Forest Service Station: Rocky Mountain Research Station

My favorite science experience was not in the outdoors, but while sitting at a computer. I had just finished building a map-based computer model of how spotted owls move across the land. The model could draw land areas of different sizes and shapes. I was surprised to see that large areas of irregularly shaped land behaved like networks of smaller areas. Shape was as important as size to providing good habitat for the spotted owl. As I pondered this finding, I realized that many scientists were dismissing the importance of the size and shape of land areas for wildlife habitat. This realization has shaped my career as a scientist. Here is a picture of me handling a wolverine kit. It was marked and radio-tagged so that we could follow it.  The orange cloth was to protect
its eyes from the sun while it was drugged (it was waking up when the picture was taken).