Meet the team behind PWR’s mission to research and conserve wildlife species of the prairie and their associated habitats.
Prairie Wildlife Research: Mission
Prairie Wildlife Research was established in 2001 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to research and conserve wildlife species of the prairie and their associated habitats. PWR works throughout the Great Plains with federal and state agencies, universities, private landowners, and other non-governmental organizations to conduct timely, economical, and quality studies and projects that contribute to sound management decisions. PWR’s focus includes all wildlife species inhabiting the prairie. Projects include surveys, reintroductions of native species, habitat enhancement projects, and working with others to resolve wildlife-related issues.
Prairie Wildlife Research: Team
Travis Livieri, Executive Director, founded Prairie Wildlife Research in 2001. Travis earned his B.S. degree in Biology and Wildlife and M.S. degree in Natural Resources with wildlife emphasis from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. His M.S. thesis investigated the selection of prairie dog colonies by black-footed ferrets. He has worked with prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets since 1995 and traveled throughout the Great Plains to conserve and research prairie species. Travis has received several awards including an Emmy, US Forest Service Regional Forester Partner of the Year and several others. In 2009 Travis was featured in Jane Goodall’s Hope for Animals and appeared in the documentary film Return of the Prairie Bandit in 2011. He is a member of the The Wildlife Society, the American Society of Mammalogists, and the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team (past chair and member of Conservation Subcommittee, member of Executive Committee)
April Livieri comes from a background of event planning, retail sales and connections with the domestic ferret community. From a young age she has been interested in animals and has owned domestic ferrets since she was a teenager. At Prairie Wildlife Research she works part-time coordinating donations and sponsorships, helping with outreach and social media and maintaining connections between PWR and the domestic ferret community.
Ann Marie Gage, Development Director, has been involved with biodiversity conservation and environmental education since 1992. She completed her B.S. in Zoology at Colorado State University. She has worked with numerous non-profit organizations to optimize their fundraising, educational outreach and membership programs. Ann Marie joined Prairie Wildlife Research in 2006 and served as chair of the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team Education and Outreach Subcommittee.
Wally Van Sickle is a Board Member and President/Founder of IDEA WILD, a Colorado non-profit that works to equip, empower and activate the world’s most promising environmental leaders to grow and strengthen the movement to conserve the planet’s biodiversity. In 1986, after earning a B.S. in Zoology, Wally volunteered to assist conservation biologists in Kenya. He later earned an M.S. in Zoology while developing methods of estimating mountain lion populations in Utah. Soon after, he headed for Australia, and then Belize, again volunteering to assist conservation biologists. He started IDEA WILD in 1991.
Skyla Fay
Past Board Members:
Eric M. Anderson, PhD
Martin Grenier
Jane Perry