CCP TEAM
Jocelyn Akins
Founder | EXecutive director
Jocelyn founded Cascades Carnivore Project as a shoestring effort to address the conservation issues facing rare carnivores in the Cascade Mountain Range. She earned her PhD in Conservation Genetics from the University of California Davis where she focused on the ecology and conservation of the Cascade red fox. Jocelyn loves mountain ecosystems and employing genetic and ecological tools to better understand how carnivores and their habitats are faring in our modern world.
Alex Dwornik
PROGRAM MANAGER
Alex supports our program operations behind the scenes in Seattle. On the hooves of local mountain goat research in the Cascades, he first joined our team to assist with the wolverine winter field study. Most of his career has been spent studying carnivores and ungulates in the inland northwest. As a recent transplant, he is excited to get boots on the ground and explore some new country while chasing some incredible animals.
Rachael Pecore-Valdez
INTERNSHIP Coordinator
Rachael describes herself as a habitat generalist having worked in ocean, river, riparian, oak woodland and urban settings leading community science and education projects. In 2014, she founded the Wolf OR-7 Expedition, a journey and a film about the people along wolf OR-7's dispersal route from Oregon into California. During her Master’s of Science degree at Schumacher College, she focused on multiple ways of knowing about the natural world. She is passionate about considering all the tools we can use to address complex ecological questions including western science, Indigenous knowledge, local knowledge, and art.
Gretchen Kay Stuart
Communications Manager | Conservation Photographer PARTNER
Gretchen is a professional conservation photographer who volunteers months each year hiking and camping in remote corners of Mount Rainier to track and document the natural history of wolverines and Cascade red foxes. She photographs wildlife both in-person and with DSLR camera trap technology. Her photos have resulted in impressive behavioral discoveries and help us raise much-needed awareness for threatened species and their fragile ecosystems. Gretchen is happiest roaming around in the mountains with wildlife, but when not in the field she handles science communications for the org.
Scott Shively
Field BIOLOGIST
Scott has led many of our field efforts and has been the driver behind many research successes. He has worked as a wildlife biologist since 2011 primarily studying montane and forest carnivores, and raptors. He has led raptor migration monitoring sites for HawkWatch International, conducted wildlife surveys for the USFS, and studied American kestrels for Boise State University. He enjoys the challenge of studying mountain carnivores in their remote habitats and is passionate about conserving those wild places and protecting public lands.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Nate Redon
Ph.D. Student, Cascade Red Fox TELEMETRY STUDY
Nate is a mountain adventurer and wildlife ecologist from Seattle who has spent most of his life exploring the Cascades. He is currently leading Cascade red fox trapping and GPS telemetry efforts as a Ph.D. student researcher with Dr. Sarah Converse in the Quantitative Conservation Laboratory at the University of Washington. His research interests include carnivore population dynamics, conflicts at the human-wildlife interface, and intraguild interactions in changing montane landscapes.
Brittany Bowling
M.Sc. Student, CANADA LYNX PROJECT
Brittany is excited to partner on her Master’s of Science degree to study the effects of stressors such as climate change on Canada lynx stress and the gut microbiome. She earned her B.Sc. in Wildlife Biology and Conservation at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she spent most of her time looking at hoary marmot hairs. Though marmots will always have a special place in her heart, her real passion is carnivore conservation. Previously, she managed CCP’s community science program, and the photographic and genetic datasets for our long-term studies in the Cascades Range.
INCREDIBLE INTERNS
Mari MacLane
Data intern
Mari is an early career biologist who loves wild places and the creatures who call them home. With a B.S. in Biology and a variety of experiences in natural resources, she hopes to spend her career researching wildlife to better understand and protect them, and to improve conservation outcomes. Mari enjoys supporting Cascade Carnivore Project’s mission as a volunteer and intern.
Megan Morrison
Wolverine ID Project Manager
Megan is from Wisconsin and has worked in wildlife conservation for the past eight years. She came across CCP several years ago and has loved being a small part of our work in carnivore conservation. Megan is currently based in Utah but remains involved with CCP through remote volunteering and her position managing our wolverine identification database.
SYLVIA PERRIN
HOOD RIVER VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL INTERN
Sylvia is a senior in Hood River, Oregon with a passionate love of exploring and the outdoors. She enjoys spending her time with friends and family out in nature and up on the mountain. She runs competitively and plans to attend Tufts University next year for track and cross country. She is so excited to work at CCP!
COLLABORATORS
Kayla Shively
CARNIVORE COLLABORATOR
Kayla collaborated on several of our carnivore projects. She completed a B.A. at the University of Iowa and a graduate certificate in Wildlife Management at the Oregon State University. She has studied golden eagles and other raptors, and spent 4 years as a Wilderness Ranger for the US Forest Service. Her favorite aspect of her current role is glimpsing the lives of rare carnivores by following their tracks through the snow. For her MSc, she is studying the fisher, a rare carnivore recently reintroduced to the Cascades, at the University of Washington.