Schedule for the evenings Panel Discussion and Live Auction:

• Opening at 5:30 p.m. at the Luso Canadian Multicultural Centre, Penticton.
• Rendezvous – Mingling, Food & Auction items
• Introduction to the Panel – 6:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
• Panel Discussion (Local Experts) at 6:45 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
• Break (15 minutes)
• Questionnaire 7:45 p.m.  – 8:05 p.m.
• Final Auction Bids & Closing 8:05 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the state of the world and the environment, with 24-hour news cycles and nonstop social media activity. These feelings can lead to a sense that individual ideas or actions could not possibly have a positive influence. Fortunately, the history of science, conservation, advocacy, and activism is full of success stories demonstrating how the ideas and actions of individuals or communities can be meaningful and transformative at local and landscape scales.

Common themes among these success stories include connectivity, education and knowledge sharing, and communication. Please join local experts Siobhan Darlington, Jason Jones and Dick Cannings—three local biologists at different stages in their careers—for a presentation on their personal and professional experiences translating ideas into action. The presentation will be followed by a moderated panel discussion.

Biographies

Dr. Siobhan Darlington, PhD, RPBio (she/her):
Siobhan is a wildlife biologist with the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship in Penticton. She has been leading the Southern BC Cougar Project (www.bccougarproject.weebly.com) since 2019 as part of her doctoral studies at UBC Okanagan, and has a diverse background working with large carnivores, mesocarnivores, ungulates, and birds across Western and Atlantic Canada. She and her partner, David Bell, are avid birdwatchers and banders in the South Okanagan, and enjoy recreating outdoors through backpacking trips, mothing, and travelling abroad.

Dr. Jason Jones, PhD, RPBio (he/him):
Jason is a terrestrial ecologist and co-owner of two consulting companies: EcoLogic Consultants Ltd. and Campfire Archaeology and Heritage Ltd. Over his decades-long career, Jason has had the good fortune to work in government, for non-governmental organizations, in academia, and in the private sector. Growing up in the Okanagan, he has witnessed the transformation of many ecosystems and has also seen reasons for optimism. Away from work, Jason is the Station Manager for the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory, supports the Southern Interior Land Trust with monitoring work at their Bourguiba Springs property, and is working with the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society on restoring a 10-acre parcel near Oliver that he shares with his partner, Colleen.

Dick Cannings, MSc, RPBio (he/him):
Dick was born and raised in Penticton in a family that loved nature and the outdoors. He was Curator of the Cowan Vertebrate Museum at UBC for 17 years before moving back to the Okanagan, where he spent 20 years as a consulting biologist and writer. He worked with Birds Canada coordinating the Canadian Christmas Bird Counts, the eBird program, the BC Nocturnal Owl Survey, and the BC Breeding Bird Atlas. Dick also served on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, the BC Environmental Appeal Board, the BC Forest Appeals Commission, and the board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

He helped found the Okanagan Similkameen Conservation Alliance, the Meadowlark Festival, and the Vaseux Lake Bird Observatory. Dick has written more than a dozen books on natural history. In 2015, he moved from biology to politics and served as the Member of Parliament for South Okanagan–West Kootenay for ten years. He and his wife, Margaret, are now happily—and busily—retired.