Minnesota SCB in Three Minutes

The first inaugural North American Congress of Conservation Biology in Oakland, CA this summer did an excellent job of featuring the great work being done by SCB chapters.  Before every one of the three daily plenaries, three chapters had three minutes to describe their work.  Here is what Andy Holdsworth, past-president of the Minnesota Chapter, said about the chapter.

The Minnesota Chapter was formed in 1994 by students of the University of Minnesota Conservation Biology Graduate Program.  But students graduated and the chapter went dormant for a bit.  The chapter was reborn in 2003.  Graduate students were again the driving force, but we struck out to build a chapter that went beyond our student body to include the larger conservation science community in Minnesota.

It was the best decision we made.  Our chapter now consists of a fantastic mix of students, academic researchers, and agency and NGO conservation scientists and practitioners.

 The Minnesota Chapter has a strong record of engagement in conservation policy. For instance, at one of our annual meetings we developed a resolution on ecological and conservation implications related to biofuels when that issue emerged several years ago. The next day we testified in a legislative hearing on the issue. 

Our biggest policy endeavor was the development of conservation biology-based recommendations for the 2008 Farm Bill.  These recommendations went through the SCB global office policy review and then became adopted as recommendations from the North American Section of SCB.  Those were sent to the House and Senate Agriculture committees.    

 

In the last year we have focused on fostering the connections within Minnesota’s conservation science community.  We greatly expanded the number of events that we hosted.  We focused on creating diverse and informal opportunities for MN SCB members and potential members to interact. Examples include a happy hour before the Minneapolis premiere of the film “Green Fire”, a winter soup event after a UMN ConsBio seminar, and a happy hour before the talk by TNC lead scientist, M. Sanjayan. 

 

  Our Annual Meetings are one of the highlights of our success.  They exemplify our work to foster connections amongst members of the community of conservation scientists and practitioners.  These connections don’t just bridge academia, agencies, and non-profits. They span generations.  

The organized presentations and discussions at our annual meetings help us explore new approaches, have discussions we often don't have, meet new people and reconnect with others.