Have Questions or Feedback?
The ABMI’s 10-year Science and Program Review was built around listening to our partners and stakeholders. We welcome questions, comments, or suggestions about the review process or output.
Beginnings
The broadly-felt need to answer this question catalyzed the development of a prototype for a comprehensive status and trend biodiversity monitoring program that would ultimately operate across the province of Alberta. Subsequently, four years (2003–2006) of prototype evaluation, including rigorous field testing, established many of the protocols that define ABMI operations today.
In 2007, the ABMI was formally incorporated as an arm’s length, not-for-profit scientific organization, and launched its business of providing
scientifically credible products and services on Alberta’s biodiversity and human footprint to provincial government and industry decision-makers.
2017 marked the ABMI’s 10th year of formal operations. Over those 10 years, the ABMI has experienced significant growth and a large amount of biodiversity, land cover, and human footprint information has been collected and is in widespread use by stakeholders. To formally evaluate the degree to which the ABMI is delivering on its goals and objectives, we conducted a 10-year Science and Program review.
The ABMI’s governance structure ensures the program’s independence, transparency, relevance, and scientific credibility.
The ABMI is member-based, with 12 member organizations that appoint a Board of Directors to oversee and lead the Institute. The Board, in turn, recruits an Executive Director. In addition, an International Science Advisory Committee and a Corporate Auditor report directly to the Board. Another defining aspect of the ABMI’s governance is its distributed delivery by four academic and research partner organizations: the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, the Royal Alberta Museum, and InnoTech Alberta.
Board of Directors
John Kolk
Chair
Farmer, Southern Alberta
Simon Dyer
Vice Chair
Senior Policy Analyst, Pembina
Andre Corbould
Director
Deputy Minister, Alberta Environment and Parks
Dr. Stan Blade
Director
Dean, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences
Kim Rymer
Director
Chief Forester, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc.
Sherry Sian
Director
Manager – Environment, Western Canada Operations Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Michelle Hiltz
Director
Business Relationship Manager, InnoTech Alberta
Dave Pryce
Secretary/Treasurer
Former Vice President, Western Canada Operations Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Bev Yee
Director at Large
Deputy Minister, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry
Stephen Lougheed
Director at Large (temporarily recused)
Acting Executive Director
Former President and CEO, Alberta Innovates Technology Futures
Note: this list represents the ABMI’s Board of Directors at the time of the 10-year Review; the most current Board members are listed here.
The Steering Committee and its role in the 10-year review process.
The membership of the Steering Committee (SC) comprised senior leadership from government, industry, and the environmental non-governmental sector who are well versed in issues of environmental policy, management, and monitoring design (see list below). The SC’s role in the Review was to evaluate whether the ABMI achieved its Science and Stakeholder Engagement goals and to provide recommendations to the Board of Directors. To do this, the SC reviewed the recommendations from the Science Expert Committee (SEC) and the Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG), which were convened by the ABMI to report, respectively, on whether the ABMI had achieved its Science and Stakeholder Engagement goals.
Steering Committee
Stephen Lougheed
Executive Director
Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute
Jennifer Steber
Executive Vice President
Stakeholder and Government Engagement, Alberta Energy Regulator
Stephen Donelon
Assistant Deputy Minister
Parks Division, Alberta Environment and Parks
Sue Cotterill
Director
Fish and Wildlife Policy Branch, Alberta Environment and Parks
Carolyn Campbell
Conservation Specialist
Alberta Wilderness Association
Michael Norton
Director General
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forestry Service
Peter Koning
Senior Director
Sustainable Development, Conoco Phillips
Bruce Beattie
Reeve
Mountainview County
External Facilitators
To ensure a timely, objective review process that incorporated the contributions of all participants, the ABMI worked with independent professional facilitators throughout. These consultants attended meetings, guided discussions, and provided both verbal and written reports of the process.
Andrew Fehr
North Raven Consulting
Needs Assessment and Steering Committees
Jeff Bellinger
Nichols Applied Management
Science Review Committee
The ABMI is a Leader in Biodiversity Monitoring
We track changes in Alberta's wildlife and habitats from border to border, and provide ongoing, relevant, scientifically credible information on Alberta's living resources. For our province's land use decision-makers. For Alberta's future land stewards. For Albertans.