In late 2022, Emma moved from Fort Collins, Colorado to Lincoln, Nebraska to join the Platte Basin Timelapse (PBT) team as a graduate student in the Master of Applied Science program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her master’s project combines her interests of conservation storytelling and wildlife into a multidimensional project working with PBT/Michael Forsberg and Dr. John Benson’s lab studying the coyote and badger hunting relationship in prairie dog colonies in grasslands across the west. Through this project, she plans to contribute new scientific and behavioral insights about this intriguing relationship while also communicating the story to a diverse audience through high-quality photos and video; ultimately shining a light on the often-overlooked grasslands.

Emma's passion for wildlife and the outdoors began at a young age at her family farm in Pennsylvania that they manage for wildlife. Over twenty-five years, her family has restored old cropland into wetlands and warm season grasses that attract a variety of wildlife. It has been an amazing transformation - a healthier deer population and an increase in waterfowl.

In 2020 Emma graduated with a B.S. in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability from Colorado State University. She spent the last several years working for the Colorado Natural Heritage Program exploring areas all over Colorado. She conducted field work to learn about Colorado’s rare plant and animal species and their habitats, along with one field season monitoring dozens of different wetlands across Colorado.

While living in Colorado, Emma spent a lot of time in the mountains and also discovered the magic of the grasslands. She is specifically interested prairie dogs and how, as a keystone species, they are an integral part of the ecosystem. Her first conservation photography project was about the impacts of development on urban prairie dogs, the importance of this keystone species to the ecosystem, and the value of relocation.

Emma believes visuals are an essential tool to help communicate conservation issues. By sharing her photos, she hopes to spark an interest in people about the natural world so they will engage more with the protection and conservation of our world.

Feel free to reach out to Emma through the contact form above and keep up with her on Instagram.