Native Peoples' Wildlife Management Working Group

Oki Nitsiitapi Nidaniko Natoyiipoka, Nistoo Amskapipikuniaki and Métis.

Born in Montana and having grown up in Washington State, Celina Gray calls the Pacific Northwest home. Celina’s scholarly motivation is grounded in her family; being a mother of four, it’s important for her to model relational responsibility to natural resources grounded in cultural knowledge, like it was provided to her by her father and others through communal ties.

Celina completed her bachelor’s in wildlife & fisheries biology at Salish Kootenai College on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. She is currently studying mixed-method research of cultural keystone species in the Human Dimensions Lab under Libby Metcalf within the UM wildlife biology program. Celina has a passion for tribal food sovereignty, tribal environmental law, science and policy, and increasing diversity and inclusion in the field of wildlife biology and conservation.

Avery Tilley is currently pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia with a focus on conservation medicine. He is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a proud indigenous scientist holding two Bachelors of Science degrees from Michigan State University in fisheries and wildlife management and molecular genetics and genomics. Tilley is passionate about conservation through the lens of wildlife disease and indigenous knowledge, working with tribal nations on collaborative, reciprocal wildlife health research. In 2023, Tilley was named an inaugural Braveheart Fellow by the Center for Native American Youth, a Darwin 200 Leader, and was the first Native American to be selected by National Geographic as a Young Explorer. Tilley has also championed tribal wildlife issues on the national and international stages serving as a panel moderator during the 2023 White House Tribal Youth Forum and as a delegate at the United Nations COP15 in Montreal. Tilley hopes to one day serve as a tribal veterinarian, assisting tribes with wildlife disease monitoring and mitigation across their historic lands.

Molly O’Grady works for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in County Mayo, Ireland in project development for the Mayo Dark Sky Park (Wild Nephin National Park). She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife Ecology-Research and Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Molly’s career spans a range of topics in relation to conservation, with a particular passion in preservation of native and endangered species, preserving cultural heritage and indigenous knowledge, and youth conservation leadership and development. For over ten years, Molly was a key structure in the development of the Wisconsin Conservation Leadership Program (CLC), a program for young adults designed to teach skills in conservation leadership, policy and mentorship. In an attempt to expand this program, O’Grady became a co-founder of a biennial youth conservation conference on a national level known as the Confluence of Young Conservation Leaders (CYCL). Aside from her work with youth, she has spent the past 10 years working with a variety of endangered species, with most of her research focused on native forest birds, solitary coastal bees and habitat restoration across the Hawaiian Islands. Molly is particularly passionate in the science of indigenous knowledge, and has spent nearly 18 years working alongside indigenous people, has served various roles in The Wildlife Society’s Native Peoples’ Wildlife Management Working Group, and is currently assisting with the continued development of their Native Student Professional Development Program. With dual-citizenship for both the United States and Ireland, Molly has moved to Ireland to learn more of her own culture and the indigenous knowledge that remains there. Her current work focuses on project development of the Mayo Dark Sky Park, discussing the effects of light pollution on biodiversity and humans, developing light pollution policy in Ireland, and preserving the dark skies for generations to come.

I have a B.S. in Biology from Portland State University and recently graduated with my PSM from Oregon State University in Fish and Wildlife Administration. Currently I work at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a Biologist working on endangered species along the Washington Coast, but I have worked as a Fellow for the USFWS, researcher for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife working on the State Wildlife Action Plan, working on the National Elk Refuge as a refuge specialist, as well as a program leader on a collaborative that includes Tribal, federal, state and local governments as well as private landowners and industry and NGOs. I have an interest in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (also known as Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and how we bring it into research and policy to give voice to the Indigenous Community that has been sorely lacking for too long.

I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management at Texas A&M University. Much of my research is focused on landscape ecology and spatial ecology of large terrestrial mammals. I was born on the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeastern South Dakota. My mother is a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and my grandfather is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

Daniel was raised in Kewa (Santo Domingo Pueblo), New Mexico, USA and is an enrolled tribal member. He had the privilege of learning his unique Tribal culture and language through growing up within his community. These early teachings are based upon the interactions with the local and regional environment that have shaped his community for thousands of years. Based upon his upbringing he grew a passion for wildlife biology and earned his Bachelor’s degree in wildlife science at New Mexico State University, and Master of Science in wildlife science at Purdue University. His lifelong goal is to increase Native American representation in STEM fields at the university, tribal, state and federal levels. In addition, he plans to assist tribes in continuing to sustainably manage natural resources while maintaining unique cultures, languages and indigenous ways of living. He currently is at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana pursuing his Ph.D. conducting research in partnership with the Blackfeet Tribe in northwest Montana to better understand the impacts of fences and proposed fencing expansion on elk migration movements and habitat use during parturition within the reservation, Glacier National Park and the Lewis & Clark National Forest.

I am a professor and director of graduate studies at the University of North Dakota. I have a B.S. in Zoology from Duke (1981) and Ph.D. in Ecology/Evolutionary Biology from the University of Pennsylvania (1987). I did my PhD work on desert amphibians in Big Bend National Park, Texas and accumulated 10 field seasons there learning how amphibians make a living in a hot desert. I taught at Virginia Tech for a few years, followed by a couple at Kellogg Biological Station at Michigan State University. I joined the faculty at UND in 1995 and have been there since. The bulk of my research still involves ecology and population genetics of amphibians, now in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, on how amphibians make a living in a human-dominated, highly-altered (by agriculture) world. I have expanded my research to other beings who interact with the landscape on larger spatial scales, including elk in North Dakota, wolves in northwestern Minnesota, and bison in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. The wolf research was the MS project of one of my grad students, who worked as a seasonal technician for the Red Lake Band of Chippewa DNR. Our work quantified what we already suspected – wolves move readily across “borders” and if Tribal Nations have different values and management goals than the surrounding state, how is it possible to achieve them? I also spend a lot of my time thinking about climate change and climate adaptation, and how state or federal management should also adapt to the new and uncertain conditions we are facing. One critical aspect of this is how non-Tribal agencies/organizations can best support Tribal interests and objectives in land and water stewardship. That is a goal, too, of my work in the TEK section of the Ecological Society of America, where we promote appreciation for Indigenous Knowledges, values, and peoples.

Nadira Mitchell is Diné (Navajo), born and raised in Tucson, AZ. Nadira graduated with honors from the University of Arizona in May 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources with an emphasis in Wildlife Conservation and Management, and a minor in American Indian Studies. After graduation, Nadira will be an Assistant Researcher for the Mescalero Apache Tribe’s Tribal Wildlife Management Plan through the Native American Research Assistantship (NARA) Program from May to September 2024. She has presented her research at two national conferences, and she currently serves on the Board of the Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering Foundation. After graduation, Nadira hopes to serve as a liaison between tribal and non-tribal governments, and she is particularly looking forward to the opportunity to continue building up the Native Student Professional Development Program.

My name is Dr. Shannon Finnegan and I am a wildlife biologist for Koniag Native Corporation in Kodiak, Alaska, where I carry out Sitka black-tailed deer and brown bear research to help inform management decisions. This project includes developing new tools to determine wildlife population estimates, to assist with harvest strategies and food security for Native communities. Additionally, I have developed and implemented a bear education and outreach program in rural communities across the Kodiak Archipelago. I conducted my PhD research on Kodiak and Afognak islands, where I spent four years studying bear and elk movement, dietary and energetic ecology in collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and numerous Native Corporations. My previous research experience includes large carnivore conservation and management in South America, Asia and Southern Africa, where I often worked alongside Tribal communities on wildlife conflict mitigation programs.

I am a community ecologist primarily interested in game mammal ecology and conservation. Currently, I am a postdoc at Pennsylvania State University studying spatial dynamics of chronic wasting disease among white-tailed deer. Prior to this position, I worked on long-term monitoring plans for white-tailed deer in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. I completed my Ph.D. studying gray wolf, moose, and white-tailed deer ecology in collaboration with the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, my M.S. studying feral pigs on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, and my B.A. studying waterbird habitat selection on the coast of Lake Erie. My long-term ambition is to earn a professorship to continue pursuing wildlife research, collaborating with native peoples, and working with students both in and out of the classroom, which I greatly enjoy. In my free time, I am an avid hunter and baseball fan.