Wildlife Preservation Canada is pleased to announce Jessica Linton as the 2022 recipient. Jessica graduated from the Master of Environmental Studies program at the University of Waterloo. Although her work has taken her far abroad, leading educational nature tours in Central America, Jessica remains an active advocate for the endangered species in her own backyard of southern Ontario.
WPC has witnessed firsthand Jessica’s dedication to saving species at risk through our joint roles in the Ontario Butterfly Species at Risk Recovery Team, of which Jessica is Chair. Specifically, Jessica and her teams have worked side by side with WPC crews in the mottled duskywing recovery program in Ontario, of which WPC participates in the post-release monitoring.
A large focus of Jessica’s work is recovery planning and implementation for oak savanna butterfly species at risk. In addition to authoring the federal status assessment and Ontario provincial recovery strategy for mottled duskywing, Jessica has authored the draft federal recovery strategies for karner blue, eastern persius duskywing, and frosted elfin butterflies. Jessica has contributed and/or authored numerous species status assessments and recovery planning documents, the most recent being the recovery strategy for the Jefferson salamander.
One of Jessica’s many conservation hats is as Senior Project Manager and Biologist at Natural Resource Solutions Inc (NRSI), a conservation consulting firm. In her role at NRSI, Jessica manages a wide variety of projects which include impact assessment, flora and fauna inventories, wildlife monitoring program development, and Natural Heritage Assessments for renewable energy projects.
Jessica also holds a Ministerial appointment to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) Arthropod Species Specialist Subcommittee and is Past President of the Toronto Entomologist’s Association.
Jessica graduated from the Master of Environmental Studies program at the University of Waterloo. Although her work has taken her far abroad, leading educational nature tours in Central America, Jessica remains an active advocate for the endangered species in her own backyard of southern Ontario.