About Us

The natural world sparked Chris’s interest from a very young age. He spent every weekend exploring, fishing, and hunting in the great outdoors. As an undergraduate student, Sul Ross State University allowed him to follow this passion while working toward his degree in Natural Resource Management. As a freshman, he signed up for the Borderlands Undergraduate Mentorship Program with the Borderlands Research Institute. Throughout this time, he participated in big game and bird captures, performed multiple types of vegetation surveys, and gained experience with the data management side of the field. This hands-on experience grew his understanding of conservation and research while also preparing him for his master’s degree.

Chris’s master’s project examines the foraging ecology of Cinnamon Teal (Spatula cyanoptera) as well as their localized use of habitat in the Pahranagat Valley of southern Nevada, which calls within the Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex and serves as a stopover site within the annual cycle for Cinnamon Teal. The high-quality wetland complex in the area could be critical to these birds during migration. Throughout this project, Chris will work alongside the USFWS at Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge to band Cinnamon Teal, collect fecal samples, and deploy backpack trackers. While fecal analysis provides a snapshot of dietary preferences at the site, banding information and GPS trackers allow researchers to examine the wider-scale movement patterns of the species. These metrics will provide a deeper understanding of the importance of this stopover site and allow wildlife biologists to improve their management decisions.