Special Recognition Award: Dr. Tanya Shenk

Dr. Tanya Shenk
Dr. Tanya Shenk

The Biometerics Working Group (The Wildlife Society) Special Recognition Award recognizes a group or an individual that has made an outstanding contribution to the development and application of quantitative methods to the fields of wildlife science and management. The 2021 recipient was Dr. Tanya Shenk for being a life-long advocate and implementor of quantitative methods in wildlife management. She has been an active member of the BWG and served as a board member in 1997-1998 and 2010-2011. Her dissertation explored how to detect density dependence in natural populations in the presence of sampling variation and that work resulted in a very well-cited paper in Ecological Monographs. After completing her Ph.D., she took a position as a Researcher for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, where she developed a monitoring system for the reintroduced Lynx population in Colorado. She promoted rigorous management practices and worked with numerous researchers to develop techniques to improve the management of the Lynx population, as well as lead research on the endangered Preble’s Jumping Mouse. In her current position with the National Park Service, she is again collaborating with many to develop and apply rigorous quantitative methods to management of wildlife populations. This well-deserved award recognizes Dr. Shenk’s role in advocating for the use of quantitative methods across various wildlife management agencies and species. Dr. Shenk is an Ecologist with the National Park Service and Research Coordinator with the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.

More details at: https://gpcesu.unl.edu/