{"id":52435,"date":"2025-11-11T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/?p=52435"},"modified":"2026-05-20T10:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:59:16","slug":"tumultuous-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2025\/11\/11\/tumultuous-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Tumultuous 2025\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-by-ibo-research-director-jay-carlisle\">By IBO Research Director Jay Carlisle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To say 2025 has been different feels like an understatement. For a researcher who\u2019s built a career on \u201csoft\u201d money (grants, private donations, etc.) the recent changes to federal funding have been seismic. This soft money supports about 90% of my position and 100% of IBO\u2019s research biologist positions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u201cCliff Notes\u201d version is that we&#8217;ve missed out on approximately $700,000 in grant funding for work in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This represents roughly half of our expected grant budget \u2013 and, since March we&#8217;ve had to lay off people in 2 full-time (grant-funded) positions, bringing the number of current IBO full-time staff down from 9 to 7. Unsurprisingly, it\u2019s been the most stressful year of my career, and probably the least productive as well, since so much of my work effort has focused on budget triage as opposed to science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"771\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2025\/06\/PXL_20250608_033246136.MP_-771x1024.jpg\" alt=\"colorful sky view with pinks, oranges, blues,a and yellows. Yellow flowers in the foreground.\" class=\"wp-image-52148\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333;object-fit:cover;width:592px;height:auto\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Lucky Peak in summer 2025 after the Valley Fire. Photo Credit: Heidi Ware Carlisle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among many challenging aspects is that this loss of funding is not a reflection of our performance. 2025 was poised to be our busiest yet as we\u2019ve added new projects and grown others in recent years, and we pride ourselves on cultivating and maintaining strong, collaborative partnerships with funders and the \u201cend users\u201d of the data we collect.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re far from alone in our plight. Across the country, there are countless stories of high-achieving employees losing their jobs in 2025, whether from efforts to reduce staff at federal agencies or the downstream effects of budget cuts or freezes within the research and conservation community. These challenges are impacting many organizations like ours that have built a funding model based on providing high quality data to land and wildlife management agencies and other partners.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2255\" height=\"1871\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2021\/11\/LEWO_Richard-Baltierra.jpg\" alt=\"a closeup of a beautiful woodpecker with iridescent green-black back and rosy face on a tree\" class=\"wp-image-46732\" style=\"width:571px;height:auto\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Lewis&#8217;s Woodpecker. Photo by Richard Baltierra &#8211; former Idaho IMBCR technician.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These federal budget changes have forced us to end employment for 2 hard-working employees \u2013 Ryan Healey and Heather Hayes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ryan\u2019s time with IBO included several stints as a seasonal biologist before 1.5 years of full-time work. And Heather has dedicated the last <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/2025\/11\/11\/ten-years-with-heather-hayes\/\">10 years of her career<\/a> to many aspects of IBO\u2019s work, especially including Long-billed Curlews, hummingbirds, and community education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As we look to the next year, there\u2019s reason for hope amidst the turmoil of 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are excited to bring Ashlyn Alexander onto the team as our Academic Programs Coordinator. Ashlyn has handled admin work for IBO for the past few years while finishing her degree. Once she graduated, with the support of the College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Biological Sciences, we were able to keep her on the team in a role we\u2019ve been seeking for years! We\u2019re thankful for her smart and speedy support on detailed tasks like payroll, field work logistics, workshop planning, 3D printing, and more!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As far as grant funding prospects for the 2026 field season, if none of our funding agreements are subject to early termination \u2013 something that recently happened to at least 2 NGOs we partner with \u2013 things are looking better for 2026. Still not to the level we were anticipating for 2025 but an improvement nonetheless. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, for the foreseeable future, we still get to work collaboratively to implement many exciting and important field research projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We thank all of you for the important support you provide, ranging from appreciation for our work, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/get-involved\/volunteer\/\"><strong>volunteering<\/strong><\/a> on one or more projects, or financial contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s to the birds :)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/141\/2024\/11\/SW3_Kennamer-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Gray mountain peaks with steep slopes and lingering patches of snow, and a lake\" class=\"wp-image-50960\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">View from an IMBCR survey in the Sawtooth National Forest, ID. Photo Credit: Cale Kennamer, IMBCR technician<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This article is part of our 2025 end of the year newsletter! <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/category\/2025-newsletter\/\"><em>View the full newsletter here<\/em><\/a><em>, or click \u201colder posts\u201d below to read the next article. Make sure you don\u2019t miss out on IBO news! <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/ibo\/newsletter-registration\/\"><em>Sign up to get our email updates.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To say 2025 has been different feels like an understatement. The \u201cCliff Notes\u201d version is that we&#8217;ve missed out on approximately $700,000 in grant funding for work in 2025. But as we look to the next year, there\u2019s reason for hope amidst the turmoil of 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":52122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-newsletter"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.2 (Yoast SEO v28.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tumultuous 2025\u00a0 - Intermountain Bird Observatory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To say 2025 has been different feels like an understatement. 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