The Conway Science Fellowship in social science was awarded to the team of Evan Bredeweg, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in the College of Agricultural Sciences; and Ashley D’Antonio, an assistant professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society in the College of Forestry.
Their project will quantify how the patterns of the roads and trails at Yellowstone National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park might be impacting vegetation and wildlife. Specifically, they will investigate how roads and trails that provide recreational access are causing fragmented habitat – which negatively impacts wildlife.
“Managers at these parks can use this work to help inform park planning to balance recreation use with resource protection and we hope to use a method of analysis that can be repeated in other national parks,” D’Antonio said.