Portfolio

Entry #1:

This is my discourse community analysis report. I have added this piece of work to my E-portfolio because I have never written anything like this before.It has proven to me that I have the capability of researching and interviewing in order to put together information into an analytic form.

 

Introduction

This report will supply you with the essential information you will need to succeed in this line of work. The information provided to you has been obtained through my research and interviews with fellow conservation officers. The information obtained from these interviews has been summarized it to provide you with the necessary advice to get you started within this discourse community. I will take you through some of the background information on conservation officers. I will also be introducing you into what you will be doing and why it is important to our province and our natural resources. I will be showing you the research and analysis of a conservation officer and finally a few helpful concluding recommendations.

Background

A “discourse community”,” in summary, is a group of people who communicate with one another in specific ways in order to achieve goals that unite the group” (COMM202–Communications, 2017).The community of Conservation officers is a community that works together to educate the public, conduct investigations, and enforces the laws protecting our natural recourses (McGarry, 2016).

I understand when starting out on your first day it can be something quite hard to take in and get a grasp of considering the amount of pressure that is placed amongst you. Although just keep in mind that you are not alone. The discourse community of conservation officers is one big family, there to help you along when ever need be. There is a large amount of information about conservation officers and their duties that you hopefully have some concept of. I will get into further detail throughout this guide.

As a Conservation officer, you play a very valid roll in protecting our natural resources and wildlife. Conservation Officers are empowered to take many actions to protect our natural resources including, stop and/or inspect a vehicle, boat or aircraft, inspect firearms, ammunition, fish, and game. They are also empowered to search with a warrant and in some circumstances requiring immediate action they can search without one (McGarry, Conservation officer powers and authorities, 2016).

Research and Analysis

Conservation officers in 2015, Ontario’s conservation officers: made over 220,000 enforcement contacts issued close to 7,000 warnings laid nearly 3,000 natural resource charges (McGarry, Conservation officer powers and authorities, 2016). They also spent more than 8,900 hours educating the public on conservation and safety (McGarry, Conservation officer powers and authorities, 2016).What this is showing is the main goals of a conservation officer. A conservation officers main goal is to protect the natural resources and wildlife but also providing the public with education and knowledge of our natural resources. Sometimes this is more effectively done with a warning then issuing a ticket (Ascott, 2017).

Conservation officers have few different ways to intercommunicate while on the job. This includes, work cell phones, personal locator beacon, truck radio, radio communication center and depending on your location you may need to use a satellite phone if you are out of signal. Emailing will be your main source of your communicating as you will be sending and receiving many emails every day, you will also be attending monthly team meetings which will help to keep everyone up to date on projects and what needs to be addressed (Ascott, 2017). Expect to get feed back from the public through email or phone calls about how you are doing. Conservation officers are trained to treat the public with respect and courtesy and are required to act in a manner that promotes respect for the law and public confidence (McGarry, Become a conservation officer, 2016).

Conservation officers along with most law enforcement officers are required to use specific language when on duty, for example when you are calling anything in over the radio it is all by code, 10-7,10-4,10-20,10-29 etc., they all have a very different meaning and will help you in communicating back to radio communication center. Officers will also develop a way to create rapport, this is good when you are investigating or even during everyday contact with the public. (Ascott, 2017)

Conclusions and Recommendations

The information provided to you is just to get you started, there is much more to learn about this discourse community and with any luck this will get you started on the right track. Try your best to stay on top of the specific language and evolving equipment and technology within this discourse community. From the interview and research, I have conducted I have three points of advice for you to consider.

• “Try to learn something new every day. Don’t stop learning, don’t stop teaching yourself new things and always remember that you don’t know everything and each person you meet will provide you with new and helpful information”(Ascott, 2017).
• “Don’t forget that you serve the public, the public does not serve you. Remember to treat everyone with respect and treat everyone you meet and contact on the job like you would want to be treated”(Ascott, 2017).
• “Have the mindset that you will return safely back to your home every night”(Ascott, 2017).

 

Conservation officers and law enforcement are a family and you will have the support you will need along the way, strive to make yourself a better officer everyday and you will be just fine. Welcome to the community.

References

Ascott, J. (2017, may 26). Conservation Officer. (T. Ascott, Interviewer)

COMM202–Communications. (2017, january 4). Module One. Retrieved from Fleming college : https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/69451/viewContent/766787/View

McGarry, K. (2016, August 23). Become a conservation officer. Retrieved from http://www.ontario.ca: https://www.ontario.ca/page/become-conservation-officer

McGarry, K. (2016, august 10). Conservation officer powers and authorities. Retrieved from http://www.ontario.ca: https://www.ontario.ca/page/conservation-officer-powers-and-authorities

 

Entry #2:

The reason I put my first blog of the semester in my E-portfolio is that it was a blog that I could freely write and express my discourse community. I also received great feed back from Thomas Jenkins commenting “Great first post and topic,Travis! I enjoyed reading this one, and looking forward to reading more throughout the semester. You make some important points about the misconceptions with hunting. A lot of people don’t see the good in it, which is a shame”.  This encouraged me to expand more throughout in my other blogs.

Blog # 1 My discourse Community

The discourse community that I am proud to be a part of is the hunting community. For the public that does not know or understand hunting and has not yet been educated well enough, I think you might find this blog interesting and hopefully helpful.To start things off I would like to get one thing clear, hunters are a law abiding community that strives to work towards the same goals and that is to effectively learn to understand the wildlife they are intending to hunt. They are a group of people who put forth endless hours of practice and preparation to ensure when it comes to the point in time that you do harvest that animal you know that it will be done in the utmost ethical way to ensure that animal does not suffer.Anyone who does otherwise, such as the certain groups of individuals who are trophy hunters and just are in it for the kill and waste the animal and take nothing but the antlers off an animal are not hunters, these are not law abiding people, these are poachers.These are the people who give my discourse community are terrible reputation.  I am drawn to the hunting community because it has been a way of life for me since a young kid, it has also been a way of life for many generations before me. I take pride in knowing where my food comes from and knowing the hard work I have put forth and sacrifices that were made from the animal itself. I do not take harvesting animals for granted but more so as blessings. As hunters, we play a major role in conservation and restoration of wildlife and their habitat, through the purchasing of licenses and donations to foundations, etc, I am playing a part in helping to grow and better our present and future generations wildlife.

Entry #3:

Entry three is from last semester in Comm201. The reason I chose this piece of writing was that it was one of the first species profiles I have completed. I felt as if the process of completing this assignment helped me with my writing through the scaffolding process. Where one draft was peer reviewed and the next was teacher reviewed. Receiving feedback from several points of view helped me improve each time.

Description

The Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis) is most commonly found in North America ranging from the southern states to eastern Canada and into the central parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The male Eastern Bluebird is a blue colour from its head down the back of the bird and wings. It has a rusty brown color covering most of its upper throat and breast. The female is slightly paler in colouration. The population of the Eastern Bluebird has been increasing from 1966 to 2015 but some threats are present causing some setbacks in population. (Cornell labs of Ornithology , 2015)

Physical Characteristics

The Eastern Bluebird is part of the thrush family with larger wings but the tail and legs are short. The bill is short and straight. Male Eastern Bluebirds are a blue colour from its head down its back and wings and it has a rusty brown colour covering most of its upper throat and its breast. The female is a slightly paler blue in colouration with more predominate rusty brown colour for camouflage. Both sexes measure 16-21 cm long and have a wingspan of 25-32 cm. (Cornell labs of Ornithology , 2015) . Juvenile Eastern Bluebirds are grey in colour with spots on there breasts and have blue wing tips. The spots disappear as the young bird ages and matures into an adult and then takes over the adult colouration. (biokids, 2017)

Population

Eastern Bluebird populations were increasing since some of the first studies on the bird in the 1960’s. A set back in the population was caused by the introduction of the European Starling and sparrows which made it difficult for the Eastern bluebird to find nesting availability and for the bluebird to hold onto its nest. The use of Bluebird trails and other nest box campaigns helped the Bluebirds substantially since many of the new nest boxes were made to keep out larger birds. The Eastern bluebird numbers have been recovering ever since. There has been an estimated breeding population of 22 million with 86 % of that being in the U.S.A., 22% in Mexico and only 1 % breeding in Canada. The conservation status of the Eastern Bluebird is at least concern. (Cornell labs of Ornithology , 2015)

Threats

It’s not predators that are the greatest threat to the Eastern Bluebird it is humans that cause the most damage. The Eastern Bluebirds population is being seriously stressed from the habitat that is being used for new construction and human development. Farming is another major threat for the bluebird because of the increased use of pesticides on plants in open areas which is the main area of habitat for the Bluebird. Eastern Bluebirds also use wooden fence posts for nesting but farmers have started to switch to metal posts creating again another loss in nesting availability. As the human population increases and demands to grow cities and towns go up the habitat for the bluebird is at a loss. (Cornell labs of Ornithology , 2015) (Athol royalston high school, 2011). Other natural threats to the Eastern Bluebird can be the house sparrow, black rat snakes, raccoons, black bears, American kestrels, domestic cats, and squirrels.  (biokids, 2017)

References

Athol royalston high school. (2011, june 22). Threats of the bluebird. Retrieved from Bluebird project: https://sites.google.com/a/arrsd.org/bluebirdproject/home/threats

biokids. (2017, 02 18). Eastern bluebird. Retrieved from Kids’ Inquiry of Diverse Species: http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Sialia_sialis/

Cornell labs of Ornithology . (2015). Eastern Bluebird. Retrieved from allaboutbirds.org: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Bluebird/id