The Wildlife Ambassador program promotes grassroots leadership in communicating about responsible recreation and wildlife safety ethics in the Bow Valley, Kananaskis Country and surrounding communities.

Since 2007, each spring, WildSmart and Alberta Parks staff have trained about 30 dedicated volunteers in wildlife ecology, how to avoid and handle wildlife encounters, effective communication and public engagement, and conflict resolution. Training for new Wildlife Ambassadors takes place over three days and includes shadowing WildSmart staff and experienced Ambassadors in the field. Volunteers are also first aid certified.

Ambassadors’ traditional role has been to deliver roving or stationary wildlife talks on trails, at trail heads, at community events and in campgrounds throughout the Bow Valley and Kananaskis Country, typically working in teams of two or three on weekends between June and September. Ambassadors use animal artifacts and other educational resources to engage people in conversations about wildlife habitat needs and safe trail use.

Since the Wildlife Ambassador program began in 2007, Ambassadors have contributed over 7,000 volunteer hours and spoken to tens of thousands of recreational trail users, Bow Valley residents and visitors from throughout Alberta, Canada and abroad.

Co-designing new ambassador initiatives

The Wildlife Ambassador program is a shining example of how the Biosphere Institute seeks to empower community members to engage their peers in meaningful discussions about how we can all help protect our natural environment. We all have a role to play. Building on over a decade of success, we are now seeking to bring more people into the Ambassador program, and to expand the options available for our community members to serve as ambassadors for wildlife. New program activities might include initiatives like citizen science, social media campaigns, development and evaluation of targeted messaging, and more.

Through a guided workshop series, we are co-designing these new initiatives together with current Wildlife Ambassadors. That is, Ambassadors are working alongside WildSmart staff as equal partners to identify and prioritize potential new activities for the program. The co-design process honors Ambassadors’ deep knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for human-wildlife coexistence on our landscape, based in their years of experience engaging with the public.

Our co-design workshops began with the fundamentals of conservation project design. Ambassadors then identified needs and potential activities, grouped these activities into different initiatives, and analysed their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT). Together we have defined three new initiatives, including objectives, activities, timelines, and resources needed. Our next step will be to fundraise to put these new initiatives into action.

Getting involved

Wildlife Ambassadors are educators and community messengers. They do not act in an enforcement capacity. If you are interested getting involved with the program, please get in touch through out Volunteer and Job Opportunities page and tell us a bit about why you are interested in joining the Wildlife Ambassadors.