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Adventure Learning Camp Teacher

Bill Watkins is a Biodiversity Conservation Zoologist with the Wildlife and Ecosystem Protection Branch of the Manitoba Department of Conservation, where he is involved in management planning for animal species at risk. During his 22 years with the department, Bill has worked on issues related to protected areas planning, rare species inventory and monitoring, and endangered species recovery planning. He has been a member of several Canadian National Recovery Teams for endangered species and has recently been appointed to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, the body which advises the federal Minister of the Environment on the listing of species under Canada's national Species at Risk Act. Bill also teaches courses in Environmental Impact Assessment, and Species at Risk Management at the University of Winnipeg.

In 2002, Bill coordinated the policy initiative that resulted in Manitoba's Polar Bear Protection Act and Regulations. In 2005, he became a member of the Polar Bears International (PBI) Advisory Council. Recently, Bill has worked with zoos in North America and Japan to help implement the high standards of care set by the province of Manitoba in their captive polar bear facility and husbandry standards regulation.