Dr. Brent Bibles enjoys being active outdoors. He is an avid cyclist and loves to canoe, backpack, hunt, and fish. He also enjoys participating in historical re-enactments, taking on the persona of a French fur trader of the 1750s. This past summer, Brent and his wife moved to New Mexico to fulfill their mission of living sustainably, going off-the-grid and building their own yurt.

Brent has been involved in the wildlife management profession beginning as an undergraduate at Utah State University. He received his bachelor’s in Fisheries and Wildlife from USU in 1987 and went on to receive a master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Arizona. He has worked for state wildlife and federal land management agencies, and has taught and conducted research at universities.

Brent is an ornithologist with a particular interest in raptors. He has worked with several threatened or endangered species, most recently the Mexican spotted owl and the black-footed ferret. His research interests involve the influence of habitat selection and quality on population demographics, the conservation ecology of small populations, and use of methods to quantify demographic parameters with rare or hard-to-detect species. Among several projects that he is involved with on Guana Island, British Virgin Islands, Brent is looking at ways to improve population estimates of the highly endangered stout iguana.

Read more about Brent’s research and follow progress on the construction of the yurt.