STUDENTS

Tyler Dungannon: I grew up an avid outdoorsman in southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley. My predilection for hunting and studying game species led me to Eastern Oregon University, where I received a Bachelor’s of Science in ecological biology. Prior to joining the Hagen lab in 2018, I worked for Oregon State University (OSU) as a research technician on several research projects focused on avian and mammalian predators, corvids, gamebirds, and wild ungulates.

As I pursue my Master’s in Wildlife Science at OSU, my research is focused on resource selection of greater sage-grouse. Specifically, I am investigating how varying thermal signatures influence sage-grouse brood habitat use and selection at a microscale. Concurrently, my project is collecting demographic data to augment an existing dataset obtained by projects in the Warner Mountains focused on quantifying the effects of conifer removal on sage-grouse.

Chelsea Sink: I grew up in the Flint Hills of Kansas and obtained a B.S. in Wildlife,Conservation, and Biodiversity from Kansas State University. Prior to joining the Hagen lab in 2019, I studied lesser prairie-chicken response to predator abundance, and helped with several other projects focused on Kansas species like the grasshopper sparrow, ring-necked pheasant, white-tailed deer, and mule deer.

I am broadly interested in predator-prey dynamics, and wildlife responses to habitat management and disturbance. My current research as a Masters student at OSU examines the affect large landscape-level disturbances have on the demographic rates of a small, geographically isolated population of sage-grouse in NE California. Additionally, I am exploring how these disturbances affect the makeup and occupancy of the local predator community.

Kim Haab: I joined the Hagen lab in 2020 and am pursuing my M.S. in Wildlife Science. I completed my B.S. in Conservation Biology from St. Lawrence University in 2016. As a Vermont native, I am passionate about the outdoors and conservation, with a particular passion for ornithology. I found my way out west on numerous occasions for service work with AmeriCorps NCCC, trail work with the Bureau of Land Management, California Conservation Corps, and National Parks Service, and now to continue my education. I have also volunteered with the Thunder Cape Bird Observatory in Ontario, Canada, assisting with visual and audio counts and banding of passerines, owls, and small raptors during the fall migration.

My research at OSU explores the impact of juniper removal on Greater sage-grouse and the surrounding vegetative and invertebrate communities in southern Oregon and northern Nevada. Specifically, I am collecting demographic data on sage-grouse to assess habitat use, measure nest success, and track population trends. I am also sampling and surveying vegetation to assess potential differences in forage quantity and quality due to juniper removal and am sampling invertebrates using pitfall traps to examine potential differences in ground-dwelling invertebrate diversity due to juniper removal. Previous research completed during my undergraduate degree includes examination of the ethology and phenology of a species of robber fly in riparian areas of upstate New York and assessment of the impact of microplastic pollution on North Country waterbodies. A strong conservation ethic motivates me in my work and I hope to contribute to the preservation of earth’s biodiversity in whatever way I can. In my spare time I enjoy cooking, reading, napping, birding, running, hiking, camping, backpacking, and basically anything outdoors.

Jamie Oskowski: Growing up in the Sacramento Valley of California, I had many opportunities to be involved with fish and wildlife. I have spent most of my life participating in outdoor recreation activities such as camping, fishing and hunting. I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from California State University, Chico in 2018. About halfway through my undergraduate career, I found that my passion resided with wildlife, specifically waterfowl. I began making the transition in my course work and field experience so that I would be prepared to enter the wildlife field after graduation. Since graduation, I have worked numerous waterfowl technician positions throughout California, Nevada, and Oregon for Federal, State and Private agencies.

I recently joined the Hagen Lab in March of 2021. My research is focusing on understanding the importance of permanent emergent wetlands in the Klamath Basin for waterbird reproduction and endangered fish populations. I am assessing the value of these wetlands as they pertain to breeding habitat requirements by characterizing waterbird communities, wetland composition of emergent and submergent vegetation, and hydrological factors. I will be comparing these findings to the history of wetland composition within the Klamath basin to determine hydrologic and habitat factors limiting waterbird reproduction in the Pacific Flyway. My goals for obtaining my Master’s Degree in Wildlife Sciences will be to acquire a position as a Waterfowl Biologist where I can continue collecting valuable data for informed management decisions. In my free time, when I am not working with waterfowl, I enjoy traveling, tying flies and fly-fishing new waters.

POST DOCTORAL SCHOLARS

Lizz Schuyler: I feel that as wildlife biologists, we play a vital role in understanding how drivers of change influence wildlife populations to ensure well informed conservation and management decisions are made. Therefore, the focus of my research is largely based on applied ecology, in which I use spatial and statistical modeling to understand how disturbances influence habitat use and population dynamics of harvestable species.  Currently, my research with the Hagen Lab examines the effects of a large scale wildfire on a population Greater sage-grouse in the Trout Creeks Mountains in Oregon and Nevada.

My enthusiasm for the great outdoors began as a child growing up in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. I received a B.S. in Wildlife Science from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 2009. After graduating, I enjoyed years working as a field technician on studies that included a wide array of taxa all over the country. I earned a M.S. (2015) and Ph.D. (2020) in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University. The broad focus of my thesis and dissertation were to determine how land-use changes and climate influenced mule deer habitat and population dynamics. In my free time, I find any excuse to get outside or tend to my hobby farm.

Carl Lunblad: I am an avian ecologist whose primary interests are in the adaptations and behavioral strategies by which animals maximize their fitness in response to spatial and temporal environmental variability.  An improved mechanistic understanding of how animals are currently adapted to environmental variability can lend us needed insights into how they will respond to future environmental change.  I’m particularly interested in animal migration and movement strategies, thermal ecology, life-history evolution, and how those principles can be applied to population management and conservation.

I joined the Hagen Lab in March 2021 as a postdoctoral scholar examining Greater Sage-Grouse movement and habitat selection in response to experimental conifer removal.  I recently completed a Ph.D. at the University of Idaho, examining geographic variation in and thermal drivers of variation in Burrowing Owl reproductive strategies.  I also contributed heavily to a satellite-telemetry based investigation of Burrowing Owl migratory behavior throughout the western United States.  I previously completed an M.S. at the University of Arizona, where I studied the altitudinal migrations of Yellow-eyed Juncos and tested competing hypotheses to explain variation in individual migratory strategies.  Prior to graduate school, I worked in applied natural resource management and conservation including stints working at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and for The Nature Conservancy in my home state of New Mexico.  I earned my B.S. from the University of New Mexico, and first learned to love the outdoors while exploring the deserts and mountains of the southwestern United States.  When not working on my research, I can be found undertaking my own short- and long-distance migrations, traveling within and beyond the American west, hiking, and observing bird movement and behavior everywhere I go.

E-Campus STUDENTS:

LeeAnn Harris: I grew up in the Columbia Basin area of Washington and earned my Bachelor’s in Natural Resources from Washington State University.  I am a Professional Science Master’s student in Fisheries and Wildlife and currently reside in Lakeview, Oregon.

I am a wildlife biologist with Bureau of Land Management and  a Platoon Sergeant in the Army.  Currently, I am involved in wildlife monitoring of Greater Sage-Grouse, pygmy rabbits, and Townsend’s big-eared bat.  I am the project lead for the annual bat monitoring within the Lakeview Resource Area.  I also conduct surveys for Columbia spotted frog.

My goal for this program is to enhance my knowledge and skills within wildlife biology.  My program entails implementing the Lakeview Resource Area bat-monitoring program.  I am focusing on bat populations and occupancy as well as surveillance of white-nose syndrome.  When I have time, I enjoy camping, hiking, bird watching, kayaking, backpacking, snowshoeing, and snowboarding.

Anne Hong: Since earning a B.A. degree from Drew University in New Jersey, I have worked for natural resource agencies and private consultants in stream flow monitoring, watershed assessment, restoration prioritization, and stream and wetland impact inspections.  I continue to work full time for a Pennsylvania state agency in the latter while returning to graduate school with the goal of changing careers from stream and wetland management to wildlife management.

Broadly, my interest in restoration and management of streams in working landscapes carries over to my interest in habitat and species restoration in changing, working lands for birds.  I am also interested in the use of detection dogs and bird dogs in natural resource surveys.  My capstone project at OSU will involve comparing American woodcock singing males recorded via autonomous recording units (ARUs) before, during, and after USFWS established singing ground survey dates in young timber harvest areas in Pennsylvania.

Melina I. Frezados: I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, spending summers camping and fishing in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming.  My lifetime interest in the natural world led me to earn a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology from Averett University in Virginia. Since my undergraduate work, I have worked for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Resource Management Department as a Wildlife Technician.  Most of my work focuses on monitoring wildlife populations for zoonotic disease.

I am interested in the anthropogenic influences on urban wildlife, with a focus on birds of prey.  My project, which will complete my PSMWA degree at OSU, looks at heavy metal contamination within wetland avian guilds in the Forest Preserves of Cook County.  Special focus will be placed on the results of depuration and contamination on hatch order in 1–2-month-old osprey chicks.

Shaun Ziegler:  I grew up in Indiana and spent most of my summers with family in Missouri, spending a lot of time in my youth hiking, camping, exploring, and developing an appreciation of and fascination with the natural world in the forests of Southern Missouri and the Ozarks. Learning more about ecology and natural resources became the passion that guided my career goals toward being involved in research and stewardship of our environment  Throughout the course of my undergraduate work in biology, and continuation of study through graduate work in biology, ecology, natural resources and environmental policy, and management, I worked in various field and lab environments on projects ranging from inventory work to resource management technique impacts and global climate change driver influences on ecological structure, function, and process. After graduation, I have worked as an assistant ecologist for the Indiana Natural Heritage and Nature Preserves Program and worked to manage and administer the Kentucky State Nature Preserves Program in a variety of capacities working to recover, improve, manage, and document threatened and endangered plant, animal, and ecological communities.

Since joining the Hagen Lab in 2018, I began a new position as the Ecologist for the Central Pine Barrens of Long Island, New York, focused on research and management improvements for plant, animal, community, and habitat benefit in this globally rare and protected ecosystem. My interests in both research and management work are really broad but have significant focus on improving the effectiveness and efficiencies of interagency collaboration and conservation investments at holistic system, regional, and landscape levels towards conservation goal achievement. Rare, threatened, and endangered species and how to best manage their recovery and the habitats they rely on are another core area of interest and focus. My time in the Hagen Lab and at OSU has allowed continued learning and development of my understanding and professional skill in wildlife and habitat management and administration significantly.

PREVIOUS MEMBERS:

Christopher “Digger” Anthony: PhD, Thermal Ecology and Population Dynamics of Female Greater Sage-Grouse Following Wildfire in the Trout Creek Mountains of Oregon and Nevada. Currently, employed at USGS as research scientist.

 Andrew Olsen: PhD, Greater Sage-Grouse Demography, Habitat Selection, and Habitat Connectivity in Relation to Western Juniper and its Management. Currently, employed at The Nature Conservancy as research scientist

Laura Shick: PSMFWA, An Environmental Assessment for Upper Muddy and Webb Draw Pasture Allotments, WY: as it pertains to amphibians of conservation concern. Currently, employed as biologist for private firm.

Lee Foster: MS, Demographic and habitat selection response of Greater Sage-Grouse to large-scale wildfire in southeastern Oregon.  Currently employed at ODFW as Assistant District Biologist, Hines, Oregon.

John Severson, Ph.D. Univ. Idaho, Greater Sage-Response to Conifer Encroachment and Removal.  Currently, employed at USGS as research scientist.