Huntscape Community and Ecology Lab
PI Ellen Candler
The Team
This research would not be possible without the people and collaborators that make it happen. Our team is growing! If you are interested in joining the team, please message us. See the contact page to connect with our lab.
Dr. Ellen Candler
PI
I was born and raised in Idaho, enjoying hiking, camping, fishing, and hunting. My passion for wildlife ecology and human dimensions of wildlife was born from the ecological and controversial landscape that surrounded the reintroduction of wolves to Idaho and Yellowstone. The impact humans have on wildlife and how that influences human relationships with wildlife motivates my research.
907-474-6642
Current Graduate Students
Ian Foote
Masters Student
I am a current graduate student at UAF interested in human wildlife conflict mitigation and community based natural resource management. I seek to use the lessons I have learned working across various human and ecological landscapes to reveal the nuanced perspectives of the people who live alongside wildlife, and the managers who seek to maintain wildlife populations. I have a passion for conservation biology fueled by a lifetime of backpacking, paddling, climbing, and recreating outdoors. I look forward to contributing to the Huntscape Lab and furthering its goals.
Danielle Brown
Masters Student
I am an incoming UAF graduate student interested in mammal activity in urban environments. My research will integrate ecological and human dimensions approaches to better understand interactions between people and wildlife through the Neighborly Wildlife: Fairbanks in Focus project. Before graduate school, I spent several years as a research technician studying piping plovers, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, white-tailed deer, Blanding's turtles, and more. Through these experiences, I developed a deeper understanding of the complex relationships among wildlife, people, and the environments they share, which continues to shape my approach to research and conservation.
Current Undergraduate Students
Jezebel Posey-Risberg
Undergraduate Student
I am a UAF undergraduate student majoring in Wildlife Biology & Conservation and minoring in Japanese Studies. I'm from Denver, Colorado and have had a passion for wildlife since I was a child. I am especially interested in entomology and scientific illustration. I am working with Dr. Candler to understand the "survival" of gut piles in Minnesota. We will use survival analysis to investigate what factors influence the persistence of a deer gut piles.
Ilona Bartnicki
Undergraduate Student
I am a wildlife biology major at UAF. My passion for wildlife conservation began with numerous synchronistic experiences as a child running wild in the woods of New England and Eastern Europe. I grew up riding motocross, camping, and backcountry fishing, giving me access to parts of nature few get to see. I moved to the PNW in my 20s, and have expanded those hobbies to include backpacking and hunting around the beautiful mountain ranges.
My time spent in the wild led to an interest in understanding human-wildlife interactions and keystone species conservation. Thusfar in my educational career, I have focused on studying the physiological intricacies of salmonids and how their life cycle contributes to the health of every living being on Earth. My ultimate goal is to help protect the magic of nature by contributing to affirmative management decisions that honor people and wildlife through research-based action.
Past Students
Blake Chrisler
Undergraduate Student
I am a UAF undergraduate student, going into my second year, seeking a bachelors in wildlife biology and conservation. Originally, I am from Washington state, where I grew up hunting, fishing, hiking, and doing whatever I could to stay outside. Coming from an area where people interact with wildlife almost daily helped start my interest in this research, causing me to want to dig deeper on how wildlife behaves in regard to humans. I hope this research helps me and others understand how humans impact wildlife, and how wildlife impacts us.
Emma Eisenhauer
Undergraduate Student
I am a UAF undergraduate studying wildlife biology and conservation. I am originally from Reno, Nevada and spent many of my summers in southern Montana fishing and hiking around the Yellowstone NP area. Those summers in Montana gave me a passion for learning about wildlife and the environment we share with them, especially in populated areas like Yellowstone. I look forward to learning more about this research and how humans interact with wildlife in the Fairbanks area.