Rocky Mountain Wolf Project aims to improve public understanding of gray wolf behavior, ecology, and options for re-establishing the species in Colorado. The benchmark of our success: Wolves again roaming the snow-capped peaks, rim rock canyons, and primeval forests of western Colorado.
​
We collaborate with individuals and organizations—from wildlife biologists to Colorado landowners to conservationists—dedicated to returning wolves to Colorado. We advocate for using the best available scientific data in all decision-making processes related to wolf restoration. The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project collaborates with a vast team of individuals and organizations to help guide our work.
​
​The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project is a project of the Biophilia Foundation (Tax ID #52-2199334).

​Rob Edward-RMWP Advisor

For the past three decades, Rob Edward has followed his passion to make the world a better place, particularly for the native wildlife of the West. From 1994 to 2009, Rob worked professionally to restore native carnivores to the American West—a passion he still pursues in a volunteer capacity.

​From 2019 through 2020, Rob helped to lead the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund’s successful ballot measure to reintroduce wolves to Colorado. Now, Rob volunteers as a Strategic Advisor to the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project.

​You can find Rob’s articles and essays about gray wolf conservation in several books and newspapers. When not knee deep in wolf politics, Rob and his wife Anne are out photographing bears and wolves in the wilds of Montana and Wyoming—or hanging out with their friends at one of the Front Range’s ubiquitous house concerts.

​Courtney S. Vail-RMWP Advisor

Courtney Vail has worked within the conservation and animal welfare field for over 30 years. As a wildlife biologist and social scientist with a deep background in environmental policy and psychology, she has provided leadership for the design and implementation of diverse domestic and international programs, campaigns, and initiatives for marine and terrestrial wildlife in the private, non-profit, and government sectors where she seeks to align science and ethics. 

In support of Proposition 114, Courtney worked to integrate the voices of Indigenous peoples as important stakeholders in wolf protection. As an advisor to the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, she designs and supports collaborative initiatives, community dialogues, and other stakeholder engagement to reduce conflict and facilitate coexistence between humans and wildlife.

She holds a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science/Natural Resource Management and a M.S. in Psychology.

​As Director of Lightkeepers Foundation, Courtney believes every individual has the power and obligation to make a difference.

​Gary T. Skiba-RMWP Advisor

Gary joined the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project as an advisor at the end of 2020 after the passage of Proposition 114 that guided the restoration of gray wolves to Colorado. 

He is a wildlife biologist and holds a B.S. in Wildlife Management from the University of New Hampshire (1978) and an M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University (1981).  His master’s work focused on the bighorn sheep herd in Dinosaur National Monument in the northwest corner of Colorado.

Gary worked as a wildlife biologist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife for 23 years, focusing on threatened and endangered species management.  He retired from CDOW in 2010 and has since held positions with Great Old Broads for Wilderness, the La Plata County Humane Society, and New Mexico State Parks.  He is currently the Wildlife Program Manager for the San Juan Citizens Alliance, a Durango based environmental advocacy organization.

Matt Barnes-RMWP Advisor

​Matt Barnes, a research associate with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, is a range scientist, wildlife conservationist, and former ranch manager, who works on Reintegrating Wildness in working landscapes. He works with land managers to improve rangeland stewardship and has worked with ranchers to prevent conflicts with large carnivores such as grizzly bears and wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming. 

He explored corridors from the Northern to the Southern Rockies, across the heart of the West. Based in southwestern Colorado, he is now a member of Colorado’s wolf restoration Stakeholder Advisory Group, and a science and coexistence advisor to the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project.

​As owner of Shining Horizons Land Management, he works with ranchers and agencies on strategic grazing management and rangeland health. Previously he worked with People and Carnivores, and several agencies. He holds a B.S. in wildlife ecology and an M.S. in range science.

​Joanna E. Lambert – RMWP Advisor 

Joanna Lambert, PhD, is a tenured professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Colorado – Boulder, where serves as Director of the Wild Animals and Humans Laboratory and Principal Investigator of the American Canid Project.  Joanna is a field scientist and conservation practitioner and has served as science advisor to RMWP since 2017. While her research has taken her to all seven continents, a major focus has been in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem where she studies carnivores and equatorial Africa where she studies primates.

She has published several books and hundreds of peer-reviewed articles on her research, and as a result has been elected as a Fellow in the American Association for the

Advancement of Science, a Fellow in the Linnaean Society of London, a member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and advisor to the United Nations Environment Program. 

​In her spare time, Joanna spends as much time as she can off-grid in wild places, preferably on a horse and with her dogs, striving for optimism and solutions in a challenging world.  

From left: Gov. Jared Polis; Matt Barnes; Dr. Joanna Lambert; Gary Skiba; Rob Edward; Anne Edward; Courtney Vail; artist Gillian Marie.