Emily Renn

PhD Student

Northern Arizona University, School of Earth and Sustainability

Linkedin: Emily Renn

Emily is a Ph.D. student in the School of Earth and Sustainability at Northern Arizona University under the advisement of Dr. Duan Biggs. Her research interests include seeking innovative, inclusive, and interdisciplinary approaches to human-Mexican gray wolf coexistence to ensure that wolves can thrive in self-sustaining and ecologically effective populations across the American Southwest. She completed her B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Fish and Wildlife Management and her M.S. degree in Biology with a focus on wildlife conservation. Her graduate research focused on the survival success of translocated Gunnison's prairie dogs. She continues to coordinate prairie dog translocations for colonies threatened by development or destruction to reestablish extirpated wildland colonies. Emily has worked with many species of mammals and birds in northern Arizona as a field biological technician, researcher, and environmental educator. Most recently, Emily served as the Executive Director of the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project, a nonprofit organization she led for 14 years, building community support for wolf recovery in suitable wolf habitat. She continues to serve as a board member and the translocation/coexistence coordinator for Habitat Harmony, an organization that assists humans living in harmony with wildlife.

In the media

Emily was recently interviewed by Matt Jaffe about the contentions surrounding prairie dog conservation: https://www.arizonahighways.com/article/treated-dog.