(Featured Photo) Anne Yagi (left) is presented with the Blue Racer award by Dr. Katharine Yagi (center) and CHS President Dr. Jacqueline Litzgus (right) at the Canadian Herpetological Society conference in Montreal. Photo credit: Joe Crowley
Congratulations to 8Trees Inc. President Anne Yagi on receiving the 2019 Blue Racer Award, at the Canadian Herpetological Society (CHS) conference in Montreal. This award is presented to an individual every year in recognition of their cumulative contributions to the conservation of amphibians and reptiles in Canada. With the first Blue Racer award being bestowed in 2001 to Dr. Francis Cook, a well-known Canadian Herpetologist who was recently added to the Order of Canada in 2018, Anne is the 19th awardee and adds her knowledge and experience to the pool of expertise honored by the CHS.
Anne has been working in the field of amphibian and reptile conservation for over 30 years with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), and currently as an independent researcher and consultant through her company 8Trees Inc. After first working in wildlife and fisheries for several years, she started to focus her efforts on projects that aim to monitor and protect various species at risk populations in the 1990s, including the Massasauga rattlesnake, Spotted Turtle, Fowler’s toad, Gray ratsnake, Allegheny Mountain Dusky and Northern Dusky Salamander. She is currently the Chair and Co-Chair of the Fowler’s Toad , and Dusky Salamander Recovery and Implementation Teams.
Anne Yagi (left), shown sampling fish from the Niagara River as an MNR Fisheries Technician in 1982.
Over her years of devotion to amphibian and reptile conservation, Anne has mentored and employed numerous field assistants, providing them with unique experiences to study, protect and manage habitat of many of Ontario’s at-risk species. Many students have gone on to pursue their love of biology, conservation and research in higher education, and in the workforce.
The first group photo of the 8Trees Inc. team in 2017. Student Alanah Joyce (center left) and MSc graduate Curtis Abney (center right) have gone on to pursue education and careers in Biology
Anne’s dedication particularly stands out by her research on the Massasauga that inhabit an ecologically sensitive habitat in the Niagara region. With over 15 years of continuous research, she has monitored population declines due to stochastic environmental change, developed the “life-zone” concept for understanding subterranean winter survival, and designed ecosystem experiments aimed at establishing and encouraging winter habitat restoration for Massasaugas. Her most recent efforts have discovered an effective means of safely hibernating neonatal Massasaugas in the field.
Anne Yagi (right) showing the successful hibernation of a neonatal Massasauga by the use of a novel method called “assisted-hibernation” in an impacted wetland system in Niagara region.
Anne’s knowledge, accomplishments, and experience in conservation and environmental restoration, coupled with her academic research focusing on snake hibernation physiology, make her an ideal recipient for the Blue Racer award. The CHS and colleagues all look forward to learning more about Anne’s next research findings as she continues to pursue multidisciplinary approaches to mitigating impacts on at-risk amphibian and reptile populations.
Congratulations again to Anne for this well deserved honor!
For more information about CHS, please click the following link: http://canadianherpetology.ca/