Molly is an applied ecologist and enthusiastic wanderer of wild spaces. She identifies strongly with her current home’s landscape in Western Montana along with the brilliant southwest desert of Northern New Mexico that raised her. Through time, she has been a researcher, an educator, a ski patroller, and baker. During college, Molly studied Environmental Science and Conservation Biology at the University of Oregon. Thereafter, she found herself working a range of wildlife research and environmental education jobs – many of which kept her moving through remote and wild landscapes. More recently, Molly received her Master’s from the University of Montana where she studied mountain goats in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (a true treat!). In addition to her work with WRFI, she is currently waddling through a PhD in Fish and Wildlife Biology where her research takes on two major themes: (1) understanding how climate, landscape and human factors influence wildlife populations and (2) understanding how diverse stakeholder collaborations help both wildlife and rural communities thrive. Molly is driven to better understand the interconnectedness of biological and social processes in order to better bring people together and positively impact on-the-ground wildlife and wildland conservation. All that said, you’ll most likely run into Molly smiling, singing and wandering the vast Northern Rockies landscapes by foot, by bike or by ski.