2023 Awards - North Dakota Award (Jill Shaffer)

Let's celebrate some more 2023 Award Winners! Please join us in congratulating these well-deserving students and professionals!

North Dakota Award: The North Dakota Award is the highest award presented by the North Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society. The award is presented to an individual or group that has made an outstanding contribution toward the aims of professional wildlife endeavors in North Dakota.

The winner of the 2023 North Dakota Award is Jill Shaffer!           

As an ecologist for USGS, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jill’s research encompasses grassland bird ecology and conservation in North Dakota and beyond. Two of the most impactful projects for which she has played leading and integral roles are wind energy and the grassland bird compendium. Further, she was instrumental in devising a method to quantify the wind facility effects on birds for the purposes of offsetting impacts. Jill has used the outcomes of her research and her gained knowledge of politics and the business of energy development for the benefit of the Chapter by leading the Wind Power Subcommittee. Jill’s efforts have guided natural resource organizations like the ND Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Audubon Dakota, and the Public Service Commission in developing the guidelines for wind energy on public and private lands to minimize the impacts to the resource.

From Jill’s nomination letter it was easy to see that she has vast knowledge and expertise in communicating the importance of grasslands, wetlands, and birds to not only scientists, agencies, and organizations, but the general public as well.

Congratulations on this well-deserved honor, Jill!