Wetland Naturalist – Kootenay-Columbia Discovery Centre Society
For my first co-op work term, I have been working as a Wetland Naturalist in the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area (CVWMA) at the Kootenay-Columbia Discovery Centre in West Creston, BC. The CVWMA is 17,000 acres of internationally recognized protected wetland. Put aside in 1968 for conservation and recreation, it was the first protected ecological area in BC and is under its own act. One part of the CVWMA objectives is providing education to the general public about conservation and the ecological processes of the wetland. The Kootenay-Columbia Discovery Centre Society (KCDCS) emerged from the CVWMA in 2017 to continue the CVWMA’s educational work.
A big portion of my responsibility as a Wetland Naturalist at the KCDC is to deliver school programs to over 6000 students, develop and facilitate summer camps, and deliver guided canoe tours to the public and tourists from around the world. I strongly believe that the first step to environmental action is always awareness through purposeful education. Through the hundreds of interactions I have had with a wide range of audiences, I have honed my skills in scientific and ecological communication so that I can make the information meaningful for each individual. My role at the KCDC is not solely in education though. The CVWMA is a human managed wetland, but it only has four staff made up of biologists and technicians. Therefore, at the KCDC, I also assist in some of the land management (beaver dam removal), data collection (insect species and tree swallow nest surveys), and invasive species removal (yellow flag iris).
So far I have not only gained a great deal of experience with scientific education, program development, and basic field work, but I have also learned a lot about the intersections between education, data collection/research, and management when it comes to conservation of highly productive natural spaces and endangered species. With experiences such as this position through the co-op program, I hope to find a career path that aligns with my interests and goals. The co-op program is an excellent way to start gaining work experience in the field you are interested in and useful for discovering potential career paths for after graduation!