Copyright 2000, Environmental News Network
September 27, 2000
By Claude Morgan

Two different nations. Two unrelated universities. Two separate university programs. With so little in common, why on Earth would two university departments move mountains to create a single, joint-university course?

Faculty of environmental sciences at the University of Montana and the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, say their cooperation proves a point: Environmentalists need to start looking beyond national borders to protect internationally shared wildlife.

This year, the two universities are launching a first-of-a-kind joint-university study in environmental transboundary issues. Graduate students and faculty from the two universities will move freely between two campuses, examining the similarities and differences in U.S. and Canadian conservation efforts, particularly along the Rocky Mountain corridor that connects the two universities.

"We live in one bioregion," says Michael Quinn, professor of environmental design at the University of Calgary. "Even though we have provinces, states, two countries and a number of shared national and native American preserves between us, grizzly bears, wolves and people still need to move freely across the border."

As permeable as the friendly U.S.-Canadian border may appear, says Quinn, shared international boundaries can often create environmental problems for wildlife: Wolves, grizzlies and other biota, for instance, don't always know which side of an international border offers the best wildlife protection.

"Boundaries are just social constructs that we draw on a map," says Quinn. "Culturally and politically, we may need them. But biologically, we need to treat them as if they weren't there."

To understand how boundaries affect wildlife, says Quinn, consider the plight of the transboundary North American grizzly bear. In the United States, grizzlies are protected by the Endangered Species Act. In Canada, the far-roaming carnivores have no such legal protection.

In the United States, where grizzlies are slowly expanding their habitat east of the Rocky Mountains, the Endangered Species Act cannot protect them outside of existing, recognized habitat areas. But in Canada, where grizzlies are more loosely protected under a conservation "management plan," local and federal land managers can easily redraw boundaries to accommodate a change in habitat.

"Clearly we can learn a lot about this, the best — and worst — of both systems," says Quinn.Perhaps more important, he says, the two countries will benefit from a generation of new environmentalists who can work comfortably in both systems and on both sides of the border.

Students enrolled in the Montana-Calgary course say the transboundary study is already helping them break down their own cultural and political barriers.

"Environmentally and politically, I've always been an internationalist," says Gary Hughes, 34, a graduate student at the University of Montana. Reflecting on his experiences in Central America as an environmentalist and labor organizer, Hughes says that even he is surprised today by the oft-pronounced differences in land management techniques in the two North American countries.

"I definitely gained an appreciation for how the Canadian system works," says Hughes. "Canadians take a much more grass-roots, cooperative approach to land management," he says. "Here in the United States, we tend to legislate conservation."

Hughes, no longer convinced that drafting new laws is the only way to protect the environment, says he'll pursue the study of boundaries and international environmental relations in other parts of the world.

Meredith Paige Hamstead, 26, enrolled in the University of Calgary's environmental design program, says the exposure to other land management approaches has given her a deeper appreciation for conservation efforts elsewhere.

"This course gave me a tangible look at how land management really works," says Hamstead. "Ecologically, our border makes no sense. But, I also understand now that it's the political reality on the ground."

Both students say that, when it comes to protecting wildlife, they'd like to see greater cooperation between the two countries.

That pleases Len Broberg, professor of environmental studies at the University of Montana. He and the University of Calgary's Quinn designed the transboundary course to foster precisely that spirit of international cooperation and understanding.

"Transboundary planning is a rising issue in the ecology movement," Broberg observes. And with political and economic movements such as International Free Trade on the rise, he says, the sooner universities start helping students think "outside of the box," the better for everyone — and everything — on all sides of international boundaries.Broberg hopes one day to see his students working in U.S. and Canadian organizations, putting their interest in a shared environment ahead of cultural and political differences.

In the meantime, he says, he and Quinn would like to expand on the course. But that may take time. Developing a graduate course into a full-fledged, joint-university program is fraught with its own cultural and political snares. "We have our own political and administrative boundaries to contend with," notes Broberg. Error: Unable to read footer file.