About Us

Founded on the principle that conservation is everyone’s responsibility, The Ricketts Conservation Foundation works with private and public partners to study, protect, and enhance the populations of at risk species while working to understand how our lands can be sustainably managed.

Current Associates

Joe Ricketts

A native Nebraskan, entrepreneur and philanthropist Joe Ricketts founded The Ricketts Conservation Foundation to support the conservation of wildlife and wilderness areas, promoting the importance of environmental stewardship as an enduring value. Central to Mr. Ricketts’ belief is the idea that conservation is everyone’s responsibility.

Walter Wehtje, Ph.D.

Although he grew up in Connecticut, Dr. Wehtje has worked in the Western USA for most of his professional career. He has a Ph.D. from the University of California – Riverside and has conducted research in several U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Mongolia. Since joining the Ricketts Conservation Foundation in early 2018, Dr. Wehtje has worked to expand RCF’s commitment to conservation and working with partners within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and adjoining western states.

Josh Lefever

Josh grew up near Lancaster, Pennsylvania and received a bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Science from Penn State in 2013. Josh’s life-long interest in wildlife became focused on avian conservation once he began volunteering at Penn State’s migratory bird banding station and became aware of the tremendous diversity and beauty of North America’s songbirds, and their imperiled status. After finishing school, he travelled much of the United States working on an assortment of research projects from South Carolina to Colorado to California, primarily as a bird bander or doing back-country surveys for birds. Josh joined RCF as a permanent Associate Biologist in 2023, to oversee the field work for our Monument Ridge Aspen Regeneration study, operate summer and fall bird banding stations, and to begin new winter research on the region’s owls and rosy-finches.

Graduate students

Cody Lane

Having grown up hunting, fishing, and camping amongst the countless lakes of southern Wisconsin, Cody naturally sought out and completed a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology at the University of Wisconsin. For the next seven years, he worked throughout the US as well as Australia, Jamaica, and Trinidad on projects varying from guppy evolution research to endangered seabird monitoring. In 2022 he joined the Ricketts Conservation Foundation as a master’s student based at the University of Montana. In addition to his thesis research on avian community and population changes following wildfire, he manages the broader Monument Ridge Aspen Regeneration Project.

Kelsey Cronin

Kelsey’s journey into wildlife biology began with a transformative experience while working on a backcountry trail crew in Yellowstone National Park, where she first encountered a wildlife biologist. This encounter inspired her to pursue higher education, leading her to earn a bachelor’s degree in biology from Oregon State University. Over the next five years, Kelsey gained diverse field experience through various wildlife projects, including studying bumblebee population ecology, investigating the interactions between golden eagles and windmills, and researching the population demography of Antarctic seals. Now, she is excited to return to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for her Master’s research, where she will contribute to RCF’s mission of studying and protecting the Common Loon.

Former associates

Vincent A Spagnuolo

Katie E. Low

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in Zoology and Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences from Oregon State University in 2016, Katie joined the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem loon study as a seasonal technician. Katie now leads her own graduate research at the University of New Hampshire studying cyanobacteria in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The goal of her study is to track the movement of a naturally-produced neurotoxin (BMAA) through freshwater food webs. In conducting her research on lakes in the region, Katie has been able remain a part of the loon study and the Ricketts Conservation Foundation has provided her operational and logistical support with her graduate research.

Arcata A. Leavitt

After she completed her degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Science at Oregon State University, Arcata found her way to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem loon study as a seasonal technician. After six years working on the loon study, Arcata has moved to warmer climes.

Shannon Keeney

Shannon first joined RCF in 2021 as a Biological Technician; she assisted in the monitoring of the Common Loon population in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and also assisted with the Monument Ridge small mammal mark-recapture project and MAPS banding. From 2022-2023 Shannon served as an Assistant Biologist leading the Common Loon Project. Shannon is originally from New Jersey and has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. Before joining RCF, she worked on various projects around the country with waterbirds and Greater Sage-Grouse.

Vincent A Spagnuolo

Hailing from New England, Vincent started his career in wildlife studying loons in New Hampshire. He then shifted his focus to the recovery of the Massachusetts common loon population for his master’s research at Harvard University. Vincent has led the study of loons in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem since 2013 and joined the Ricketts Conservation Foundation in the fall of 2018 to continue this research. He works in close collaboration with RCF’s state and federal agency partners and contributes to loon research and management throughout the Rockies and other parts of the species’ range.