BHA's Collegiate Program presents Field to Floor, a 3-part series to help you become a stronger voice for our wild public lands, waters, and wildlife. Events are free and open to any and all students.
Join BHA's Government Relations Manager, Julia Peebles on 3/25 and 4/8 as she unravels the Congressional process and takes a deep dive into one of BHA's policy priorities, the Recovering America's Wildlife Act. Then test your knowledge on 4/21 with a special edition policy trivia night. It doesn't stop there because knowledge is nothing without action. Students who attend 2 of the 3 seminars will get the chance to author a Letter to the Editor, an opportunity to stand out among their peers and community as a leader in conservation.
Upcoming Live Events:
3/25/21 @5pm MST - Demystifying the Congressional Process
4/8/21 @5pm MST - Recovering American's Wildlife Act
4/21/21 @5pm MST - Special Edition BHA Policy Trivia
Recovering America's Wildlife Act Panelists
Caroline Murphy, AWB®, is the government relations manager at The Wildlife Society (TWS; wildlife.org), a professional association dedicated to inspiring, empowering, and enabling wildlife professionals and students to sustain wildlife populations and habitats through science-based management and conservation. She implements TWS' legislative and regulatory policy priorities at the federal level, and coordinates with regionally-based TWS chapters and sections on their implementation of policy correspondence.
Julie Thorstenson, PhD is a citizen of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in northcentral South Dakota and the Executive Director for the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society (www.nafws.org) a non-profit organization with the mission to assist Native American and Alaska Native Tribes with the conservation, protection, and enhancement of their fish and wildlife resources. Dr. Thorstenson earned a B.S., M.S. and PhD in biological sciences from South Dakota State University. Her research focused on cottonwood site selection using GIS for riparian restoration and incorporating culture into ethics education for scientists and engineers. Dr. Thorstenson has worked in Indian Country her entire career in various positions, including Wildlife Habitat Biologist and Health Department CEO for her tribe. She currently lives on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota with her husband and three children.
Jenny Dickson is Director of the Wildlife Division within the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. As Director, she leads a team of biologists who work with all species of wildlife and their habitats. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resource Conservation with a specialty in wildlife from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Management from West Virginia University, and is a fellow of the National Conservation Leadership Institute. A Certified Wildlife Biologist, Jenny has specialized in threatened and endangered species, songbirds, inland and freshwater wetland birds, reptiles and amphibians, small mammals, including bats, and in public education and watchable wildlife recreation. She has worked with a wide variety of wildlife species from butterflies to bears and on topics ranging from disease and toxicology to illegal collection to backyard habitats and more. She has led numerous professional conservation committees and working groups and was appointed to assist the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies with a Blue Ribbon Panel exploring long-term conservation funding.
Julia Peebles is BHA's Government Relations Manager. After graduating from Sewanee, Julia’s passion for political science lead her to Washington, D.C. where she worked for Senator Dan Coats of Indiana. Less than two years later, she found her calling when she joined the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) as their government relations representative. As a sportswoman, her hobbies intertwined perfectly with her career at TRCP working on federal sportsmen policy. She now spends her time in D.C. lobbying for BHA's policy priorities and keeping our members informed of important conservation legislation.