Awards Committee Chair
term: Oct. 2017 – Oct. 2021
Sofi H
indmarch
Project Coordinator
Fraser Valley Conservancy
Abbotsford, BC V2T 3T8 Canada
voice: 778-238-7380
Sofi is a project coordinator with the Fraser Valley Conservancy and is an independent wildlife biologist currently working on various research projects for the government, municipalities, and NGO’s. Her research focus has been on raptors, mainly barn owls, which was also her introduction to raptor research in 2006 when she started her MSc at Simon Fraser University. Sofi has been a member of the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) since 2008, when she attended her first RRF conference in Missoula, and has been attending RRF conferences since. She also sits on the RRF Koplin Travel Award Committee.
Bylaws Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2019 – Nov. 2022
Clint W. Boal
Assistant Unit Leader – Wildlife and Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology
USGS Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Department of Natural Resources Management
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX U.S.A.
voice: 806-742-2851
Clint Boal earned his M.S. from the University of Arizona in 1993 where he studied food habits of Northern Goshawks, then earned his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 1997 studying the demography and ecology of urban Cooper’s Hawks. Following post-doctoral research at the University of Minnesota, he became the Assistant Unit Leader of the USGS Texas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Texas Tech University in 2000. In his current position, he instructs graduate courses in wildlife ecology and continues to conduct research on birds of prey, passerines, and game birds in context of changing landscapes and climate.
Charitable Giving Program, Legacy Manager
term: Oct. 2017 – Oct. 2020
Travis L. Booms
Regional Wildlife Biologist
Wildlife Diversity Program
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Fairbanks U.S.A.
voice: 907-459-7335
email:give@raptorresearchfoundation.org
Travis Booms earned his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2010 and currently is employed as a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Wildlife Diversity Program in Fairbanks. He conducts research and survey projects on Alaska’s nongame species in central, western, and northern Alaska. His most recent efforts include a state-wide raptor data legacy initiative and research projects on the movement ecology of Gyrfalcons and Short-eared Owls.
Conference Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2017- Nov.2020
Dan Varland
Executive Director, Coastal Raptors
Coastal Raptors
Hoquiam, WA U.S.A.
voice: 360-591-5959
Dan Varland earned a Ph.D. degree in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University in 1991 and B.S and M.S degrees from Eastern Illinois University (1974, 1976). He is currently Executive Director of Coastal Raptors, a non-profit organization providing research and education programs leading to a better understanding of raptors and their conservation in coastal environments of the Pacific Northwestern U.S. A member of RRF since 1979, Dan has served on the Conference Committee continuously since 2003 and was Chair from 2003-2008 before assuming Chair responsibilities again in 2017.
Conservation Committee Chair
term: Sept. 2017- Sept. 2020
James Dwyer
Environmental Scientist
EDM International, Inc.
Fort Collins, CO U.S.A.
Voice: 970-204-4001
Dr. James Dwyer is a research and environmental scientist at EDM International, Inc. James works primarily to prevent the electrocution of raptors and other wildlife on overhead power lines, and to prevent collisions between wildlife and anthropogenic structures. James completed an undergraduate biology degree with an emphasis in ecology at the University of Montana, received his Master of Science with a major in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the University of Arizona, and in Florida earned a Ph.D. in Fisheries and Wildlife. James’ Dissertation on the Ecology of non-breeding and breeding Crested Caracaras included chapters on the movement, habitat, survival, and social ecology of non-breeding birds and detection models for breeding birds.
Early Career Raptor Researchers Committee Co- Chairs
term: Nov. 2019 – Nov. 2022
Teresa Ely and Chris Vennum
Education Committee Chair
term: 2015-2017
position open
Finance Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2019 – Nov. 2022
Rob Bierregaard
Research Associate
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
voice: 704-516-4615
Rob Bierregaard began his life with raptors as a young falconer in 1969 and has been studying them ever since. His PhD thesis investigated the importance of competition in structuring raptor communities. He conducted the first nest study of the Crested Eagle and did some nesting and telemetry work with other Amazonian raptors. His current research focuses on Barred Owls in suburban habitats and Osprey migration, population dynamics, and ecology. He co-authored the Osprey account for the Bird of North America project and wrote the 81 species accounts for the Neotropical Falconiformes in the Handbook of Birds of the World. After 18 years at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, he has relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He recently edited a special edition of the Journal of Raptor Research on Osprey (vol 48 no 4).
Membership Committee Chair
term: March 2016- March 2022
Julio C. Gallardo
Doctoral Candidate
Mississippi State University
Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture
USGS Mississippi Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit
Julio Gallardo received his undergraduate degree in Biology-Terrestrial Ecology and his M.S. degree in Animal Behavior at the University of Veracruz, Mexico, studying the hunting behavior of Snail Kites preying on an endemic Apple snail in an area with heavy/intensive human harvesting. Currently, Julio is a PhD Candidate at Mississippi State University and graduate research assistant at the USGS Mississippi-Cooperative Unit. Julio’s PhD dissertation studying habitat use, distribution modeling, and estimating population of two oceanic populations of raptors in Puerto Rico. Julio’s interests include raptor population ecology, pesticides-parasites, human conflicts, and develop precise abundance estimates for poorly know and endangered species (i.e. tropical and island endemics) to enhance our capacities for management and conservation.
Nominations Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2018 – Nov 2021
Carol L. McIntyre
Wildlife biologist
Denali National Park and Preserve
Fairbanks, Alaska USA
voice: 907-455-0671
Scientific Program Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2019 – Nov. 2021
Julie C. Garvin
Senior Ecologist and Project Manager
Tetra Tech, Inc.
Portland, OR
Voice: 503-222-4537
Julie Garvin earned her Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2006. For the past 10 years her work has focused on understanding and reducing impacts to raptors within the renewable energy sector. Julie’s recent work has included developing predictive models specific to bald eagle nest occurrence.
Code of Conduct Committee Chair
term: Jan. 2019 – Jan. 2021
Cindy Kemper
Species Risk Biologist
Alberta Environmental and Parks
Cindy Kemper completed her MSc. research on raptor electrocution mortality on power lines at the University of Alberta in 2005. After some time travelling overseas, she returned to Canada and accepted a half-time position as a Species at Risk biologist with the Alberta Environment and Parks, and she is still there today. During the other half of her time, Cindy owns Bird on a Wire Environmental Services, Inc., providing client support to electric utilities and other power line operators to reduce avian-caused power outages and associated mortality on power lines (primarily from electrocution, collision, and nesting). While wearing these two hats, she also accumulated 14 years’ experience working part time as a raptor rehabilitator in Edmonton. Cindy travels whenever she can, incorporating volunteering and exploring nature at every opportunity. In her spare time, Cindy enjoys camping, hiking, birdwatching, gardening, yoga, and running. Cindy sits on the Code of Conduct committee, and has been involved with RRF since 2005.
Legal Committee Chair
term: Jan. 2018 – Jan. 2021
Jennifer O. Coulson
President
Orleans Audubon Society
Pearl River, LA
voice: 985-863-8516
Jennifer began working with raptors as a wildlife rehabilitator in 1981. She became a falconer in 1984 and a raptor propagator in 1987. Her population ecology study on the Swallow-tailed Kite began in 1995 and is on-going. This study was the focus of her doctoral dissertation, for which she received a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Tulane University in 2006. Other research interests include: Great Horned Owls as apex predators, cooperative hunting and heritable variation in Harris’s Hawks, raptor-mammal cleaning symbioses, Bald Eagle reproduction in suburban habitats, and the natural history of Ornate Hawk-Eagles. Jennifer joined RRF in 1985 and currently serves as a Director-At-Large.
Website Coordinator
term: Nov. 2017-Nov 2020
Megan Judkins
Aviary Director
Grey Snow Eagle House
Perkins, OK U.S.A.
voice: 405-880-0734
e-mail: webmaster@raptorresearchfoundation.org
Megan receive her undergraduate degree at Oklahoma State University in Natural Resources Ecology and Management. She graduated with her PhD from Oklahoma State University where her dissertation focused on the genomics and conservation of North American golden and bald eagles. She is currently the interim director at the Grey Snow Eagle House, a tribally run bald and golden eagle rehabilitation, education, and research facility. Megan is also on the ECRR committee for RRF.
Other Representatives
Jim Bednarz, RRF representative on the North American Bird Banding Council
Lloyd Kiff and Bill Bowerman, RRF representative on the Ornithological Council