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Wolves Home / Gray Wolves of Yellowstone
Meet the Yellowstone Team
Dr. Mark Johnson, Wildlife Veterinarian
Mike Phillips
Yellowstone Wolf Restoration Project Leader
Mike has a bachelor's degree in ecology from the University
of Illinois and a master's degree in wildlife ecology
from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He has conducted
research on a number of different animals — red wolves,
grizzly and black bears, dingoes (in Australia), red
foxes, coyotes, and white-tailed deer. He has worked
in Australia and throughout the United States, including
Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, North Carolina,
and Illinois.
His hobbies are fly fishing, horseback riding, reading,
and running. He's married and has three children.
Question: What kind of advice would you give to someone
who wants to become a field biologist?
You need to get good grades in school and go to
college.
Q: What's your favorite part of the job?
I get to do a lot of different things every day.
No two days are alike, and I like that.
Q: What's the least favorite part of the job?
I don't like to talk on the phone.
Q: Why is it important to reintroduce wolves back
into the wild?
Wolves are a necessary part of many ecosystems.
Unfortunately, many years ago, people didn't understand
how important wolves were. People believed that predators,
like wolves, were bad and needed to be killed. They
were wrong. Reintroducing wolves is important because
it is one way to correct the mistakes that were made
many years ago.
Q: Could you tell us what a typical day is like
for you working with wolves?
Since I do so many different things, there is
no "typical" day. During a normal day I usually
spend time at my desk talking to people on the phone
about wolves, time at my computer writing letters and
entering data, and time in the field radio-tracking
wolves.
Douglas Smith
Yellowstone Wolf Biologist
Question: What kind of advice would you give to someone
who wants to become a field biologist?
Doug has a Ph.D. in biology. He has hand-raised wolf
pups and was a beaver biologist. He live-captured 2,000
beavers and radio-tracked them. He is single and his
hobbies are photography and canoeing.
Follow what interests you and do what you like. Everything
will fall in place later.
Q: What's your favorite part of the job?
Watching wolves, wilderness travel. Riding horses.
Q: What's the least favorite part of the job?
Paperwork.
Q: Why is it important to reintroduce wolves back into
the wild?
Because they were once a vital part of the Yellowstone
ecosystem. There are plenty of prey species in Yellowstone,
like elk, to support wolves. Ethically, we need to
adopt the attitude that other animals besides humans
are important.
Q: Could you tell us what a typical day is like for
you working with wolves?
Half my day is spent either riding on horseback to a wolf pen to feed the wolves there or flying in an airplane to track radio-collar wolves. The other half of the day is spent supervising volunteers that work on the project, entering data into the computer, and writing about wolves.
Deb Guernsey
Yellowstone Wolf Restoration Project Assistant
Deb received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Montana State University, Bozeman, in 1986. She started as a volunteer for the Yellowstone Wolf Restoration Project in April of 1995. Continuing her volunteer work with the project in the fall of 1995, Deb also attended school in Bozeman, majoring in wildlife biology. She started working full-time as an intern with the wolf project, working on den observation studies in March of 1996 until she was offered an administrative assistant position in June 1996.
She assists the wolf biologists in administrative tasks such as correspondence and distribution of information to the public. She coordinates fund-raising events, maintains organization in the office, and assists in the creation of annual and long-term goals for the wolf project. When needed, she feeds the captive wolves and takes care of their pens. Prior to working at Yellowstone, she volunteered for the Earth Island Institute on their dolphin project and has worked with harbor seals in California.
Deb is single and her hobbies are watching wolves, music,
camping, cross-country skiing, hiking, and swimming.
Question: What kind of advice would you give to someone
who wants to become a field biologist?
I'm not a biologist, but my advice would be to follow
what is truly in your heart, work hard at your goals,
and in the end you will be rewarded.
Q: What's your favorite part of the job?
The variety of tasks, working as a team player, and
field work.
Q: What's the least favorite part of the job?
Talking with people who are "negative" about
wolves.
Q: Why is it important to reintroduce wolves back into
the wild?
Wolves are an important link in the Yellowstone ecosystem,
which has been missing for over 60 years. Humans got
rid of wolves. We owe it to the wolves and to ourselves
to set things right. I talk to people thousands of
miles away from Yellowstone who know they may never
actually see a wolf, but just knowing wolves exist
in this area is enough for them to feel good about
the decision to bring them back.
Q: Could you tell us what a typical day is like for
you working with wolves?
In a word — unpredictable! Keeping up with daily tasks such as correspondence and mailing lists while helping the wolf biologists in the field, be it feeding penned wolves, picking up a road kill to feed penned wolves, or taking visitors up to observe wolves — it's challenging to manage my time effectively. Wolves can be unpredictable. So, working for a project like this can also be unpredictable, but exciting!
