Part 4
Ian's name is associated with three permanent post-secondary scholarships to assist students in his discipline: The Ian and Joyce McTaggart-Cowan Scholarship at the University of Victoria for outstanding students proceeding to year 3 or 4 of an Honours program in Biology, the Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan Scholarship In Environmental Studies for UVIC graduate students in the School of Environmental Studies who are focusing on Endangered Species Recovery and/or Ecological Restoration, and the Ian McTaggart-Cowan Scholarship in wildlife management at the University of Northern British Columbia.
In addition, UNBC has created the Ian McTaggart-Cowan Muskwa-Kechika Research Chair (2000), and UVic has given his name to a student residence at the Commonwealth Village (1998).
An Outstanding Record of Public Service
As a founding member, he served for 7 years on the National Research Council of Canada where he was the first Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Wildlife Research. He also served as Chair of the Environment Council of Canada, inaugural and 19-year Chair of the Public Advisory Board of the B.C. Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Arctic Institute of North America, Chair of the Canadian Committee on Whales and Whaling, and Vice President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In addition, he was a member of the Select Committee on National Parks for the United States Secretary of the Interior and a long- serving director of The Nature Trust of British Columbia. He served as Chancellor of the University of Victoria from 1979 to 1984. He was also the first Chair of the College Council of B.C. for 7 years.
He donated over 2000 titles from his natural history library to UNBC in 1992. Libraries have been another of his passions; he served as Chair of the UBC Senate Library Committee for 20 years.
Rod Silver (M.Sc, UBC) retired as manager of the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund in 2004. He first met Ian in 1971, and has worked closely with him since 1980 at the Trust Fund and on the Birds of British Columbia project. He is currently working with representatives of the University of Victoria and The Nature Trust of BC to establish a professorship in Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration in Ian's name. He would like to acknowledge the contributions in conversation of Bert Brink, Neil Dawe, Ron Erickson, Andrew MacDonald and Andy Stewart, and particularly of Ian McTaggart-Cowan himself.
IAN MCTAGGART-COWAN
