University of Alberta researcher recognized for bridging the gap between city residents and urban wildlife

A University of Alberta profile celebrates wildlife biologist Colleen Cassady St. Clair, recipient of a 2024 Community Scholar Award, recognizing her decades of work helping Edmonton residents understand and coexist with the animals sharing their city. St. Clair's research focuses on human-wildlife conflict, and her lab has reached hundreds of thousands of people through public presentations, community web pages, over 110 scientific papers, and media interviews.

Much of her work centers on urban coyotes. Since 2009, she and her students have collaborated with the City of Edmonton on the Edmonton Urban Coyote Project, providing research that informs the city's wildlife management strategies. Her team has helped residents understand what attracts coyotes into conflict situations, and has trained both wildlife professionals and community members to respond to bold coyote behavior in ways that reduce the likelihood of lethal management.

St. Clair is also involved with Wild Edmonton, a collaborative project between the University of Alberta, the City of Edmonton, and the Urban Wildlife Information Network, which monitors wildlife movement across urban areas to inform land-use decisions and reduce animal-vehicle collisions.

A distinctive aspect of her approach is actively involving citizens in the research itself, with volunteers contributing coyote feces samples, behavioral reports, and thousands of data points that meaningfully expand the scope of what her team can study.

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