Wetlands Working Group

Jordan grew up in eastern Nebraska and has long been interested in the relationship between wildlife and agriculture. His enthusiasm for research was sparked by his first experience as a wildlife research technician at the University of Nebraska, tracking songbirds around corn and soybean farms. After graduating, Jordan moved to Texas to pursue a M.S. in wildlife biology, where his research focused on the nest ecology of White-tipped Doves (Leptotila verreauxii) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley along the U.S.-Mexico border. During his Ph.D. work at Iowa State University, he investigated the impacts of prairie restoration on grassland birds and other wildlife. Throughout his time in graduate school, Jordan devoted a considerable amount of time to teaching labs and mentoring undergraduate researchers. One such project on the wildlife impacts of oxbow wetland restoration in north-central Iowa, involved his first foray into wetlands research. After finishing his Ph.D. in early 2023, he accepted his current position at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, where his work is focused upon examining wildlife use of freshwater and saline wetlands throughout the Texas coast.

After graduating from Louisiana State University with a B.S. in Natural Resource Ecology and Management with a Wetland Science focus, Ethan earned his Master’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello. During his time at UAM, he conducted research on the diet and body condition of Arctic-nesting geese. He joined The Wildlife Society during graduate school and became a member of the Wetlands Working Group. After graduating in 2017, he began his career with Ducks Unlimited where he has held various biologist positions focused on wetland restoration projects across the southeastern United States. Currently, he serves as an easement program biologist with DU, working as a federal contractor to support the Natural Resources Conservation Service in implementing the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. This program helps protect and restore wetlands and associated uplands on private lands through long-term conservation easements. When he’s not working, he enjoys duck hunting, birding, and fishing in the marshes and swamps of South Louisiana.

James has served on the Wetland Working Group as a board member since 2021 and first became involved with The Wildlife Society in 2015 during his Ph.D. studies at Texas Tech University. James currently serves as a Migratory Game Bird Specialist for Texas Parks and Wildlife along the mid and lower Texas coast. In this capacity, his primary interest revolves around research and monitoring of wintering waterfowl. James is also heavily involved in wetland restoration and creation projects on both public and private lands. He also serves as the Gulf Coast Joint Venture’s Mid-Coast Initiative Team Chair. Prior to his current position with Texas Parks and Wildlife, James served as the Wetland and Waterfowl Coordinator for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. James was originally trained as a fisheries biologist and spent a decade working with native fish conservation programs in the intermountain west, before finding his true calling in migratory bird conservation. When not at work, you can find him on the bays chasing redfish, in the shop working on a motorcycle, or out looking for his dog that ran off, again.

Paul has been involved with TWS and the North Carolina chapter ever since he started graduate school at NC State University back in 2011. His early work was focused on topics of disturbance ecology and spatial ecology primarily in upland environments, but he later began applying these concepts to wetlands as part of his dissertation research. He joined the Wetlands Working Group in 2017, when he applied for the student travel award to cover costs associated with attending the national meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For the past few years, he has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at UNC Chapel Hill, where his research aims to integrate field ecology and remote sensing to understand global change and conservation of various wildlife taxa across broad spatial and temporal scales, with a particular focus on wetlands and coasts. He also teaches several undergraduate classes related to environmental conservation, global change, and spatial data science.

Emma is from Newton, Illinois and earned her B.S. in Geological Sciences and Biology from the University of Miami. After graduating, she worked on research projects involving common loons, acoustic bat monitoring, and soundscape monitoring. She is currently a master’s student at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M-Kingsville. Her research focuses on developing methods to survey waterfowl using acoustic recordings and understanding how waterfowl use wetland sanctuaries on the Texas coast.