“Life in the City”
Urban Wildlife Workshop – March 15th, 2016
North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference
Speaker Bios
Kitty Vagley, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden
As Director of Development, Kitty Vagley is in her 6th year of working for the Pittsburgh
Botanic Garden. Ms. Vagley considers herself fortunate to play a role in building the first
comprehensive outdoor botanic garden in the region and the first botanic garden in the US to be
built on abandoned coal mining land. Kitty is a Pittsburgh native and a Duquesne University
graduate. She has worked in Development for over 25 years once she discovered how much fun
it can be.
Eric Sanderson, Wildlife Conservation Society
Eric W. Sanderson is a Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. In
2002 Dr. Sanderson and colleagues created the Human Footprint map, the first look at human
influence globally at less than 1 square mile resolution. He is an expert on species conservation
planning and has contributed to efforts to save lions, tigers, Asian bears, jaguars, tapirs,
peccaries, American crocodiles, North American bison and Mongolian gazelle; and landscape
planning conservation efforts in Argentina, Tanzania, Mongolia, and the Greater Yellowstone
Ecosystem and the Adirondack Park. A well-known author, his work has been featured in the
New York Times, National Geographic Magazine, CNN, NPR, and The New Yorker. He is also
the director of The Mannahatta Project, an effort to reconstruct the original ecology of
Manhattan Island at the time of European discovery in the early seventeenth century.
Daniel Klem, Muhlenberg College
Daniel Klem, Jr. is Sarkis Acopian Professor of Ornithology and Conservation Biology at
Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Klem’s professional interests are in:
animal behavior, conservation, ecology, evolution, ornithology, and the natural history of
animals. Among other diverse avian investigations, for 42 years and continuing to the present, he
studies, writes, and teaches about the threat that sheet glass and plastic pose to birds. Reporting
analyses of bird-window collisions from State-wide, to North American, to global scales, he is
motivated by available and growing evidence that this is an important wildlife conservation and
animal welfare issue for birds and people worldwide.
Naomi Edelson, National Wildlife Federation (NWF)
As the Senior Director for Wildlife Partnerships in the NWF’s Washington, DC. Office,
Ms. Edelson leads NWF efforts to: providing science support to NWF’s Gardening for Wildlife
program (www.nwf.org/garden), secure greater funding for preventing wildlife from becoming
endangered and overall partnerships with state wildlife agencies, and assist state and federal
wildlife agencies with incorporating climate change into their conservation management plans.
Formerly, Naomi was the Wildlife Diversity Director at the Association of Fish and Wildlife
Agencies where she initiated and directed all aspects of Teaming with Wildlife, a national
grassroots campaign to secure federal funding for state-level wildlife conservation. There, she
created a network of state wildlife diversity program managers and conservation groups to work
together to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered, leading and supporting conservation
partnerships.
Sarah Grimké Aucoin, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
Sarah Aucoin is the Chief of Education and Wildlife in the New York City Department of Parks
and Recreation. Working in environmental conservation and education, Ms. Aucoin conducted
research and developed programs for the American Museum of Natural History, the United
States Forest Service, the National Park Service, and State Departments of Conservation in both
Colorado and Missouri. Most recently, Sarah has helped to spearhead the development of
wildlife management plans and policies for New York City, focusing on species such as coyote,
deer, red-tailed hawks, raccoons and geese.
Roxanne Bogart, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
For the last 20 years, Roxanne Bogart has worked as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service's Migratory Bird Program and is the Urban Bird Treaty National Coordinator.
She is dedicated to promoting partnerships and building capacity within the bird conservation
community through such initiatives as the North American Bird Conservation Initiative
(NABCI), North American Waterfowl Management Plan, Partners in Flight, and the Migratory
Bird Joint Ventures. She enjoys writing and editing and produces The All-Bird Bulletin, the
newsletter of the U.S. NABCI Committee. She lives in Amherst, MA with her husband and three
daughters, and works out of the Service's Northeast Regional Office in Hadley, MA.
Keith Nislow, US Forest Service Research & Development
Keith Nislow is a Team Leader and a Research Fisheries Biologist for the US Forest Service
Northern Research Station’s Urban Forests, Human Health and Environmental Quality unit. Dr.
Nislow conducts research on the relationship between land use, aquatic habitat, and the
distribution & abundance of fish and aquatic invertebrates. Specializing in establishing links
between environmental variation with the behavior, growth, and survival of stream salmonid
fishes, Keith is particularly interested in using basic science to assist restoration, conservation,
and management and is active in several international research collaborations.
Falyn Owens, Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Falyn Owens works as the State Wildlife Biologist for 9 urban counties across southern Indiana,
including the capital, Indianapolis. Ms. Owens has been with the urban wildlife program since
its inception toward the beginning of 2015, and works to develop it into a relevant, effective
program for wildlife conservation in urban areas. Raised in the urban sprawl of Eastern Virginia,
Falyn has worked across the country on various research and wildlife management projects,
primarily relating to songbird ecology, white-tailed deer management, and native habitat
restoration.