Wildfire where Wildland and Communities Meet: North of 60 and Down Under
Al Beaver
President, Wildland Fire Risk Management Ltd.
January 26, 2020, 7:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
The ongoing 2019-2020 bushfire season in Australia, which has caused catastrophic loss of life and property, provides one more example of an expanding global problem where homes and community infrastructures meet with wildland fuels. Currently, Al Beaver is working with the City of Whitehorse to map the wildland-urban interface in our community in order to identify key wildland fire risk areas. Join Al as he explores wildfire risk in the Whitehorse area, and places it in context with recent mass fires in other at risk jurisdictions such as Australia, California, Chili and British Columbia.
Evicting Radon as a Source of Canadian Lung Cancer
Dr. Aaron Goodarzi
Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease, Asst Prof, Dept of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, U of Calgary
January 15, 2020, 6:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
Dr. Aaron Goodarzi is the Canada Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease, a professor at the University of Calgary, and is the leader of the national Evict Radon program, a non-profit radon awareness organization that enables public sector scientist- and physician-led research on radon gas. This team is comprised of radiation biologists, geologists, clinicians, psychologists, population health experts and architects based at multiple Canadian universities. Dr. Goodarzi will give a clear outline of what radon is, why Canadians need to know and care about being exposed to it, and speak about the team's most recent radon research. He will also outline how any Canadian can get involved in this citizen scientist based public research, and what to do if you find if you have high radon exposure in your home, school or workplace – because radon is the most readily preventable cause of the most common and lethal type of cancer in Canada.
This lecture was presented in partnership with the Yukon Housing Corporation.
Rappelling into the Pleistocene: A study of faunal response to a changing world
Julie Meachen
Vertebrate Palaeontologist and Associate Professor of Anatomy, Des Moines University
December 16, 2019, 7:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
Dr. Julie Meachen will talk about her work in the Pleistocene (or Ice Age) centered around two important sites: Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming, and Rancho La Brea, California. She will discuss what these sites can tell us about the last Ice Age, including who was there, how animals respond to environmental changes, and what we can learn from two extinct ecosystems. This talk will also delve into how the Ice Age extinction events affected species that are still around today, like the North American coyote.
Rare Species in Relict Grasslands: Plant diversity responses to the Aishihik wood bison herd
Lori Schroeder
M.Sc. Renewable Resources (Conservation Biology)
December 1, 2019, 7:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
Some of the most northerly grasslands in North America are found on dry south-facing slopes in the southwest Yukon. These grasslands, which occupy less than 1% of the landscape, not only support distinctive plant communities that contain several rare and endemic plant species, but are also home to the Aishihik wood bison herd. Since wood bison were reintroduced in the late 1980’s as part of national recovery efforts, the Aishihik herd has increased in size from 34 to 1,470 individuals (2016 census). Join Lori Schroeder as she explores why greater concentrations of bison coincide with greater plant diversity on these slopes, despite fears to the contrary.
Al Beaver
President, Wildland Fire Risk Management Ltd.
January 26, 2020, 7:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
The ongoing 2019-2020 bushfire season in Australia, which has caused catastrophic loss of life and property, provides one more example of an expanding global problem where homes and community infrastructures meet with wildland fuels. Currently, Al Beaver is working with the City of Whitehorse to map the wildland-urban interface in our community in order to identify key wildland fire risk areas. Join Al as he explores wildfire risk in the Whitehorse area, and places it in context with recent mass fires in other at risk jurisdictions such as Australia, California, Chili and British Columbia.
Evicting Radon as a Source of Canadian Lung Cancer
Dr. Aaron Goodarzi
Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease, Asst Prof, Dept of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, U of Calgary
January 15, 2020, 6:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
Dr. Aaron Goodarzi is the Canada Research Chair for Radiation Exposure Disease, a professor at the University of Calgary, and is the leader of the national Evict Radon program, a non-profit radon awareness organization that enables public sector scientist- and physician-led research on radon gas. This team is comprised of radiation biologists, geologists, clinicians, psychologists, population health experts and architects based at multiple Canadian universities. Dr. Goodarzi will give a clear outline of what radon is, why Canadians need to know and care about being exposed to it, and speak about the team's most recent radon research. He will also outline how any Canadian can get involved in this citizen scientist based public research, and what to do if you find if you have high radon exposure in your home, school or workplace – because radon is the most readily preventable cause of the most common and lethal type of cancer in Canada.
This lecture was presented in partnership with the Yukon Housing Corporation.
Rappelling into the Pleistocene: A study of faunal response to a changing world
Julie Meachen
Vertebrate Palaeontologist and Associate Professor of Anatomy, Des Moines University
December 16, 2019, 7:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
Dr. Julie Meachen will talk about her work in the Pleistocene (or Ice Age) centered around two important sites: Natural Trap Cave, Wyoming, and Rancho La Brea, California. She will discuss what these sites can tell us about the last Ice Age, including who was there, how animals respond to environmental changes, and what we can learn from two extinct ecosystems. This talk will also delve into how the Ice Age extinction events affected species that are still around today, like the North American coyote.
Rare Species in Relict Grasslands: Plant diversity responses to the Aishihik wood bison herd
Lori Schroeder
M.Sc. Renewable Resources (Conservation Biology)
December 1, 2019, 7:30 pm Beringia Centre, Whitehorse
Some of the most northerly grasslands in North America are found on dry south-facing slopes in the southwest Yukon. These grasslands, which occupy less than 1% of the landscape, not only support distinctive plant communities that contain several rare and endemic plant species, but are also home to the Aishihik wood bison herd. Since wood bison were reintroduced in the late 1980’s as part of national recovery efforts, the Aishihik herd has increased in size from 34 to 1,470 individuals (2016 census). Join Lori Schroeder as she explores why greater concentrations of bison coincide with greater plant diversity on these slopes, despite fears to the contrary.