments, conservation easements, and others. And he talks to a lot of people, trying to make those stewardship stories resonate with the people whose decisions affect our ecosystems.

Danah Duke EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Danah has spent the past 17 years dedicated to land and wildlife conservation. As Executive Director Danah gets to keep her hand in all things Miistakis. This diversity keeps her inspired and challenged. Danah has spent over a decade with Miistakis, over which time she has helped to expand the scope of the organization’s work and make it more financially sustainable.


Rachelle Haddock RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Rachelle has worked in conservation for over ten years. She partnered with the Miistakis Institute to carry out her master’s degree research, and enjoyed the people so much that she began working with Miistakis full-time in 2010. Rachelle is very much a generalist, and her work with Miistakis reflects this inclination: from developing compelling ways to communicate about conservation to deploying remote cameras in the field, her role at Miistakis is diverse.

Ken SandersonGIS DEVELOPER

Ken enjoys problem solving and creating applications that help people understand and use GIS data. Joining the Miistakis Institute in 2001 Ken is responsible for system administration and server management, data management, GIS and website development, online mapping applications and any other tool that can be developed in a GIS or Web environment.

Justin ThompsonSPECIAL PROJECTS ADVISOR

Justin is part-time at Miistakis and is focused on facilitating land conservation along Alberta’s southeast slopes and foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He is also supporting work on wildlife connectivity across the Highway 3 transportation corridor. He has a personal interest in this work as he is a landowner in the M.D. of Pincher Creek and spends a significant amount of time in the area. Justin has a background in biology as well as public policy. Outside of Miistakis he works in the renewable energy industry.

Tracy LeeSENIOR PROJECT MANAGER

Tracy focuses on promoting sustainable land use practices on Canadian landscapes. Her past experiences in Africa instilled an appreciation of the role of local knowledge when addressing conservation issues and much of her work focuses on the integration of citizens in research. Her recent work involves facilitating wildlife connectivity across Highway 3 through the southern Canadian Rockies and assisting landowners in southwestern Alberta to monitor interactions occurring between agricultural producers and carnivores.


2012 2011

Assets

Current

Cash $ 358,254 $ 340,413

Accounts receivable 148,821 219,199

Accrued project receivables 9,952 17,298

Goods and services tax recoverable 1,052 –

518,079 576,910

Property and equipment (Note 3) 27,870 31,989

$ 545,949 $ 608,899

Liabilities and net assets

Current liabilities

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 40,691 $ 127,363

Goods and services tax payable – 1,601

40,691 128,964

Deferred contributions related to operations (Note 4) 308,719 265,084 Deferred contributions related to property and equipment (Note 5) 12,931 17,990

362,341 412,038

Net assets

Invested in property and equipment 14,938 14,000

Internally restricted 120,000 120,000

Unrestricted 48,670 62,861

183,608 196,861

$ 545,949 $ 608,899

Statement of Financial Position AS AT MARCH 31, 2012

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS


2012 2011

Revenue

Foundation and other grants $ 269,278 $ 388,536

Services 332,814 316,065

Government grants 248,647 212,977

Interest and other income 7,711 48

858,450 917,626

Expenses

Salaries and wages 491,144 532,634

Subcontractors 231,800 272,502

Travel 27,081 47,653

Supplies 43,931 28,630

Professional fees 24,318 26,550

Workshop 24,081 23,164

Amortization 10,394 11,315

Insurance 9,250 9,138

Repayment of project funding – 8,392

Software 817 3,708

Telephone 4,572 3,401

Training 770 1,552

Interest and bank charges 58 70

Internet and web domain 1,297 755

Advertising and promotion – 183

Bad debt expense 2,190 –

871,703 969,647

Deficiency of revenue over expenses $ (13,253) $ (52,021)

INVESTED IN PROPERTY & EQUIPMENT

INTERNALLY RESTRICTED UNRESTRICTED 2012 2011

Net assets, beginning of the year $ 14,000 $ 120,000 $ 62,861 $ 196,861 $ 248,882 Excess (deficiency) of revenue over expenses 938 – (14,191) (13,253) (52,021)

Net assets, end of the year $ 14,938 $ 120,000 $ 48,670 $ 183,608 $ 196,861

Statement of Operations FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2012

Statement of Changes in Net Assets FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2012

Miistakis Institute for the Rockiesc/o Environmental DesignRoom 2157, Professional Faculties BuildingUniversity of Calgary2500 University Drive NWCalgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

P 1 (403) 220 8968F 1 (403) 210 3859E [email protected]

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miistakis institute annual report 2011/2012

Documents

accessible research

wildlife management

research design

research initiative

core research areas

annual reportat miistakis

private land conservation

land stewardship