Provide us with your email address that your account is associated with and we will send you your password via email.
NOTE: Are you a certified member looking to access your Certification account? Head over to www.eco.ca/certification to access your certification account.
Park wardens are responsible for implementing natural resource management, public safety, and law enforcement programs within Canada's national parks system. They are involved in a variety of activities, including assisting scientists with research, monitoring wildlife, capturing and relocating animals when necessary, making public presentations, liaising with visitors, and providing first aid and search and rescue support. Park wardens use their educational background and work experience to monitor ecological concerns and maintain the environmental health of Canada's national parks.
Imagine you are very slowly and very quietly approaching a 130-kilogram female grizzly bear. You are a park warden in Jasper National Park and you know how careful you have to be around these bears. This grizzly is a little anxious: she has been caught in one of your snares and has a cable wrapped around one of her feet to keep her in place. Once you are close enough, you shoot the bear with a tranquilizer dart. Within minutes, she is asleep. With the huge predator temporarily immobilized, you motion to the parks chief wildlife biologist that it is safe to approach. You help the wildlife biologist take some quick measurements and attach a GPS collar, after which you retrieve your tranquilizer dart and remove the snare from her leg. When the bear wakes up, she will be free to carry on, and you will be off on another task. As a park warden, you monitor and manage wildlife. This week, you are helping wildlife biologists attach Global Positioning System (GPS) collars to some of the grizzly bears that live in the park. This is the first year GPS collars will be used in Jasper and youre excited about the possibilities. These new collars use satellites to pinpoint and record the bears location several times a day. Biologists can download this data and map the bears movement, which will contribute to long-term management and conservation plans. For your job, though, you are more interested in the advantages of being able to tell at any moment precisely where a collared grizzly is. You will be able to see when bears are near hiking trails and warn visitors to be cautious or stay away. Or if one of these bears starts hanging around campgrounds and becomes a threat, it will be easy to find it with the GPS collar and relocate it to another area of the park. Considering that one of your major functions as a park warden is to protect wildlife and humans from each other, these GPS collars will certainly make your job easier.