A Decade of Exceptional Work! It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Lesley Peterson started as a temporary technician with the Alberta office of Trout Unlimited Canada. That first job entailed helping with our annual fish rescue of fish caught in irrigation canals in southern Alberta. As a result of her impressive work on the 2008
Fish Rescue, her short-term contract was extended in order to help our then Alberta Biologist, Brian Meagher with a number of major initiatives in foothill streams of Alberta. These first projects of Lesley’s were right down her alley given her love for the creeks and streams that flow off the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
For those that have the good fortune to meet Lesley, you immediately will realize that you are being greeted by a person of boundless positive energy and a “you bet” attitude. Lesley throws herself 100% into any endeavor that she sets her mind to. In addition, because she is such a personable individual, she brings out the best in people that she meets. This trait has been extremely important in developing wonderful partnerships and good relationships with government agencies, industry, businesses and local communities. In addition to her passion for healthy streams, Lesley’s other interests include cycling, cross-country skiing, hiking, ultimate Frisbee, reading, and cooking and more recently fly fishing.
Lesley came with excellent credentials with a diploma in Natural Resource Technology from Lakeland College in Vermillion, B.C. and a BSc in Environmental and Conservation Science from the University of Alberta. This education is important but is especially exceptional when linked to a person who is passionate about the work and has a strong and abiding love of the natural spaces of Alberta.
Lesley dove into the coordination of the fish rescue and in 2009 she completed a literature review on fish entrainment and in 2010 compiled data from previous Fish Rescues so that a trend analysis can be completed to better understand the issue of fish losses to irrigation canals in Alberta. But more than just rescuing fish which would die if not returned to the rivers, her other great interest in the rescue was connecting with people. In her own words, “One thing I like about the Fish Rescue is that it is a great way to expose a lot of people to some very interesting species of fish that they might not otherwise have an opportunity to see and handle.”
After her first set of projects, Lesley began to expand her work to numerous small and large watersheds of the Province. One of the early projects in the Canmore area was the Bill Griffiths Creek Habitat Enhancement Project. In this project Lesley worked with TUC’s Bow Headwaters Chapter to complete two habitat enhancement workdays, four electrofishing assessments, a redd survey, and habitat inventory along Bill Griffiths Creek, a tributary of the Bow River and major brown trout spawning stream.
With TUC’s creation of five major National Watershed Renewal Projects, Lesley took on the task of coordinating the Watershed Renewal Project on Drywood Creek in the southwest of the Province. Lesley worked with a group of concerned landowners and with staff from other conservation agencies in the Drywood Creek drainage in SW Alberta. Several fisheries inventories and educational field days for students and landowners were completed and TUC helped multiple cattle producers install fencing and off-stream watering systems to protect fragile riparian areas on their land and to help maintain a healthy stream for native coldwater fish.
When the position for Alberta Biologist opened up in 2014, Lesley was one of over a dozen candidates for the position. She won that competition handily. The Alberta Biologist position is responsible for implementing TUC’s National Conservation Agenda within Alberta and to a certain degree all of Western Canada. This entails management of Provincial biological staff, development of programs and projects, raising funds for conservation work and providing input on science needs, policy development and issue resolution with TUCs CEO and National Biologist. Lesley quickly grew into the position and demonstrated an enormous skill in managing complicated and complex projects such as the major, Mallard Point Project on the Bow River.
As TUC transitioned into our new National Campaign, Reconnecting Canada, Lesley took the lead in identifying major culvert replacement projects and raising the hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement these projects in conjunction with industry partners along with both Provincial and Federal governments.
We have watched Lesley grow as a professional from her early years as a contract and then project biologist for TUC to the position she now holds as Alberta Biologist. All of us at TUC appreciate her positive spirit, personable nature, intelligence and skills both as a biologist as well as a manager of projects and programs, large and small. Her continuing growth in science, policy development, restoration ecology and fisheries biology is very impressive and we are extremely proud that she has chosen to work with our organization over the last 10 years and hope to see her continue to grow with the organization and to continue to demonstrate the best characteristics of a professional working for Trout Unlimited Canada. Thank you for the first 10 years Lesley and hope for many more years of great contributions to Alberta’s and Canada’s freshwater resources.
Jack Imhof, National Biologist, Trout Unlimited Canada
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