College Diploma - Fish and Wildlife Technician (BO) (Optional Co-op)

The purpose of fish and wildlife management is to ensure that quality habitat exists in sufficient quantity for wild populations to flourish and, for game species, that they are managed in a sustainable manner. This requires knowledge not only about animals, but about their habitats and how people interact with them. Consequently, fish and wildlife management has evolved into a multidisciplinary science-based profession that takes the graduates in many directions, across Canada and beyond.

The theory and skills required by fish and wildlife professionals are taught through applied learning activities with a significant amount of time doing hands-on work in the lab and field.

In third-semester students spend five weeks in field school, focusing on the topics of fisheries, wildlife, terrestrial habitats, wetlands, and freshwater ecology. These field schools introduce new skills such as: boat handling, GPS navigation, fish netting, sampling and tagging, electrofishing, habitat assessment, wetland classification, bird banding, and use of wildlife monitoring technologies. Through these activities, students will work together to collect, analyze and present the data over the remainder of the technician-level education and training.

During field excursions students will learn about the logistics involved in the design and implementation of field projects. Students will also spend considerable time in the outdoors learning mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish and plant identification skills, tracking animals and conducting wildlife surveys.