Featured Scientist:
Susan C. Morse

Susan C. Morse, forester and Keeping Track director, is a nationally recognized naturalist and habitat specialist with thirty years of experience tracking and interpreting wildlife uses of habitat. She is published in her field and participates annually in carnivore research conferences and field monitoring projects in Arizona, Montana, and throughout the Northern Forest. She is an active member of the Western Forest Carnivores Committee and Northeast Carnivore Conservation Working Group and has focused her research activities on cougar, bobcat, black bear, and Canada lynx. Susan is sole proprietor of Morse and Morse Forestry and Wildlife Consultants - a four generation family business which specializes in assisting private landowners, land trusts, and conservation organizations with assessing wildlife habitat qualities and managing forests to enhance and perpetuate those values. She has lectured in environmental studies and forest ecology at the University of Vermont and Burlington College. Susan was the recipient in 2001 of the Franklin Fairbanks Award from the Trustees of the Fairbanks Museum for her lifelong creative and dedicated service to enriching the awareness and understanding of the natural world among the residents of New England.

Susan founded Keeping Track in 1994 and developed an effective and unique track and sign survey protocol that is at the cutting edge of wildlife research in the United States today. She developed her procedures and techniques on six square miles of wild country surrounding her home, 'Wolfrun', in Jericho, Vermont. Susan has tested her idea with other carnivore biologists, in particular Harley Shaw and the Fort Huachuca track count in southwestern Arizona. Wolf Run now serves as one of Keeping Track's training sites, while its administrative office is in Huntington, Vermont. She leads Keeping Track's volunteer training programs and oversees development of our training curriculum. Susan quickly engages her audiences with her keen wit, personal anecdotes, and deep caring for wildlife. Her superb wildlife photography makes her public presentations truly memorable.

Susan and Keeping Track have been featured on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," and in the following magazines, Smithsonian, Audubon, Vermont Life, Amicus Journal, Animals, Wild Earth, Orion Afield, Forest and The Nature Conservancy. In addition, Susan is the subject of the soon to be published (in press, will be published in February of 2003) children's book entitled The Woods Scientist. This book is part of the Houghton Mifflin Company's "Scientists In The Field Series."