The International Urban Wildlife Conference kicked off Monday morning in Portland, OR with a Plenary Session titled “Collaboration and Conservation: Applications to Urban Wildlife” featuring talks by Dr. Chris Schell, Deeohn Ferris, and Bob Sallaniger followed by a panel discussion.
Dr. Schell, Assistant Professor of Urban Ecology at the University of Washington, Tacoma and Life in the City contributor, started by discussing how intersectionality is very much like ecology; all parts of the ecosystem are connected and influence each other, just like how all your identities intersect and influence one another. Dr. Schell went on to describe redlining and how this divide between wealthy (typically white) neighborhoods and poor (typically containing POCs) neighborhoods leads to a divide in natural resources. This, in turn, influences where animals live and therefore where the city government decides to invest their money on restoration and conservation. This also means that the species living within different parts of the city have fundamentally different selection pressures.
Next, Deeohn Ferris, Vice President of Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the National Audobon Society, spoke about the complicated journey of equity and culture in conservation. Ferris spoke about the need to ensure that all are welcome and valued in our conservation and wildlife work and that we need to recruit diverse people within our workforce. This was later reiterated during the panel discussion, where Dr. Schell stressed the need to pay interns and students that are doing research as a way to equalize the playing field.
Finally, Bob Sallaniger, Director of Conservation at the Audubon Society of Portland, told stories of animals in Portland and described how people overlook the animals in their cities. He equated this to how he often overlooked (human) members of the Portland community, and how he has been working to see, understand, and value everyone that makes up the community.
After the three talks, the speakers were joined on stage by Dr. Travis Gallo who facilitated a discussion between the audience and the speakers. For me, the biggest takeaway from this discussion was the reminder that if we want people to be involved and invested in urban wildlife we need to go to the places where they are and engage with them. Ferris reminded us that outreach is a oneway street and that if we really want to engage with the community we must listen to them and incorporate their concerns into our research.
After an incredible opening session, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the conference. I’ll do my best to post about the many different talks; if there is a particular session that you would like to hear about send me a message on twitter (@e_carlen) or post a comment below and I’ll do my best to write up a post.
