ARIZONA! Wild burro educational seminar and webcast Jan. 13

Jan. 4, 2009

The Arizona Game and Fish Department invites the public to a free educational presentation on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010 to learn about wild burros in Arizona.

The approximate 45-minute presentation will cover the life history and ecology, legal history, resource and management issues, proposed legislation, and how burros on public lands relate to native wildlife and habitats in Arizona.

The event will start at 6:30 p.m. at the department’s Phoenix office at 5000 W. Carefree Highway. To accommodate those interested but unable to attend in person, the seminar will be webcast simultaneously on the Internet at www.azgfd.gov/webcast. 

A panel of three of the department’s experts with more than 50 years experience in the management of wildlife, habitats, and public lands will present different aspects of wild burros in Arizona. 

After the presentations, an interactive question-and-answer session with the public is encouraged to address questions, concerns, and issues about wildlife, habitats and wild burros. Online viewers can submit questions for consideration by the panel via an e-mail link at www.azgfd.gov/webcast.

The subject matter experts on the panel are:
Codey Carter is the department’s liaison to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). He has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Master of Science degree in ecology from Northern Arizona University. Carter has 15 years experience in natural resources research and management. He has worked for the department as a wildlife specialist at the Pinetop regional office, and in the research and habitat branches at the department headquarters. His current job entails working with BLM and department staff to help conserve, enhance and restore wildlife on BLM (public) lands.

Dave Conrad, a native Arizonan, is the department’s field supervisor for west-central Arizona. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife biology from Arizona State University. Conrad has worked for the department for 25 years. Prior to that, he worked for both the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. Conrad has extensive experience in developing and implementing wildlife-population survey techniques, riparian habitat management, all aspects of feral burro management, and bighorn sheep restoration.

Troy Smith is the department’s habitat program manager in the Yuma regional office. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in wildlife resources from the University of Idaho and a Master of Science degree in forest science from Oregon State University, with an emphasis in wildlife population ecology. He has 12 years of professional wildlife biology and management experience. His current areas of emphasis include minimizing impacts to Arizona’s wildlife from the expansion of energy, transportation, urban development, and non-native species.

The mission of the Arizona Game and Fish Department is to conserve, enhance, and restore Arizona’s diverse wildlife resources and habitats through aggressive protection and management programs, and to provide wildlife resources and safe watercraft and off-highway vehicle recreation for the enjoyment, appreciation, and use by present and future generations.
To learn more about the Arizona Game and Fish Department, visit www.azgfd.gov.

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