Where Curiosity Fuels Conservation

With a grounded approach to fieldwork and a practical eye on conservation solutions, Hailey Boone is working to shape the management of North America’s wild places. As a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University, Boone’s career is defined by careful observation, rigorous research, and a steady commitment to turning data into action that benefits wildlife.

Her research revolves around the age-old questions of how wild animals and wild lands intertwine. Whether it’s hiking 20-mile days on Isle Royale National Park with a backpack heavy with batteries and trail cameras, or parsing millions of images to untangle the hidden lives of moose and wolves, Boone’s passion is putting her research into action. 

That pursuit began with an early fascination with wildlife, earning a B.S. at Virginia Tech studying Madagascar’s black forest cats, followed by an M.S. from North Carolina State tracking whitetail deer fawn survival using remote sensing. But it was at Isle Royale—a remote, forested island in Lake Superior, famous for its wolves and moose—that became her living laboratory while a Ph.D. student at Michigan State University.

Into the Wild with Wolves and Moose

Boone started her Ph.D. in 2020, barely two months before the world shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic and only a few months before she arrived on the island. “It was a unique opportunity,” she recalls. The island, normally bustling with 26,000 visitors a year, suddenly quieted to a trickle of only 6,000. “Isle Royale is a pure recreational environment. It was a great place to study how animals respond to human visitors.” Her research, which tracked everything from wolves to snowshoe hares via a network of 156 trail cameras, revealed that the density and timing of human recreation, rather than sheer numbers, shaped animal behavior. During the summertime peaks, moose tending calves and wolves raising pups altered their routines, seeking to avoid people as much as possible.

“It didn’t matter how many people were there, but rather the constancy of activity on the trails,” Boone says. “In July and early August, wildlife shifted their patterns the most—even during COVID and non-COVID years.” Animals like trails for the same reasons people do: it’s simply easier walking. But those overlaps can create new conflicts, from wolves rooting through bear boxes for campers’ food, to moose steering clear of their favorite foraging grounds during peak visitor months.

Her time on Isle Royale coincided with the park’s wolf reintroduction project. By using advanced data analysis and AI-assisted photo sorting, Boone’s work helped estimate wolf numbers and pack composition, and determine when, where, and how mammals responded to both an influx of predators and an ebb and flow of people. The practical payoff? National Park Service managers now use her findings to consider new visitation policies, like encouraging visits in the “shoulder” seasons to reduce stress on wildlife, and to enhance trail management and visitor education.

Hailey's field work involved hanging dozens of trails cameras around Isle Royale National Park. Part of her job included sifting through the photos, and she got some doozies. 

From Field to Policy—And Back Again

It wasn’t easy work. “I had 156 cameras running every day, checking them in thick woods, sometimes hauling 20 pounds of batteries and 40 pounds of gear in my pack,” Boone recalls. The impact of the Boone and Crockett Fellowship cannot be overstated. “During Hailey’s research we received notice of unforeseen budget shortfalls that would have jeopardized her work,” says Jerry Belant, Boone’s Ph.D. advisor and the Boone and Crockett Chair in Wildlife Conservation at Michigan State. “Fortunately, funding from the Boone and Crockett University Programs was available to meet this shortfall and ensure that Hailey was able to complete her program and this important research.”  That support meant millions of images could be analyzed, and practical recommendations delivered directly to park managers.

Belant marvels at her drive. “Hailey accomplished what few others could do. She hiked thousands of miles, crisscrossing the island with overloaded backpacks. She turned this effort into high-quality science already used by scientists and implemented by federal biologists—a rare outcome. And she did this all with a positive outlook and unlimited energy. It was an incredible opportunity to work with her.”

During her doctoral years, Boone became adept not just at science but at the human realities of wildlife management. Park authorities installed bear boxes in new locations and identified moose “hotspots.” Boone’s camera survey protocols helped optimize research for future students. And by collaborating with agencies like the University of Wisconsin and the National Park Service, Boone’s data and leadership bridged field science to management action. It’s a model that the Boone and Crockett University Programs strives to promote.

A New Landscape

Today, Boone lives in the Rocky Mountains, where she is a postdoctoral fellow with Colorado State University and the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station. Her research now tracks the effects of forest management practices—thinning, burning, mastication—on more than 100 western bird species. “I’m learning a lot about birds,” she says. “I know a lot of bird people now, and they are very interesting people.” She is also helping with a massive survey for the Forest Service’s Resource Planning Act, examining how threats like habitat fragmentation affect terrestrial and freshwater wildlife across public and private lands.

Her focus is still on translating research into results. “I want tangible products—policies, management actions—not just papers to cite.”

Belant says she’s doing just that. “The work Hailey has conducted has not only furthered our understanding of predator-prey relations and the role of humans as predators, but she has developed a new and cost-effective approach for estimating trends in moose abundance and recruitment that is already being implemented by park management.”

Finding Her Wild 

Despite the hard work, Boone is energized by the landscapes and lives she studies. “I love having the mountains right next to me. The Rocky Mountains have always been a calling.”

Her Boone and Crockett Fellowship was more than just funding. It was, she says, “the support and the freedom to finish what we started. I knew a little about the Club because my grandfather was a member.” For Boone, conservation is as much about community as it is about curiosity. “My long-term goal is to keep producing impactful science—to connect field biology with the real-world challenges facing wildlife and wild lands.”

PJ DelHomme writes and edits content from the wilds of western Montana. He runs Crazy Canyon Media and Crazy Canyon Journal.  

Boone and Crockett Fellows Program

Through its Fellows Program, the Boone and Crockett Wildlife Conservation Program supports graduate students in wildlife conservation and related fields. A Boone and Crockett Fellow is an undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral student supported by Boone and Crockett funding and/or advised by a Boone and Crockett professor or professional member. In addition to displaying academic excellence, Boone and Crockett Fellows are committed to scholarship that:

1. Promotes effective conservation policy through dedication to research, education, outreach, and service.
2. Exhibits leadership in wildlife conservation.
3.  Helps others understand the mission of the Boone and Crockett Club and the evolution of conservation in the United States.
4. Recognizes and appreciates the values of hunting and fishing and the principles of Fair Chase.

For more information about Boone and Crockett Club Fellows or its University Programs, please contact Luke Coccoli, Director of Conservation Research and Education, at Luke@boone-crockett.org.