Growing wild: Alumna follows passion for wilderness to Lakeland

Katie Harris grew up in the wilderness.

She spent her childhood in the forests of northern Manitoba, following a family passion for the environment that would lead her to Girl Guides before pursuing environmental sciences at Lakeland College.

Now, Harris is spearheading the first large-scale wildlife monitoring project in Saskatoon, Sask., while being fast-tracked for a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan.

“I grew up in the bush, surrounded by coyotes, bald eagles, deer and moose,” Harris, from The Pas, Man., explains. “I was always interacting with those animals. I feel incredibly fortunate that I am actually able to make a career in an area that I am just innately passionate about.”

A family legacy

Careers in environmental sciences run in the family – Harris’ great grandfather was one of the first conservation officers in Manitoba. A trip to Lakeland’s Open House with her mother sealed her decision to pursue her studies at Lakeland.

Now, the Class of 2017 alumna holds a dual diploma in environmental sciences, majoring in both conservation and restoration ecology as well as wildlife and fisheries conservation. After graduating from Lakeland, she completed a bachelor degree at the University of Saskatchewan before moving into the master's program. She was fast tracked into the PhD program without needing to complete her master's.

Harris credits her experience at Lakeland with helping her find her footing in the post-secondary world, as well as giving her a strong technical background that helped her excel once she moved on to university.

“I really loved my years at Lakeland,” she says. “It was a really great stepping-stone from high school. I did a lot of great work in the environmental sciences program and the instructors were so knowledgeable, open and accommodating. Everything about Lakeland set me up for the success I’m having now.”

Part of that success, she explains, came from Lakeland’s hands-on learning approach.

“The more time I spend in university, the more I appreciate that aspect of the program at Lakeland. It’s one thing to sit in a classroom and stuff your brain full of theory. It’s a totally different thing to actually go out into the field and practice what you learn and how to integrate that into your skillset. It gave me the opportunity to take those skills I had learned in the field with me to university, which really helped me to understand a lot of the theory I learned in university. I had already put it into practice.”

Finding an urban wilderness

Just as she was beginning her master’s program, Harris was offered an incredible opportunity – to develop and implement the first large-scale wildlife monitoring project in Saskatoon. While there have been other studies on specific wildlife and habitats, Harris is spearheading a project to create a foundational database of urban wildlife in the city. With a network of trail cameras, she is studying what animal species are present in Saskatoon, the types of habitats they select, as well as biodiversity and how different species adapt to or against levels of urbanization and development.

“This project just worked out perfectly for me,” Harris says. “I work with a committee and it’s been an amazing journey so far. Our overarching long-term goal is to create a 30-plus year monitoring study. There is so much potential to delve deeper into the social aspect of science and integrate it with the ecological aspect. Humans are a huge part of research like this.”

Though she has left the remote wilds of northern Manitoba fora more urbanized habitat in Saskatoon, Harris is continually surprised and excited by her project with the sheer amount of biodiversity she is finding in an urban environment.

“There is wildlife in cities,” she says. “We see jackrabbits, foxes and deer, so we are aware of that, but the depth of wildlife that is here is honestly mind-blowing. Many of them have adapted to being more active at night and when you don’t see something regularly, it just doesn’t occur to you that it might still be there. But I have seen thousands and thousands of images of the wildlife here in this city and it’s opened my eyes. There’s a whole other world superimposed over our urban life that most people don’t realize is there.”

Part of Harris’ career is providing outreach and teaching the public about the wildlife in the city, as well as how best to live alongside it.

She explains, “I show other people the animals that live here and share our space and our resources. They’re not going away and we need to create solutions for cohabiting with them that benefit both the people and animals. We need to work together and be educated with the end goal of having a biodiverse ecosystem where people and animals can both live and thrive.”

It’s a lot for a recent graduate to take on, but with her passion for wildlife and her educational background behind her, Harris feels more than up for the challenge – she feels privileged to be given the opportunity.

“Growing up the way I did really helped hone my passion, taking it from just being an interest to being something that could actually be a career,” Harris says. “I feel incredibly fortunate that I am able to make a career in this area that I’m so innately passionate about. I’ve had so many huge accomplishments already in my career and it’s astounding. But I’m just doing what I love and that resonates with people, so I’m just going to keep going.”