Montana Chapter Annual Conference
Conservation Policy: Getting Involved, Staying Engaged,
and How TWS Can Help
March 4-7th, 2025
Change is coming fast and furious to the wildlife of Montana, be it from increasing human populations and associated development, to novel diseases and invasive species, to climate change. At the same time funding and support for nongame wildlife is growing, conservation easements continue to pop up on important habitats across the state, and agencies are partnering to help connect fragmented wildlife populations and reduce the impacts of roads and fences. And the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act continues to languish in legislative limbo in Washington, D.C….it may have failed in 2022, but it’s not dead yet.
As I write this, America is choosing its next national leaders. When I think about our wildlife and other natural resources, there’s a lot to worry about AND a lot to hope for. Most of us wildlife professionals and students probably go about our daily lives wondering what will happen, and feeling like the fate of our natural world is in somebody else’s hands. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
There are numerous organizations out there working on conservation policy; among them is our flagship Wildlife Society, which helps bridge the gap between professionals and politicians in order to effect meaningful policy changes that will preserve the things we’ve dedicated our lives to managing, studying, and protecting. TWS has long been a powerful voice in Washington and has developed tools to help state chapters tackle local policy issues and add our voice to national ones.
My hope in bringing this topic to you for our 2025 conference theme is to help our membership better understand how conservation policy development works across state, tribal, and national levels. And I want to get you fired up about it. Ultimately, I want the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society to be more actively engaged with policy–and we need YOU!
Book Your Room Now!
Billings Hotel and Convention Center
Billings, MT
406-867-8111
Call now! And reserve your room by giving the group code: 64603 to secure your room at the state rate ($110/night plus tax)
You can also visit their website and under book now, enter the group ID: 64603
Registration
Please Register In-person. Thank you!
Want to know what the week will look like before committing? Check out our Schedule-At-A-Glance!
Abstracts
Deadline passed
Plenary Speakers
Charlie Booher is a Consultant at Watershed Results who specializes in natural resource conflict resolution. He gathers diverse interests, identifies the source of the problem, and supports the discovery of amicable paths forward. Charlie is dedicated to building a better world for people and for wildlife through coalition building and strategic advocacy at all levels of government. He has the great privilege of representing some of this country’s oldest, largest, and most generous conservation organizations in Helena and in Washington, DC. Charlie previously served in communications and government relations roles for The Wildlife Society, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and Michigan United Conservation Clubs. He worked in the Executive Office of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department on translating research findings into better governance and was a Boone and Crockett Club Wildlife Conservation Fellow at the University of Montana. Charlie holds undergraduate degrees in fisheries & wildlife conservation and public policy from Michigan State University and graduate degrees in wildlife biology, public administration, and natural resource conflict resolution from the University of Montana. Charlie is an Associate Wildlife Biologist © and a Professional Member of the Boone and Crockett Club. Outside of the office, you can find him hiking in the mountains of Western Montana and re-learning how to hunt and fish in the Northern Rockies.
Charlie Booher
Hannah Downey
Hannah Downey is the policy director at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), leading policy strategy and government affairs efforts to implement key policy reforms based on PERC’s groundbreaking research. She has applied her passion for the outdoors to advance lasting conservation wins since joining PERC in 2015. Hannah has testified before Congress and works closely with policymakers at the federal and state levels on conservation issues, and her work has been featured in media outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The Hill. Though she grew up in the Midwest, Hannah was lucky enough to spend her summers in Montana and worked as a backpacking guide in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness throughout college. Hannah now calls Bozeman home and fills her spare moments coaching youth mountain biking, volunteering in the local schools, and enjoying the wonderful outdoors every way she can.
Ryan Fitzpatrick has been the Crow Tribe’s Fish and Game Department Director since 2020. He previously served as Buffalo Pasture Director from 2000-2004 and counselor with the Addiction Recovery Program-Seven Hills Treatment Center from 2005-2008.
No photo available for Ryan Fitzpatrick
No photo available for Carlson “Duke” Goes Ahead
Since 2021, Carlson “Duke” Goes Ahead has been the Natural Resource Director for the Crow Tribe with oversight of the Fish and Game Department, Buffalo Pasture Department, and Apsaalookee Cattle Department. From 2003-2016 he was elected to the Crow Tribal Legislative Branch for the Arrow Creek District, holding positions as Speaker of the House from 2006-2007 and Revenue Committee chairman from 2008-2016. From 2016-2020 he was Vice Chairman of the Crow Tribe Executive Branch.
Jonathan Karlen is in his second term as a State Representative in Missoula County and serves as Minority Whip. He has served on the Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Natural Resources, and the Environmental Quality Council. He was President of the University of Montana Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society and holds a Wildlife Biology bachelor’s from UM with a climate change students minor, as well as a Masters in Public Administration. He works as a Research Fellow with the UM Boone and Crockett Wildlife Conservation Program.
Jonathan Karlen
Kelly O’Connor
Kelly O’Connor is the Conservation Policy Manager for The Wildlife Society (TWS). She coordinates TWS’ advocacy and policy engagement to ensure it reflects the scientific expertise of TWS’ members across North America and beyond. She also manages TWS’ Conservation Affairs Network, a grassroots network of wildlife professionals across TWS chapters and sections dedicated to advancing wildlife conservation policy issues. Kelly leads the development of policy engagement resources for TWS members and supports the local and regional advocacy efforts of TWS chapters and sections. Kelly received her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science from the University of Connecticut, where she studied the importance of early successional forests to imperiled wildlife in the northeast. She’s especially interested in the development and implementation of policy for listed species. Kelly lives in north central Florida and enjoys spending her free time birding and snorkeling Florida’s springs with her husband, son, and dog.
Workshops
Path Analysis/Structural Equation Models. Thomas Riecke, Tuesday, March 4th 9am – 3pm (lunch provided) Click here to register!
Cost: $35 regular, $15 student/retiree; Limit: 50
Ecological systems are complex and interconnected. This often creates collinearity among covariates, leading to challenges in conservation decision making. As a specific example, peaks in abundance of a harvested species might result in density-dependent effects as well as liberalized harvest regulations, creating confounding between the effects of harvest and density-dependence. Structural equation models are exceptionally useful for resolving this type of uncertainty. SEMs allow researchers to construct models with multiple ‘response’ variables, and estimate direct and indirect effects of covariates on parameters of interest. This workshop will give a broad overview of the foundations of structural equation modelling. In the morning, we’ll outline the theory underlying path analysis (Layton-Matthews et al. [2024] Journal of Animal Ecology), latent variables (Grace et al. [2010] Ecological Monographs), and cross-lags (Van de Pol & Brouwer [2021] Journal of Animal Ecology). We’ll then devote the afternoon to application using packages such as ‘piecewiseSEM’ and ‘lavaan,’ and also provide a brief tutorial on the construction of SEMs using Bayesian software.
**Some experience with R and/or regression will be highly beneficial (necessary) for the afternoon component.
Nature Journaling. Rebecca Newton, Tuesday, March 4th 10am – 12pm Click here to register!
Cost: $35 regular, $15 student/retiree; Limit 30
Nature journaling is a great way to enrich skills of observation, curiosity, and awareness. This practice has been employed for centuries by naturalists, scientists, and artists. Nature journaling is an accessible practice requiring only basic tools and a sense of curiosity. No previous art experience necessary! In this workshop we will explore several formats for nature journaling, practice approaching subjects with guiding questions, and document observations using combinations of words, symbols, numbers, and pictures. Instruction will cover techniques for sketching and recording observations in the field, and in-class sketching exercises. This will be an interactive class in which attendees will actively participate and carry out real-time exercises. Basic supplies will be provided. Attendees are also welcome to bring their own notebook or sketchbook and wet/dry media if they prefer.
Science-based self-care: How modern neuroscience informs whole-health practices to balance work, life, and relationships that won’t burn you out! Anna Rapson, Tuesday, March 4th 3pm – 5pm. Click here to register!
Cost: $25 regular, $10 student/retiree; Limit: 50
Learning to manage our stress and care for ourselves is essential to staying engaged with what we value and care about. Yet, how do we do so when there’s already so much to fit in? Sustaining a work-life balance can be difficult, and managing stress healthily can be even more challenging.
Since we can’t always change what’s happening around us, we can learn to change how we relate to what’s happening inside us. Our thoughts, emotions, and sensations are data for how we respond (or react!) to external circumstances.
Neuroplasticity confirms we can adjust maladaptive patterns and rewire our brains in a way that best serves our physical, emotional, and mental health. Adaptive strategies can replace problematic or unhelpful patterns with repetitive practice. Psychoneuroimmunology and interpersonal neurobiology emphasize the importance of paying mindful attention to the inner workings of how we move through pleasant, neutral and unpleasant experiences.
This workshop will incorporate modern neuroscience and the science of mindfulness to inform practical, evidence-based applications for managing stress, creating time for worthwhile self-care, and improving intra- and interpersonal relating. In it, we will cover:
- “Psychological safety” – what it is, why it’s essential, and how to create it for a functional (vs. dysfunctional) workplace
- How to cope in the midst of feeling anxious, or even powerless, over what’s outside of your control
- What are mind states and what is essence?
- Renouncing “judging, comparing, and fixing” mind states
- Attending to your well-being from the inside out
- Revisiting imposter syndrome – how to work with self-doubt and/or comparative judgement
- Relational health in tense settings
- Identifying, interrupting, and changing patterns that contribute to frustration or unease
No annoying or awkward icebreakers included! Ultimately, the purpose of this workshop is to empower you to experience greater satisfaction in the interconnection of your professional and personal lives.
Conservation Policy. Charlie Booher and Hannah Downey, Wednesday, March 5th 8am – 12pm Click here to register!
Cost: $35 regular, $15 student/retiree; Limit 30
Many wildlife students still don’t have an opportunity to take a policy class. Those who do have the opportunity typically experience either a recitation of agency structure, enabling legislation, and treaties, or a collection of stories from folks who have worked in the business of wildlife policy for some time. While both are valuable, we aim to offer guidance on how to understand and influence formal and informal policy in all its forms (private, public, local, corporate, state, federal, etc.).
Montana’s 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan: Partner Input on Threats and Conservation Actions. Kimberly Szcodronski and Kristina Smucker, Wednesday, March 5th 9am – 12pm Click here to register!
Cost: $10; Limit 50
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is leading efforts to revise Montana’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), which is due to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in October 2025. SWAPs identify Species of Greatest Conservation Need and their habitats, describe threats that impact those species and habitats, and identify conservation actions to address those threats. We are striving for Montana’s SWAP to be a collaborative effort that helps to inform conservation work for all partners who work on wildlife and habitat conservation in Montana. To accomplish that, we are engaging with our conservation partners between December 2024 and August 2025 by providing draft SWAP products that are ready for review and feedback. We would like to use the Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society conference as an opportunity to meet in-person with our partners. In this workshop, we will: 1) update partners on our progress on the SWAP revision, 2) provide an overview of threats and conservation actions in the SWAP, and 3) form breakout groups to review and update the threats and conservation actions.
President-Elect Candidates
Kari Kingery
Kari Kingery is a wildlife biologist, and program manager, for the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Wildlife Management Program. As a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, she started her career with CSKT’s Wildlife Program as a Biologist Trainee in 2008 while studying terrestrial Wildlife Biology at the University of Montana. Kari earned both her Bachelor of Science Degree (2013) and Masters of Science Degree (2020) from the University of Montana – Missoula. Kari is also an active member of The Wildlife Society, on both a national and state level, receiving her professional certification as a Wildlife Biologist in 2020.
Having been awarded the Alfred P. Sloan’s Research Fellowship in 2017, she conducted a master’s project on grizzly bear habitat selection and studied the effects of small livestock (chickens, goats, pigs, llamas) on the selection of habitat by grizzly bears in the Mission Valley on the Flathead Indian Reservation. This research was completed while working full-time as a grizzly bear research and conflict management biologist with the CSKT Wildlife Management Program. Upon graduation, Kari continued to work with landowners in reducing carnivore conflicts on the Flathead Reservation until becoming the program manager in 2022.
Wildlife does not exist in a vacuum, nor do they perceive or understand jurisdictional boundary-lines. Because of this, Kari recognizes the importance of coordination and collaboration across all efforts within our fields. Whether it’s partnerships with landowners and non-profit organizations; Universities and Colleges; or inter-Agency and Governmental relationships, managing for viable populations of wildlife across all of Montana rests on the incredible collaborative efforts of us all. If elected as TWS president elect, Kari would value the opportunity to continue to expand working on building relationships between our respective agencies and entities, while also highlighting some of the incredible partnerships we have that progress wildlife and habitat conservation today!
Dr. Lance McNew is Associate Professor of Wildlife Habitat Ecology in the Department of Animal & Range Sciences at Montana State University. Lance and his students conduct applied and basic research on the population and spatial ecology of wildlife with special focus on working landscapes. He has worked with collaborators across land and wildlife agencies and NGOs to publish >75 scholarly works, including >50 peer-reviewed journal articles and 7 book chapters. He is editor of the recent (2023) book Rangeland Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Lance’s commitment to research has been recognized with two international publication awards from The Wildlife Society (2014, 2016), and as the winner of the MSU’s Everyday Research Hero Award in 2023. Dr. McNew is active with the Prairie Grouse Technical Council, Society for Range Management, and The Wildlife Society, having served in officer and committee positions in all three professional societies. He is a Certified Wildlife Biologist®. He is most proud of the 20 undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral researchers he has had the privilege to advise and mentor while at MSU, who inspire him almost every day.
Lance has been a member of the faculty at MSU since 2014, where he and his students conduct applied research in wildlife ecology to improve habitat and population management. He also teaches classes in Range & Wildlife Policy and Rangeland Wildlife Ecology & Management. Previously, he has worked as wildlife biologist for both state and federal agencies, including a 3-year stint as statewide big game biologist in Indiana. He has been an active member of TWS for 23 years and has had the privilege to serve six different state chapters (AK, IL, IN, KS, MI, MT) in various capacities. During that time, he has seen a diversity of chapter focus, activity, and effectiveness that he thinks may serve him in a leadership position within Montana TWS. Montana is a special place. Like so many others, the state’s unique and abundant natural resources are the reason Lance tried for most of his life to land here. However, he has come to realize that it is the people of Montana that really make this place unique. He has never worked with more progressive, dedicated and motivated wildlife professionals, landowners, and stakeholders than those in Montana. It would be an honor to serve them as President-Elect of Montana TWS.
Lance McNew
Secretary Candidates
Alissa Anderson
Hi All! I am running to serve as secretary because Montana TWS has been an important part of my career journey. I have gotten a lot out of attending meetings over the years while a student and an early career professional and would like to give back now that I have the stability and capacity to do so.
In 2012 I received a bachelor’s degree from The University of Montana and then worked seasonal gigs for 7 years for the Forest Service, FWP, Glacier Park, Idaho Fish and Game, UM (go griz) and MSU (go cats). I worked on a variety of projects during these years including those focused on nongame critters in NW MT, sharp-tailed grouse habitat, fisher and lynx collaring, seal population dynamics in Antarctica, community science in Glacier, and forestry related wildlife surveys. In 2022 I received a master’s degree from Washington State University after studying Canada lynx occupancy and impacts of recreation on wildlife activity in Glacier National Park. I then worked for FWP as the mountain lion monitoring biologist working with many agency partners and houndsmen to study lion populations in the Little Belt and Gallatin mountains. Since February 2024 I have been happily employed in my ultimate dream job, FWP nongame wildlife tech for both regions 1 and 2.
Kristina grew up in Carnation, Washington camping, fishing, rock hounding with her family and generally cultivating a passion for wildlife. She was awarded her B.S. in Wildlife Biology from University of Montana, where she was the Student Chapter of TWS secretary and vice president 3 years collectively. She spent a stint of time in Laramie, Wyoming investigating niche partitioning and community ecology dynamics in small mammals throughout sagebrush and prairie grassland ecosystems. She was awarded her PhD in Ecology from the University of Wyoming in 2022. While completing the final few years of her dissertation she lived in a remote community on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. She moved back to Missoula, Montana in 2022 and began her career in Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) in 2023 as a field coordinator for the Western Montana Sharp-tailed Grouse Reintroduction Project.
Throughout her career in wildlife she’s developed an interest in supporting new professionals to keep the conservation and passion for wildlife strong in future generations of wildlife biologists. She’s helped organize a grass-roots conference on black-tailed deer in Alaska and overseen the logistics of large TWS events for student chapters as a student and a mentor post-undergrad. Through her career, especially in her current role, she’s worked with ranchers, private landowner, FWP peers, federal and NGO biologists, academic partners and the general public. Following these experiences she’s developed an interest in community-led, agency-supported conservation to encourage passion for wildlife conservation in the general public. Kristina has been a member of TWS for the past 25 years and has been constantly amazed at the passionate effort towards research and conservation she’s seen accomplished through dedicated wildlife professionals.
Kristina would love the opportunity to be further involved at the state chapter level of TWS. Especially in Montana, which has been an un-paralleled community to work in during her career. She enjoys spending her free time hunting and fishing with her friends, hiking with her dogs, and finding all possible wildlife-experience opportunities to do with her daughter.
Kristina Harkins