By Tom Christiansen (B.S. 1984)
Steve Kilpatrick (B.S. 1976; M.S. 1982) was inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame March 19, 2025. The Outdoor Hall of Fame honors individuals “who have made significant, lasting, lifetime contributions to the conservation of Wyoming's outdoor heritage”.
Kilpatrick was born into an outdoor life growing up hunting and fishing on his family's farm near Neligh, Neb.
"I lived a fairly secluded early life," Kilpatrick said. "Going to the big 'city' once a week for groceries until high school.”
Kilpatrick studied wildlife management at UNL and spent most of his professional career managing and protecting wildlife habitat with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Steve's formal work with wildlife began with his M.S. research under his advisor Dr. Ron Case studying the underground ecology of the humble Plains Pocket Gopher in the alfalfa fields of southeast Nebraska where they were problematic to farmers because of their burrowing behavior.
“Pocket gophers are very compact, so they just shuck a traditional transmitter collar,” Kilpatrick said. To overcome this problem Kilpatrick pioneered a technique of implanting radio transmitters into the abdomens of small mammals like pocket gophers. Case said he was amazed by the success of the technique and how easily and quickly the pocket gophers recovered from the surgery and suffered no apparent ill effects.
Kilpatrick credits Case for his patience while finishing his thesis while also starting his career at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and raising a family.
Read the rest of the story and see more images at https://snr.unl.edu/aboutus/what/newstory.aspx?fid=1238
More details at: https://snr.unl.edu/alumni/