Donation launches fundraising drive for conservation professorship

McTaggart-Cowan

The B.C. government has kickstarted a UVic fundraising campaign to create a new professorship honouring one of Canada’s pre-eminent scientists.

At a ceremony at the university on March 14, Minister of Advanced Education Ida Chong announced a $500,000 provincial donation to the Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan Professorship in Biodiversity Conservation and Ecological Restoration.

A successful fundraising campaign will allow the school of environmental studies to hire a scientist in the field of ecological restoration. The professorship will complement two scholarships awarded by the university in McTaggart-Cowan’s name.

“This professorship will expand our knowledge of the connection between the restoration of ecosystems and the social benefits to communities,” says Dr. Peter Keller, UVic’s dean of social sciences. “Our school of environmental studies already has an international reputation for excellence. This professorship will further enhance that reputation by training the Ian McTaggart-Cowans of tomorrow.”

As a professor of zoology at UBC, McTaggart-Cowan established the first vertebrate zoology program in Canada to study the biological basis of wildlife conservation. He also supervised the research of more than 100 graduate students, some of whom are now among the most renowned experts in the wildlife field: Maurice Hornocker (cougar), Val Geist (Stone’s sheep), Ian Sterling (polar bear) and C.S. Holling (predation).

“Ecology and environmental restoration are areas of increasing concern as we seek ways in which we can draw our needs from natural resources without causing destructive alteration of environmental processes,” says the 95-year-old McTaggart-Cowan. “I’m honoured and delighted to have my name associated with this new professorship.”

McTaggart-Cowan was a strong voice in convincing the Canadian government to hire professional biologists for their wildlife programs. He played a pivotal role in eliminating the bounty system where “undesirable” populations of animals such as cougars, wolves and bald eagles were managed by a cash reward-based hunt.

As a public educator, McTaggart-Cowan pioneered the use of television to bring environmental science into the homes of Canadians through programs such as Fur and Feathers, The Living Sea (both produced live) and the award-winning Web of Life.

Among his many public involvements, McTaggart-Cowan served as inaugural chair of the public advisory committee of the B.C. Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, chair of the internationally acclaimed Birds of British Columbia authors team, and a director of the Nature Trust of B.C. He was UVic’s chancellor from 1979 to 1984.

For more information on the professorship and the fundraising campaign, contact Dr. Eric Higgs, director of the school of environmental studies, at 472-5070.