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Dr. Mike Mitchell, Former Unit Leader

I am the former Unit Leader of the Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit. From 2005 - 2021, my students and I worked on a variety of carnivore and ungulate research projects. Broadly, my interests include ecology, behavior, and management of mammals with an emphasis on carnivores; applied landscape ecology; forest wildlife management; and decision analysis.

I like solving problems.  A primary challenge in both wildlife conservation and the science that informs it is discerning just what problems need to be solved.  This is not a trivial challenge; unless it is addressed well then research has little value to management.  Working with wildlife managers, I commonly use structured decision making to develop shared understanding of management challenges and critical uncertainties that can be addressed through research.  When designing studies to address these uncertainties, of necessity I am flexible on research subjects and methodological approaches—I am more interested in the problem solving than in taxonomic or technical particulars.  Thus, my work tends to span a variety of questions, species, and methodologies—encompassing carnivores, ungulates, harvest management, disease, monitoring, genetics, and behavior.  Although generally applied, my research is grounded in basic ecological, behavioral, and evolutionary theory.  All of my research is also collaborative, working closely with state, federal, and tribal wildlife management agencies to address real-world conservation challenges.

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A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...