UM Wildlife Research Delivers Local and Global Impact
When Lisa Eby was a child, she spent lots of time playing in lakes and streams. She did what kids do—spent long afternoons watching fish, catching frogs, and turning over rocks to see what secrets lay beneath. What started as playtime developed into a passion. What if I could get jobs I considered “playing,” she wondered? This led her to major in the study of lakes, streams, and rivers in college. Lisa took her passion all the way to becoming the Interim Chair of the Wildlife Biology Program at The University of Montana.
Oddly enough, she’s still watching fish. Her major research project (in the highly ranked Wildlife Biology program at UM) is bull trout conservation in the Bitterroot and Clearwater River Basins. UM’s Wildlife Biology program attracts top-notch teachers and students from across the nation and is a center of excellence at UM. And they’re not just focused on fish. One of Lisa’s colleagues is studying bears right on the outskirts of Missoula to help manage their interactions with people.
Those are just two of the vital projects in the Wildlife Biology Program that are partially supported through donors—support that’s absolutely essential to creating a nationally ranked program like the one at UM. For example, the Longwell Family Foundation helps fund the bull trout and black bear research projects, allowing the best graduate students to be recruited, the best undergraduates to be hired, and allowing a greater scope of research that would be impossible to achieve with state funding alone.
The Longwell family has spent much of their cherished vacation time in Montana for many years. Harry Longwell views his family’s support as a way to give something back to his adopted state. “Montana is a very special place,” he said. “The pristine scenery and wildlife are a national treasure.“
And what about that research? UM’s research produces learning that’s pertinent to everyday life—life not only here in Montana but all over the world. UM has a scientist exchange program with places as far off as Bhutan and Pakistan. Research results are shared, so the latest wildlife conservation techniques have far-reaching benefits around the globe. “Research shows us how to work with the environment instead of working against it,” Eby explains. “The work we’re doing impacts conservation decisions made in this community, across the country, and throughout the world. It helps determine how humans move and live on the land.”
Through the bull trout study, a UM graduate student helped to gather radio telemetry data that was used by the state of Montana to prioritize spawning areas for conservation. The bear research shows that everything from how we feed birds to what fruit trees we grow in our yards can affect a bear’s behavior and determine whether or not a bear comes into contact with people. Understanding that dynamic helps people manage and minimize bear-human interaction.
And what’s good for the community is also good for the students. Local projects like the bear and trout studies not only engage the community, Eby believes they also “engage undergraduates in research and bring new students into the field as they take classes and learn about the field.” New students keep the interest level high and the program growing. Plus, sharing the research information internationally gives UM a global presence.
Private funding is crucial to help build and maintain the excellence of the program and to provide the opportunities UM offers its students. As Eby sees it, “People interested in preserving the openness of the land, the quality of the air and water, the sense of wilderness—being able to see elk or wolves—these things inspire people to contribute to the Wildlife Biology program. Conservation management helps preserve the Montana that people here know and love.”