Services · 03
Education & outreach
Workshops, school and community ecology programs, conference talks and guided wetland walks. Kirby is available as a paid program host and presenter, in person or on the river.
Why bother
Most people have never met a beaver.
They've met the flooded road and the chewed tree. Twenty minutes at the edge of a pond, with someone who can explain what the beaver is doing and why, changes how a landowner, a council or a classroom thinks about the next one.
That's the whole point of the programs. We bring the pond.
Programs
Workshops, walks and talks.
Workshops
Half-day and full-day sessions on beaver ecology, flow devices and tree protection, for municipal crews, ranchers and conservation groups. Hands on.
School & community programs
Classroom and field sessions matched to the curriculum, from grade school to college. Beaver Buddies programming for the youngest crews.
Conference talks
Keynotes and sessions on coexistence, wetland policy and what the data says, from someone who installs the devices as well as studies them.
Guided wetland walks
Walks and paddles on rivers, lakes and wetlands, with a wetland ecologist who likes answering questions.
On camera
Media appearances.
Kirby is no stranger to the camera. He appears in Voices of the Oldman, a docuseries by Next Bend about southern Alberta's Oldman River, in the documentary Dry Horizons, and in Fish Creek Beavers: Pathways to Coexistence, an educational video made with the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society.
If you're working on a film or video about beavers, water or the prairie and want an expert who is comfortable on camera, get in touch.
Invite Kirby onto your projectThe way she goes
From first call to final check-in.
No surprises. Every step has a name, a date and a person you can call.
- 01
Inquiry
Tell us the audience, the date and the place.
- 02
Program plan
We shape the session to the group: length, level, indoors or at the water.
- 03
The day
Kirby shows up with the gear, the stories and the data.
- 04
Follow-up
Slides, handouts and a number to call when the next beaver turns up.
In the field
Walks, talks and wet feet.
Programs we've run, from the river to the classroom.
- Beaver ecology talkExplaining a beaver pond to a group, from the edge of one.
Fish Creek Provincial ParkA pond leveller install, run as a hands-on workshop.
Community programA winter session in the blind.
Guided paddleBefore launch, at the You Betula canoe trailer.
Alberta Wilderness AssociationPaddle day, pulled up at the lodge.
Alberta Wilderness AssociationReading a lodge from a kayak.
SoderglenThe crew, day two, in the snow.
FAQ
Questions we get a lot.
Do you charge for talks and workshops?
Yes. Hosting and presenting is paid work, priced per program with travel itemized. Ask for a quote with the date and the audience.
How far will you travel?
Anywhere in Canada. The farther it is, the more sense it makes to stack a workshop with a site visit or two.
Do you do school visits?
Yes, from grade school up. Tell us the grade and we'll match the program.
Can we see Kirby on camera first?
Yes. He appears in Voices of the Oldman, Next Bend's docuseries, in Dry Horizons, and in Fish Creek Beavers: Pathways to Coexistence, among others. He's the one in the hat.
