The College of Arts and Sciences has appointed Jay Carlisle as the Intermountain Bird Observatory Endowed Scholar in Research and Outreach.
This endowed position, made possible through the generosity of Helen Fisher and Mark Seyfried, is intended to support research and public outreach efforts of the Intermountain Bird Observatory.
Seyfried and Fisher, who are married, have endowed this position thanks to Fisher’s late parents, who restored wildlife habitat across 45 acres of Australian bushland and invited children to experience wildlife up close. That history closely aligns with the Intermountain Bird Observatory’s activities here in Idaho.
Fishers students were regular visitors to Intermountain Bird Observatory outreach events and the couple has made this donation in memory of one student who loved Idaho’s birds and experienced close-up hummingbird encounters thanks to the observatory.
“Some of the most profound experiences of my middle school students occurred at the Lucky Peak and the Boise River banding locations,” Fisher said in a statement. “Few adults have seen tiny sawwhet or flammulated owls in hand, but my students and I did as we waited through a long dark night with owl banders.”
“The Intermountain Bird Observatory delivers essential ecosystem conservation research and community education to Idahoans,” said College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Marie-Anne de Graaff. “This endowment will help expand those efforts and connect more people with the beautiful birds that make their habitats in Idaho.”
A history of conservation research
Carlisle has worked as Intermountain Bird Observatory’s research director since 2002 and has taught at Boise State since 2005. In that time, he has maintained multiple long-term bird population monitoring programs.
That work has a direct impact on Idaho ecology. Carlisle has worked on habitat management for the Cassia Crossbill, which lives exclusively in the Albion Mountains and South Hills in southern Idaho. It is Idaho’s only endemic bird species and faces threats from climate warming and wildfires that burn the trees this species nest in.
Currently, Carlisle sits on the Idaho Bird Conservation Partnership, Idaho’s Yellow-billed Cuckoo Working Group and the Cassia Crossbill Working Group. These groups promote better communication and cooperation among natural resource agencies, universities, NGOs and individuals for coordinating research and conservation.
Carlisle’s work on the Cassia Crossbill and other Idaho bird species like the Pinyon Jay informs land management efforts and supports bird conservation. This research helps to keep Idaho’s natural spaces beautiful and teeming with wildlife.
In addition to his extensive research work, Carlisle also engages with community members in hands-on education programs and mentoring opportunities. Through the Intermountain Bird Observatory, he has taught hands-on classes to thousands of Idahoans, giving them an up-close opportunity to see and touch the birds that share our air.