Presentation: The Manitoba Burrowing Owl Recovery Program
Speaker: Alexandra Froese, Program Director, Manitoba Burrowing Owl Recovery Program
Presentation summary:
The Manitoba Burrowing Owl Recovery Program (MBORP) was established in 2013 and has focused on three recovery goals; Reintroduction to promote a self-staining population of Burrowing Owls in southwestern Manitoba; Research to understand limiting factors for both wild and captive-release owls; and education through habitat improvement by engaging landowners in grassland conservation. A summary of program activities will be discussed.
Biography:
Alexandra Froese is the Program Director for the Manitoba Burrowing Owl Recovery Program. She began her career working with wildlife in Manitoba back in 2007, where she volunteered her time as a Piping Plover guardian and helped band Great Gray owls alongside Dr. Jim Duncan and Ken De Smet with Manitoba Sustainable Development. Alex moved into the role of Program Coordinator for the Piping Plover program in 2008, as she finished her final year of her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies. Working with the Piping Plover program, she discovered her passion for endangered species work. In 2010, Alex began her graduate studies at the University of Winnipeg with a focus in Wildlife Biology and specifically on the Endangered Burrowing Owl. Alex created MBORP in 2013 with the cooperation of several program partners and has continued working in southwestern Manitoba reintroducing Burrowing Owls into the wild, collecting breeding ecology data on both captive-release and wild owls and educating the general public and landowners on the importance of improving habitat for Burrowing Owls through grassland conservation and the installation of artificial nest burrows. Alex was selected as CBC Manitoba's Future 40 in 2017 for her involvement in establishing MBORP.
Presentation Sponsors: TransCanada Corporation, CanNorth, EcoFriendly Sask, Information Services Corporation, Wildlife Habitat Canada.
Hosted by: Caitlin Mroz, Stewardship Coordinator, Prairie Conservation Action Plan
