Abstract Details
5/23/2018 |
11:00 - 12:00
| Grand Riverview Ballroom B
Keynote: Dr. John Hartig
NAVIGATING BOUNDARIES IN BUILDING NORTH AMERICA’S ONLY INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
It is no small challenge to navigate boundaries and build an international wildlife refuge in a nearly seven million person urban area that also represents the automobile capitals of the United States and Canada (i.e., Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario). This plenary talk will share insights into how innovative public-private partnerships have navigated political, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries to build the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge as part of a strategy to make nature part of everyday urban life and help develop a conservation ethic. Today, 80% of all Americans and Canadians live in urban areas. Most urban residents are disconnected from the natural world. There is growing interest in re-connecting urban residents with nature. Compounding this problem is the fact that most conservationists avoid cities and want to work in pristine areas. Furthermore, when scientific assessments are made, most urban areas are found to be too degraded to rank high enough on conservation priority lists. This plenary talk will share experiences in bringing conservation to cities, fostering a conservation ethic in this major urban area, and inspiring and developing the next generation of conservationists in urban areas because that is now where most people on our planet live.
John Hartig (Primary Presenter), Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario, johnhartig1@gmail.com;
Dr. John Hartig is currently a Fulbright Scholar serving as the Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Global Governance at Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario. The focus of his Fulbright is multi-disciplinary research on cleanup of the Great Lakes. For the past 14 years he served as Refuge Manager for the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge. John has received a number of awards for his work, including the 2017 Community Peacemaker Award from Wayne State University’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, the 2016 Edward G. Voss Conservation Science Award from Michigan Nature Association, the 2015 Conservationist of the Year Award from the John Muir Association, and the 2013 Conservation Advocate of the Year Award from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. He has authored or co-authored over 100 publications on the environment, including four books: Bringing Conservation to Cities; Burning Rivers; Honoring Our Detroit River, Caring for Our Home; and Under RAPs: Toward Grassroots Ecological Democracy in the Great Lakes Basin. John’s most recent book titled Bringing Conservation to Cities won a Gold Medal from the Nonfiction Authors Association in the