Committees

Awards Committee Chair
term: Oct. 2017 – Dec. 2023

Sofi Hindmarch
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. BoalClint 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 – Dec. 2023
Travis L. BoomsTravis 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.

Code of Conduct Committee Chair
term: Jan. 2019 – Jan. 2023

Conference Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2017- Dec. 2021

Daniel E. Varland 2018

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- Dec 2023

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
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory

Teresa Ely received her M.Sc in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2016. Her research focused on analyzing body size change in American Kestrels as it relates to population decline. She started banding raptors in 2008, when she was an intern at Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO) and continued to work at different migration stations throughout the West and Mexico. After completing her graduate work, Teresa became the Banding Manager at GGRO and manages over 100 citizen scientists in raptor migration data collection.

 

Chris Vennum
Doctoral Candidate
Colorado State University
Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Dept.

Chris Vennum is a PhD candidate at Colorado State University where he studies the demography and life-history of Swainson’s Hawks across agricultural habitats. He previously studied immunology, physiology, lead exposure, and parasite work in several raptorial species. He received an undergraduate degree from Western Washington University in Biology with an emphasis in marine studies and a Masters of Science in Biology from the University of Nevada-Reno. Chris also sits on the Code of Conduct committee and has been involved with RRF since 2014.

Finance Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2019 – Nov. 2022
Rob Bierregaard

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).

Governance Committee
Nov 2020 – Dec 2023

Mark Martell
TetraTech
Minneapolis, MN

 

 

 

 

 

Legal Committee Chair
term: Jan. 2018 – Dec. 2023
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.

Membership Committee Co-Chair
term: Nov. 2019- Dec. 2022

Gallardo_JulioJulio 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.

 

Membership Committee Co-Chair
term: Nov. 2019- Dec. 2022

Rebecca McCabe
McGill University

Rebecca McCabe received her B.S. in Environmental Biology at Millersville University in 2013, and then earned her M.S. in Biology at East Stroudsburg University in 2016 studying the nesting behavior of Broad-winged Hawks in Pennsylvania. Currently, Rebecca is a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University. For her research Rebecca is using Project SNOWstorm’s dataset to link individual movements to population-level processes by focusing on various aspects of snowy owl winter ecology in North America. She is a research associate at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and has been collaborating with other researchers and organizations on raptor-related projects since 2013.

 

Mentoring Program
term Nov 2020 – Dec 2023

Matt Stuber Eagle Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management
Columbia Pacific Northwest Region Medford, OR U.S.A.
voice: 503-729-0178

Matt received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, and his M.S. in Raptor Biology from Boise State University, studying the exposure to and effects of pesticides on Burrowing Owls in southern Idaho. He currently serves as the regional raptor/eagle biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the pacific northwest and pacific islands (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii), where he helps lead the agency’s raptor/eagle conservation and management efforts. In this role, Matt collaborates with many partners to help answer questions that will inform management action. Matt lives in Medford, Oregon with his wife and two twin boys (age 8).

Nominations Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2018 – Dec. 2021

Carol L. McIntyre
Wildlife biologist
Denali National Park and Preserve
Fairbanks, Alaska  USA
voice: 907-455-0671

Carol McIntyre received her Ph.D. in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University in 2004. She is a wildlife biologist at Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska, where she has studied the ecology of Golden Eagles, Gyrfalcons, and other birds since 1987. Carol has been a RRF member since 1984, served as a RRF director for several terms, and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Raptor Research.

Scientific Program Committee Chair
term: Nov. 2019 – Dec. 2021