Summer technicians hired by donor dollars

As a result of our community of financial project supporters, I've hired field technicians for the summer. Two of them! The timing worked out just right to bring two quality, experienced people on-board our field team.

Working the first half of the season will be Danny Proctor, who served as the project's lead technician in 2020. He will work until August 15 or later. After that, Danny will set his sights onto graduate school at Montana State University, which he will begin later in August.

 

Danny volunteered his way into project field operations in 2019 and left a strong impression. Well versed in different disciplines, an excellent communicator, and an avid climber of Glacier's peaks, I trust Danny's ability to make informed, well-reasoned decisions while working in the dynamic physical environment of our study sites. Danny left his seasonal position with a different employer this summer to return to the project. We appreciate his dedication to our research.

 

Originally hired last year, but unable to travel to the United Stated due to Covid-19, Maria Serrat Crehuet (Marian) will serve as the project technician for the second half of summer now that travel restrictions have been lifted. Hailing from Spain, Marian is being sponsored by Washington State University for a J-1 exchange visa to work on the project. We expect Marian will obtain his visa and travel to Montana between August 1 and August 15 to begin fieldwork.

 

Marian's an experienced mountain guide who has traveled and worked around the world with multiple bear species. In early 2020, he completed his Master's degree in ecology and wildlife management, where he investigated brown bear stress levels in the Pyrenees using fecal hormones. Prior to that Marian spent a summer in Kamchatka (Russia) where he monitored brown bear and visitor use, for assessing bear tourism in the area. We look forward to hosting Marian this summer and providing him with additional field experience he can apply toward his future aspirations.

 

Danny and Marian will work with my superstar volunteer (and friend) Burt Bjorling and myself over summer. Burt is a former National Park Service employee and coworker. As feasible, we will incorporate additional volunteers into our field trips this summer.

 

Burt and I recently embarked on our first field outing of the summer, to deploy remote cameras at a field site. This weekend, Danny, Burt, and myself will initiate our repeat moth sampling effort on this mountain. I will write again soon with an 'update from the field' to provide you all with an overview of how the summer field season is going. Stay tuned!