For as long as I can remember, I found peace and solace in nature. Nature, be it forest, plain, or mountain, is where I would go to think, to feel, to heal. I have never outgrown my fascination with all God’s creations-flora and fauna-and how intricately the two are entwined.

I entered Oklahoma State University with the intention of becoming a wildlife veterinarian…which wasn’t even “a thing” at the time. My degree in vet medicine changed to a BS in Zoology upon marrying my newly-commissioned army officer husband.

We spent the next 25 years moving every 1-3 years and raising two sons. During a posting in Vermont, I earned an MA in Teaching Biology, with a concentration in forest ecology. We settled in Wisconsin after our 27th year in service, with wolves almost outside our back door…just in time for me to earn an MS in Biology with research examining how Central Forest wolf pack success is impacted by their pack territory habitat quality.

TWIN and its members played a pivotal role in my wolf education and the success of my research. I could not have done it without their help, based on their passion and dedication to their rational perspective and dedication to science-based wolf education. I have spent the past 10+ years assisting with workshops, track-a-thons, and wolf-monitoring fieldwork. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve on the board.

Flash forward to present day. What I learned from my experiences with TWIN helped me to become a regional coordinator in the tracking program and field tracker for the annual TWIN at Treehaven workshop. I have also been involved in summer wolf howl surveys for the past 20 years. My work life is not in wildlife science but my experiences with wolf monitoring have fed my interest in natural resources. I look forward to continuing my involvement with wolf monitoring for years to come and hope I can inspire you to get involved too.