McDowell Sonoran Conservancy: Living with Wildlife – How to Let Wildlife Be Wild

With increasing urbanization, humans and wildlife face increasing challenges to coexist in the same space. Although human-wildlife interactions occur daily, we tend to take more notice when the interaction is particularly positive or negative. What are the ways  that humans and wildlife interact and is coexistence possible? Join us in understanding wildlife in an ever-changing world, discussing best practices when interacting with wildlife, and earning what we can do to promote human-wildlife coexistence, for the health and wellbeing of us all.

Jessie has loved animals their entire life and took every volunteer, internship, and job opportunity to care for animals from a very young age. They have a M.S. degree in Applied Biological Sciences from the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at Arizona State University, where they evaluated the effect of urbanization on bat habitat use across the Phoenix metropolitan area. At the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, they manage experimental and long-term wildlife research projects on key species groups, such as bats, birds, butterflies, ground-dwelling arthropods, ground-dwelling vertebrates, and reptiles, with the goal of monitoring and maintaining biodiversity in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve and beyond in perpetuity. Jessie works closely with citizen scientists, regional and global partners, and various stakeholders to conduct rigorous and comparable research, evaluate the impact of anthropogenic stressors on wildlife populations, and recommend and implement management practices to sustain a healthy ecosystem.