Jeremy Dertien, Courtney Larson and Sarah Reed

Jeremy Dertien is a Ph.D. candidate at Clemson University studying wildlife biology and conservation planning. Jeremy's research focuses on how different bird and mammal species use the habitat of Hardscramble Preserve and the surrounding Congaree Biosphere Region. Knowledge from studies like this help us to better understand best practices for conservation planning. Jeremy's work will help to inventory the 100+ bird species that utilize Hardscramble Preserve every year and guide decisions about important areas in the region to conserve for future generations. Courtney Larson am a conservation scientist for The Nature Conservancy's Wyoming chapter, based in Lander, WY. I work to conserve biodiversity and promote improved coexistence of humans and wildlife through research, outreach, and collaboration. My research interests are centered around understanding and minimizing human impacts on wildlife, including those from recreation, land use and land cover change, and climate change. I completed a PhD and MS in Ecology at Colorado State University, focusing on the effects of recreation on wildlife, and hold a B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Studies from Colby College. Sarah Reed is Associate Conservation Scientist with the Livelihoods Program. She is currently a Smith Conservation Research Fellow at Colorado State University. Her research examines how human development patterns and land use practices affect wildlife and biodiversity. Sarah has worked extensively with government agencies and conservation organizations, addressing issues from local to national scales of resource management, in public as well as private lands contexts. She is especially motivated by research projects that have the potential to inform land use decisions and conservation policies as well as to expand our understanding of how species respond to human disturbances. Sarah’s current research investigates alternative strategies for residential site design to protect biodiversity on private lands. Sarah recently joined the Board of Directors for the Society of Conservation Biology – North America Section. She also lead several projects—Dr. Reed: 1) Co-leads an interdisciplinary working group on the social, economic, and ecological dimensions of conservation development (School of Global Environmental Sustainability); 2) Integrates social and biological information to map human-wildlife conflicts (National Wildlife Research Center), and 3) Maps how habitat connectivity and threats to connectivity in southern Colorado (Southern Rockies Landscape Conservation Collaborative). Sarah earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy & Management from University of California, Berkeley. She is based in Fort Collins, Colorado.