Meet Lori, Ecologist Team Leader

Favourite part of your park?

I love the Pine Lake Lakeside and Lane Lakes areas (they are connected, therefore I can pick two!), particularly for the more mature mossy spruce forest found there, with a lot of bird diversity, and easy quiet trail access to amazing (often turquoise) lakeside views. A close second would be the Salt Plains, a unique habitat in the boreal forest, with many interesting salt-tolerant plants to discover (and particularly in the fall, the view and colours there are breathtaking).

Best project/study you’ve gotten to work on?

When I accepted this position, I said "You had me at Whooping Cranes!" I have a background in avian ecology and I used to spot Whooping Cranes on their fall migration staging areas in Saskatchewan - so I have to say Whooping Crane monitoring is the best project I've gotten to work on, as well as getting to be a (small) part of the Whooping Crane Recovery Team. Though this is not one of the projects that I lead - the Canadian Wildlife Service leads this work - it has many elements that make it my favourite: cool birds!, species at risk, helicopter surveys , collaborating with partners (nationally and internationally), and being a part of testing out new technologies to improve survey methods (such as satellite imagery analysis).

Favourite part of your job?

I really enjoy connecting, collaborating and developing partnerships with other parks and organizations, as well as local and Indigenous communities, and working at Wood Buffalo National Park has provided some great opportunities to do that. I also enjoy having the opportunity to work with a variety of Species at Risk, and build new monitoring programs!

What do you love about science/tech?

I love that working in this field has provided me with a deeper understanding of how the natural world works, and appreciation for all of the complex interconnected processes in nature that we sometimes take for granted.