Kennedy Tuccaro, MGEM

Experience

Kennedy (she/her) is a member of the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Treaty 8 Territory, Alberta. She is a Research Analyst with the Planning and Implementation team. Kennedy holds a BA in Geography: Environment & Sustainability and recently graduated from the Master of Geomatics for Environmental Management program, both at UBC. Her capstone research project used Mikisew Cree Indigenous Knowledge and GIS tools to understand the relationship between the Ronald Lake Bison Herd and the Athabasca River in northern Alberta. Her research led to the development of a regional habitat suitability map based on land cover classes using Mikisew Cree-identified positive habitat attributes for the bison herd. Kennedy has also been involved with several environmental advocacy groups and was a delegate at the 2022 and 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conferences.

During her time at Firelight, Kennedy has supported conservation and territorial planning projects. She has contributed to the development of the Land Use Plan for Lake St. Martin First Nation and territorial protection areas for Lake Babine Nation. Most recently, she has also been involved in several conservation focused projects, working on both bison and environmental conservation work with Mikisew Cree First Nation, and Guardian Program development with Sagkeeng Anicinabe First Nation, Lake Babine Nation, and Blueberry River First Nations. Kennedy also contributes to GIS-related work, such as facilitating in-community mapping, map methodology development, and critical habitat suitability modelling.