Sustainability Leadership Fellow Cohort: 2017-2018
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology
Research Summary:The recent push to reintroduce bison across the United States has the potential to restore grassland habitat for birds and other animals, while also engaging the public in grassland conservation. My research measures differences in grassland bird, mammal, and vegetation communities before and after bison reintroduction, as well as between bison and cattle grazed sites in northern Colorado. In addition, I am comparing how connected human visitors feel toward the reintroduction site before versus after the bison reintroduction. This study could serve as a model for the ecological and social assessment of future bison reintroduction efforts in western grasslands.