Daniel Uresk wins TWS’ Special Recognition Service Award

Daniel Uresk has been granted The Wildlife Society’s Special Recognition Award in 2024 for “substantial research contributions.”

The award honors individuals or groups who have made a contribution, either in the long or short term, to the wildlife profession, wildlife conservation, management or science, or to a specific species, community, ecosystem or region.

In his long career with the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Uresk published dozens of research articles on a huge number of species, including black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia), swift foxes (Vulpes velox), mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus) and others.

He also worked on studies looking at using prescribed burning to help control cheatgrass invasion and reclaiming bentonite mining spoils. 

“Dan’s publications and articles have helped establish a strong and solid foundation for future wildlife research in the Great Plains and elsewhere,” said TWS member Greg Schenbeck, a retired wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, in his nomination letter.

Uresk, who retired from the USFS in 2020, also spent years mentoring graduate students and supervising field technicians and other research scientists. “Dan was never one to seek recognition and was always content staying in the background so that his graduate students and other research colleagues received the acknowledgement and recognition for their collective research accomplishments,” Schenbeck said.

“Dan was also very effective and skilled at putting science on the table during controversial land use debates and decisions involving the national grasslands and forests in the region.”

Uresk will be presented with the Special Recognition Service Award at the 2024 Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.