Forestry & Natural Resources
FNR Field Reports Heltzel
Throughout the summer, Purdue Forestry and Natural Resources will be featuring various students and their work in the field.
Amanda Heltzel, a junior studying Wildlife and minoring in Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, is working as a seasonal research technician at the University of Missouri. Her responsibilities consist of conducting avian point counts and vegetation surveys in the Mark Twain National Forest.
The data that she and her colleagues are collecting will be used to inform management of pine-oak woodland restoration by the U.S. Forest Service and brown-headed nuthatch reintroduction.
“I'm enjoying my time in the Ozarks where I have observed wildlife I don't normally see such as elk and armadillo,” Heltzel said. “My favorite experience so far was target netting for eastern whip-poor-wills that were previously equipped with GPS tags. This was part of a research project being conducted on whip-poor-will migration by a PhD student. I'm excited for the opportunity to gain further career experience while working in a different part of the country than what I have before.”
Heltzel was named as the wildlife junior academic merit award winner, the Durward Allen Memorial Award and Stanley Coulter Leadership award honoree for 2019-20.
Check back throughout the summer to see what other FNR students are up to as they take their studies from the classroom to the field.
Featured Stories
Residents, Alumni Invited to Share Indiana Natural Resource, Spaces, Species Memories
Do you have a favorite place, species, landscape or natural phenomenon in Indiana? Share it with...
Prototype forest growth model demonstrated for Peru application
The U.S. Forest Service invested decades of work and tens of millions of dollars to develop a...
Researchers Seek Maple Syrup Producer Feedback with New Survey
Researchers are working to scale up the green production of maple syrup in the Central Hardwood...
Meet Geriann Albers: 2025 Chase S. Osborn Early Career Award Recipient
For her contributions to and impact on wildlife management in the state of Indiana, Geriann...
FNR Field Report: Isaac Johnson
Senior Isaac Johnson, a forestry major with a concentration in forest management, worked as an...
FNR Field Report - Ashlynn McLaughlin
Ashlynn McLaughlin, a senior aquatic sciences major with a concentration in marine and freshwater...