Sallie Hejl is a Research Coordinator and Science Advisor for the National Park Service (NPS) and the NPS representative to the Desert Southwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit based at the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson. Sallie is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in School of Natural Resources and the Environment at UA. She supports the development of research, education, and technical assistance projects for NPS parks and programs through collaborative relationships with partners at universities and nongovernmental institutions in the areas of natural resources, cultural resources, and social science. Sallie also provides technical assistance to parks and partners that results in increased resource protection in parks and recently co-facilitated climate change adaptation workshops for several parks. She is leading a project with American Bird Conservancy to reduce bird strikes on park windows.
Sallie has spent the past 30 years developing, using, and educating others about the scientific information needed to manage natural resources to conserve wildlife species. In past positions, she conducted research on maintaining and restoring bird species in managed landscapes. As a research wildlife biologist for US Forest Service, she studied the effects of timber harvesting, prescribed fire, natural fire, and fragmentation on bird distribution, nesting success, and foraging behavior in western coniferous forests in California, Idaho, and Montana. As an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, she studied the effects of prescribed fire, grazing, brush control, and landscape patterns on migratory and resident bird distribution, nesting success, and foraging behavior in Texas and Mexico. As the Director of the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center in Glacier National Park, she co-developed citizen science projects on Common Loons, pikas, and mountain goats which are still ongoing more than 15 years later. When she worked for US Fish and Wildlife Service as a regional refuge biologist, she was on the core team that developed the National Wildlife Refuge System’s national inventory and monitoring program. Sallie also helped refuge managers and biologists develop plans for managing natural resources effectively.
Sallie holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from Northern Arizona University and a B.S. and M.A. from the University of California, Davis. She has co-authored more than 40 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports on avian ecology and conservation. Sallie is a Fellow of the American Ornithological Society. She is honored to be on the management board of the Sonoran Joint Venture as her hope is to help facilitate scientifically based conservation for birds, their habitats, and people in the SJV region. Sallie loves all birds, but is particularly fond of Cactus Wren, Gambel’s Quail, Gila Woodpecker, and Greater Roadrunner.