NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA FISH AND GAME CONSERVATION CLUB
*************************
The Orillia Fish and Game Conservation Club (OFGCC) is proud to announce the awarding of the $3,000 OFGCC Deceased Member’s Bursary for 2021 to a Lakehead University student.
The winner, Kate Read-Maney, is a master’s student of the Department of Biology at Lakehead University in Orillia. She is currently working for her M.Sc. degree (by thesis) in Biology under the supervision of Dr. Nandakumar Kanavillil, Professor of Sustainability Sciences/Biology.
Read-Maney's research topic for the degree is “aquatic epiphytes as bio-indicators of environmental Impacts and its usefulness as water quality indicators.” The study of these microscopic epiphytes will hopefully tell us how healthy Lake Simcoe wetlands are at this time.
The work is being carried out in Simcoe County Wetlands near Orillia including OFGCC’s Langman Marsh in addition to the Lagoon City Marsh, Victoria Point Marsh and the Holland Marsh. Our club has great concerns for the wetlands of the Lake Simcoe watershed and the fish and wildlife that live there.
Read-Maney holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from Colorado State University, where she was a member of the Tri-Beta National Biological Science Honours Society.
She moved back to Collingwood with her family in 2019.
Coming home to Ontario, she gets a chance to indulge in her passion for hockey. In her spare time she coaches her daughter’s hockey team and serves on the board of the Collingwood Girls’ Hockey Association.
The Orillia Fish and Game Conservation Club has been working for the conservation of our natural environment since its inception in 1947. Since 1981 the club has offered a bursary to honour our past members. At first it was given to graduating high schoolers who went on to study the environment at post-secondary schools.
A few years ago the club felt that we could do more for conservation by sponsoring the research of university or college students. We hoped that this would promote research on the local lakes, wetlands and forests of the Lake Simcoe basin.
The Orillia Fish and Game Conservation Club is very happy to help Kate Read-Maney with her research. She gains an education and we all gain with more knowledge about our environment. A win - win for us all.
*************************
