Eagle Willier (Photo courtesy Eagle Willier)
Eagle Willier
Eagle Willier is the natural area manager for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) in northwest Alberta. She plans, budgets and implements stewardship activities on NCC properties while building strong partnerships with landowners, volunteers, municipalities and other stewardship groups.
Eagle started with NCC in June 2022. She intentionally led her career path through two main core values that focus on helping First Nations and the environment, which, according to her, go hand in hand. NCC’s conservation work is a prime example of how she upholds these values in her professional life.
Growing up in a small town, Eagle was not ready for the city life, so she attended the Augustana Campus where she obtained a bachelor of arts degree with a major in global development studies and a minor in environmental studies. Prior to joining NCC, Eagle was employed with First Nations Technical Services Advisory Group as a Youth Outreach Coordinator for five years. Here, she facilitated presentations to First Nations youth throughout Alberta on water conservation and fire prevention within the home. Before that, she was a park ranger for both the High Prairie and Grande Prairie district for two seasons where she patrolled over six provincial parks. You would often see her in full uniform, sweating, talking about bear awareness or issuing tickets to provincial park users. But her first professional job after university was with the Government of Alberta under both Environment and Parks, then Indigenous Relations, where she helped coordinate consultation with landowners and First Nation representatives on both the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan and the South Saskatchewan Region Plan for Alberta. Eagle has been fortunate enough to have worked in so many levels of engagement that NCC seemed like a natural continuation to collaborate with landowners on stewardship projects.
In her off time, you can find her at her family farm chasing cattle, fixing fences, never fully grasping stick shift in the hay-hauling truck and collecting medicinal herbs. When she isn’t on the family farm, you can find her dressing her dogs up in stupid costumes, attempting minor hikes around Edmonton, and hanging out with her friends.
