What inspired you to work for Swan Valley Connections?
I was inspired to work for Swan Valley Connections because of their excellent education programs and exceptional conservation work. SVC is a wonderful organization dedicated to connecting people to the natural world and each other.
Describe a typical day at work.
My work varies seasonally. During student programs, I am typically outdoors hiking around and teaching ecology or meeting with diverse guest speakers to talk about conservation and natural resource management.
A student learning radio telemetry
What is your favorite part of your job?
I love working outdoors in one of the wildest places on earth and sharing this special place with others through experiential education. I deeply enjoy being both an educator and conservation practitioner.
Meaningful travel means getting to know a place through the people, plants, and animals that call it home. Simply visiting a few tourist destinations is not enough.
What are some current projects you are working on?
I am currently working on our rare forest carnivore monitoring project that seeks to understand how wolverine and Canada lynx populations change over time.
Snorkeling our local river to study stream ecology
What makes Swan Valley Connections special?
The place we get to live and work in the Swan Valley flanks the western portion of the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, which is known as one of the last remaining wild and intact landscapes in North America.
It is one of the few remaining places on earth that still harbors its full complement of native fish and wildlife species in their natural habitats, including all the large mammals of the Northern Rockies such as wolves, grizzly and black bears, elk, mountain lions, moose, coyotes, fox, wolverine, bobcat, and Canada lynx.??
The forested valley floor supports this variety of wildlife while also hosting a small human community of 600 people. People have learned to co-exist with large carnivores such as grizzly bears through our conservation approach which emphasizes sound forest and wetland stewardship practices, research and monitoring, and natural history education and outreach programs, while valuing the complex relationships between the landscape and the people who live, work, and play here.??
In light of climate change, the Swan Watershed and this 10 million acre intact ecosystem will play a critical role in maintaining the viability of native fauna and flora by providing large core habitat areas and connected landscapes.
Are there any developments with your organization that you would like to share with us?
Swan Valley Connections is a collaborative conservation and education nonprofit. We collect and share scientific information; coordinate technical and financial assistance to get conservation projects done on the ground; assist landowners with living better on the land through consulting and cost share assistance for forest health, fire resiliency, water quality improvement, and weed management; as well as living better with wildlife with additional cost share assistance for electric fencing and bear-resistant trash containers.
We also provide educational opportunities to people of all ages through our K-12 and community programs, but what makes us unique among all the other amazing, collaborative conservation organizations around the state are our experiential college courses accredited through the University of Montana. Our goal is to connect people to one another and this extraordinary landscape.
A student helps gill net invasive fish species
What is Swan Valley Connections' mission and how do you continue to work toward it?
Our mission is to inspire conservation and expand stewardship in the Swan Valley.
?Our vision is that through exemplary stewardship, the Swan Watershed and adjacent landscapes remain wild and resilient where all people are connected to the natural world.
We value the responsibility to protect one of the last best, wild places on Earth, the abundance of public lands, the legacy that led to their conservation, and our responsibility to protect and steward them in perpetuity, the critical role private land stewardship plays in maintaining high quality habitat and the health of the land and all its inhabitants, and experiential learning that informs and inspires individuals of all ages to care for the natural world and be leaders in conserving it.
On top of that, we foster partnerships and collaborative decision-making that integrates science and local knowledge to support sustainable land management practices, traditional ecological knowledge and the role of tribal people in current and future conservation (as the Swan Watershed has been used by many tribes and is the aboriginal land of the Salish and Kalispel people), community involvement and the use of local, qualified contractors, and the work it provides for the regional economy.
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
Meaningful travel means getting to know a place through the people, plants, and animals that call it home. Simply visiting a few tourist destinations is not enough. You have to thoroughly experience a place through different points of view.