The Birds and the Bees of the Greys River Area

Tuesday, May 12, 6-7 p.m. Teton County Library Ordway Auditorium 

“The Birds and the Bees of the Greys River Area”

Don DeLong and Taelyn Cathcart, Wildlife Biologists, USFS

LIVE ONLY. 

Native pollinators are “keystone species” that are essential to supporting biodiversity of the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, in part by enabling the reproduction of 85% of flowering plants. Birds, which comprise 80% of the vertebrate wildlife found on the Bridger-Teton, are excellent indicators of ecosystem health. Both pollinators and birds can be found anywhere you go on the forest, yet little is known about many of them. Don and Taelyn will let us know why they, alongside several partners, are monitoring pollinators and birds in the Greys River area and will share preliminary results of their investigations.

Don DeLong is the Wildlife and Habitat Program Manager for the West Zone of the Bridger-Teton National Forest since 2004. Previously, he worked at the National Elk Refuge from 2000 to 2004, following work on other national wildlife refuges in Oregon, Nevada, and California. Don received an M.S. in Wildlife Science from Virginia Tech (where he studied bald Eagles on the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland).

Taelyn Cathcart is a wildlife biologist also for West Zone of the Bridger-Teton NF, where she began seasonally in 2019 and moved into her current role in 2023. Currently, she is a MS student studying biodiversity in the built environment at the University of Wyoming, where she also achieved her bachelor’s degree in 2017.