Wildlife Wonders: Exploring Ecology and Conservation in Montana

 Course Description: In this interactive course, students will learn about wildlife ecology, natural history, and conservation in Montana. Through engaging lab exercises, local field collection, and writing scientific lab reports, students will be introduced to ecological principles at the population, community, and ecosystem levels. Students will engage in the scientific method, understand how to ask scientific questions and embrace scientific rigor and uncertainty. Further, students will assess human impacts on wildlife populations and apply their knowledge to wildlife management issues in Montana. 

Montana will be the backdrop for this course. Specific course objectives include: Learn aspects of the natural history of Montana wildlife; Understand the historical and contemporary issues in wildlife ecology and management in Montana; Understand how scientific investigations are conducted and the implications of science in wildlife management; Identify and understand society’s role in using and conserving wildlife habitats and populations.

Course instructor: Dr. Erim Gómez is an assistant professor of wildlife biology at the University of Montana and founding PI of the Charismatic Minifauna Lab. He has formerly served as Co-Director of Southern Oregon University’s (SOU) Ecology Center of the Siskiyous (now the Environmental Resource Center). While at SOU, he co-led an effort to pass a green tags initiative to offset the university’s carbon footprint. He served on the board of Oregon Stewardship and the board of the Society of Northwestern Vertebrate Biology. Gómez holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies from SOU and a Master’s and Ph.D. in Natural Resource Sciences from Washington State University. Gómez is a naturalist at heart and thus has eclectic research interests, including the conservation of endangered species, the ecology of freshwater ecosystems, amphibians, reptiles, freshwater fish, and riparian birds.