You are invited to join us for *Park Units in the Northwestern US: Restoration and Recovery for Amphibians and Reptiles*, a webinar sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Branch in the Biological Resources Division of the National Park Service (NPS).
*Date:* Thursday, March 10 *Duration: *1 hour *Start time: *10 am PT, 11 am MT, 12 pm CT, 1 pm ET *Registration URL:* https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/306863072425237762 *Webinar ID:* 115-821-579 *IMPORTANT:* 1. GoToWebinar will send you an email AFTER you click the above registration URL. The email will contain the link you need to click to join the webinar at the specified time and date. The email will come from James Howard because he is the account holder. 2. *DO NOT click the “Add to Calendar” feature that you are provided in that email.* Doing so will incorrectly record the time of the webinar in your calendar due to a glitch in the program. You must manually insert the time and date into your calendar. Apologies for the inconvenience. 3. Telephone / dial-in information will be provided to you once you have logged into the webinar. You must use your telephone to call in to the webinar. We cannot allow audio connection via computer because it creates malfunctions during the recording. *Overview:* Habitat loss, alteration, fragmentation, and degradation are the collective top conservation threats to amphibians and reptiles (i.e., herpetofauna). Herpetofauna are important bioindicators of pollution or ecosystem stress. They assist in control of rodent and insect populations, and serve as predator of and prey to other trophic levels. Reptiles provide other ecosystem services as seed dispersers. Salamanders play a role in carbon cycling and have biomedical value due to their ability to regenerate limbs. Further, herpetofauna have intrinsic and aesthetic value as well. Despite these and other measures of their importance, they are not afforded the conservation action, attention, and appropriations as other taxa, such as birds and large mammals. This webinar covers material provided in Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation's Habitat Management Guidelines for Amphibians and Reptiles of the Northwestern US and Western Canada <http://www.nwparc.org/hmg.pdf> by David Pilliod and Elke Wind (Eds.). The webinar will cover habitats and species in the NPS’s Pacific West, Intermountain, and Alaska regions. *However, the information provided in the webinar will be applicable to locations outside of park boundaries and so will benefit non-NPS biologists and land managers as well.* *About the Speakers:* *Elke Wind* is a self-employed contract biologist living and working on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. In 1996, she received her M.Sc. from the University of British Columbia. The focus of her work has been habitat management as it pertains to amphibian species, including wetland restoration and construction. She has also been involved in numerous impact assessment projects associated with forestry, mining, renewable energy projects, and pipelines. Her current research is focused on Western Toad winter hibernation in a populated area of southeastern Vancouver Island. Ms. Wind has been a member of the Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology for almost 15 years, and served on the Board between 1998 and 2010. She was also Co-chair for the Northwest chapter of PARC. Other volunteer work includes being a former leader for NatureKids BC. *David Pilliod* is Research Ecologist at the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center in Boise, Idaho. David’s research focuses on ecology and conservation biology of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. David has worked with amphibians and reptiles in the Northwest for over 20 years. He is particularly interested in working with agencies to improve monitoring data and use those data to answer questions regarding effectiveness of resource management and restoration. David received his BA from the University of California Santa Cruz and PhD from Idaho State University. *About the Webinar Series:* There will be three more webinars focusing on Habitat Management Guidelines to assist natural resource managers with amphibian and reptile conservation. Regions covered will include the Midwest, northeastern US, and southeastern US. Stay tuned for more details! Questions? Contact Jen Williams . See below for contact info. -- Jen Williams, Ph.D. Federal Coordinator for Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) 1201 Oakridge Dr., Suite 200 Fort Collins, CO 80525 Phone: 352-568-5903 (cell) or 970-267-2159 Fax: 970-225-3585 *Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.* The mission of PARC is to conserve amphibians, reptiles and their habitats as integral parts of our ecosystem and culture through proactive and coordinated public-private partnerships. To learn more, visit parcplace.org
