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Summary: I'm a senior wildlife biologist at the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The focus of my work is wildlife conservation and human-wildlife conflict resolution. I've been fortunate to research wildlife and engage in conservation efforts in Africa and the USA since 2005. Most importantly, I'm husband to an amazing wife and father to a wonderful son. That's the short version.
My zoological focus is mammalogy, specifically large carnivore and ungulate species. I have had professional experience researching African lion, leopard, spotted hyena, mountain lion, gray wolf, coyote, black bear, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, ibex, and mule deer, and am wildlife capture and chemical immobilization certified. I've also been a consulting wildlife biologist in Uganda since 2017, collecting ecological field data on lion, leopard, and spotted hyena in northern Queen Elizabeth National Park while assessing compensation strategies for rural communities that have lost livestock to large carnivore depredation. This includes collaring lions to get critical data about movements and population dynamics. When not studying wildlife, I sometimes lead wildlife safaris to Africa. While the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are unbelievably amazing, my favorite wildlife reserves are Botswana's Chobe National Park, South Africa's Welgevonden Game Reserve, Uganda's Murchison Falls National Park, Zambia's South Luangwa National Park, and the Victoria Falls/Zambezi River area of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Prior to becoming a wildlife biologist, I was an aspiring nature and science journalist, following in the footsteps of trail blazers like writer David Quammen and photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols. Having been strongly influenced by their 2004 MegaTransect through Africa's Congo Basin with ecologist J. Michael Fay, I found myself working as a freelance writer, independent researcher, and amateur photographer for the National Geographic Society's Voices for Wildlife (2014 to 2018), covering elephant, lion, and rhinoceros. I'd earned a BA in journalism so I could hone my writing skills and my MA in African Studies with a focus on natural resources to learn more about a place that, in Quammen's words, "encompasses an extraordinary richness of biological diversity as well as an extraordinary richness of human cultures." Cultural curiosity dovetailed well with my longstanding fascination with wildlife and their natural habitats. It was a number of travels around several countries in Africa for the National Geographic Society, spending time with local people, working with field biologists and rural communities, talking at length with eminent lion biologist Craig Packer, and earning an advanced degree in biology and natural science that transitioned me to wildlife science. Today, my interest and work in wildlife biology exists as a focal point for my love of naturalistic observation, applied scientific research, and resolving human-wildlife conflict. My favorite activity is spending time with my wife and son. Aside from that I enjoy the outdoors, exercise, and reading as many books as possible. Or just taking an evening walk or sitting in my backyard at dawn or dusk, watching the birds and other wildlife at my feeders. With thanks and appreciation: Family My wife & son My parents Researchers/Other Professionals Craig Packer - Director, Serengeti Lion Project Robb Edgecomb - Owner, Executive Breakaway Tours Dereck Joubert - National Geographic Explorer-at-Large David MacDonald - Wildlife Conservation Research Unit Head, Oxford University Alexandra Zimmerman - Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Oxford University Moses Konde - Owner, Uganda Tours Dan Stiles - Member, IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group Mike Norton-Griffiths - Wildlife Economist Laurence Frank - Project Director, Living With Lions Glen Martin - Author & Environmental Journalist Thomas O. McShane - Senior Sustainability Scientist, Arizona State University Jonathan S. Adams - Conservation Biologist & Science Writer Philipp Henschel - Lion Program Coordinator, Panthera Luke Hunter - Executive Director, Big Cats Program, Wildlife Conservation Society Byron du Preez - Oxford University/WildCRU Hwange Big Cat Project Tom Hoffman - Supervisor, US Fish and Wildlife Service Nate Lefort - Supervisor, USDA APHIS Jeff Lombardo - Supervisor, USDA APHIS Editors David Braun - Director, Voices for Wildlife, National Geographic Oliver Payne - Articles Editor, National Geographic George Okello - Editor, East African Wild Life Society John Nyaga - Editor, East African Wild Life Society Andy Hill - Editor, East African Wild Life Society |
Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers
Mike & Dr. Siefert radio collar a lion.
Uganda field crew
Capture and sedation of a gray wolf in Minnesota.
Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park (America's Serengeti)
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