My name is Stephanie Barron (She/Hers) and I am of mixed Chiracahuan Apache, Indigenous Mexican, and German descent. I have lived all over the U.S but currently live in Missoula, Montana – which are the ancestorial territories of the Bitterroot Salish and Pend d’Orielle peoples. I graduated from Randolph College with a BA in Biology and Environmental Studies in 2014 and have spent the time since undergrad seizing every paid field opportunity I can. I have worked with and for federal, state, tribal, and non-profit entities in the fields of botany, forestry, fisheries, wildlife, and environmental education. Most recently I completed the University of Montana’s Natural Resource Conflict Resolution graduate certificate program; I am continuing my theoretical development by pursuing a Masters degree in Environmental Science at the University of Montana. My graduate work focuses on shifting community perceptions of carnivores through decolonial youth education around carnivore-conflict preparedness and prevention. I also do a significant amount of work on dismantling colonial ideas of Wilderness and facilitating conversations on what genuine relationship-based consultation and collaboration with tribes looks like. Engaging communities in shifting perspectives and approaches to human-carnivore conflict in ways that facilitate greater relationship with these species and the land is what I am most passionate about. In my free time, I enjoy cooking and being outside as much as possible, sometimes with my own mini-carnivore Ziggy Starcat.  Here is a picture of me in the desert of southern Utah on Traditional Ute and Southern Paiute land.