Gwen Bridge is an environmental scientist and conservation advocate. Her work has focused on

sustainable land management Land management is the process of managing the use and development of land resources. Those resources are used for a variety of purposes for example agriculture, forestry, water resource management, human settlements and tourism. One aim of l ...

practices to help facilitate the cultural preservation of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

communities across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Early life and education

Gwen Bridge was raised near

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and is of

Saddle Lake Cree Nation Saddle Lake Cree Nation () is a Plains Cree, First Nations community, located in the ''Amiskwacīwiyiniwak'' (" Beaver Hills") region of central Alberta, Canada. The Nation is a signatory to Treaty 6, and their traditional language is Plains Cr ...

heritage. Her father was an environmental activist who advocated to protect natural parklands. Bridge completed her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in environmental studies and geography at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

and her

M.Sc. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

in forest hydrology.

Work and advocacy

Bridge began her career as a field hydrologist and later became more focused on providing strategic planning, title and rights protection strategies and policy development and analysis for First Nations with respect to resource management. Bridge's work has largely focused on the concept of combining the fields of hydrology, ecology and conservation biology together with traditional indigenous knowledge and expertise. She believes that the outcome of unifying these scientific fields with traditional indigenous experience would lead not only to improvements in biodiversity conservation, but would also promote cultural sustainability and resilience. Her work includes collaborations with the

Mescalero Apache Mescalero or Mescalero Apache () is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the M ...

, the Makah Tribe and the Okanagan Nation. She was the Chair of the Syilx Working Group which conducted the South Okanagan Similkameen National Park Reserve Feasibility Study. Bridge has worked on facilitating relationships between First Nations and other levels of government such as

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

and the

Canadian Wildlife Service The Canadian Wildlife Service or CWS (), is a Branch of the Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a department of the Government of Canada. Founded in 1947 as Dominion Wildlife Service, it is Canada's national wildlife agency resp ...

. Bridge has recently commented on the negative effects of logging and road-building on the

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

population of south-eastern British Columbia.

Personal life

Gwen Bridge lives in British Columbia with her husband and four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge, Gwen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century Canadian women scientists Canadian ecologists People from Nelson, British Columbia Cree people University of Victoria alumni University of Alberta alumni Women ecologists