Kirsten Linnemeier

Growing up spending my summers at the family cabin with no electricity, running water, or another soul for miles, I had to find other ways to entertain myself. This came in the form of fishing, swimming, and reading. I can fondly remember sitting at the kitchen table with my grandfather’s binoculars and the Animals of North America illustrated guide sitting open in front of me, pages flying. From there, my learning continued to grow – volunteering at any animal rescue and mucking stables for gas money in high school (and today!), until I reached The University of Wyoming. There I graduated in May 2022 with my BS in Zoology, spending time as the Women’s Club Softball president and volunteering at game check stations with WY G&F. After that I got my first real taste of prairie fever working as a seasonal MSIM tech for Iowa State University conducting surveys on vegetation, amphibians, mammals, odonates, and even electrofishing Iowa’s rivers. In 2023, I was blessed with the opportunity to be a seasonal grassland bird technician for Audubon Great Plains where I was able to work on private lands throughout the Dakotas fostering a great admiration for working lands and grassland birds.