Trumpeter Swans - Life History, Ecology and Restoration Status

Replay Available here

Join us as Susan Patla, retired nongame biologist for Wyoming Game and Fish Department, provides an update on the current status of Trumpeter Swans in Wyoming.  The small population of Trumpeter Swans that nest in Wyoming are an important component of the Greater Yellowstone area (GYA) flock, the only trumpeters that survived in the lower 48 states into the early 1900s.  Although trumpeter populations now flourish in Alaska, Canada and parts of the Mid-west, this species remains at fairly low numbers in the GYA and is still considered of conservation concern. Susan will discuss trumpeter's life history, ecology and the history of restoration efforts with a focus on Wyoming's Green River range expansion program.   Susan is an accomplished avian biologist, well-known for her work in Teton County for many years.

Susan Patla worked as a nongame biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for 20 years based out of the Jackson region.  Her work involved conservation planning and monitoring for a wide range of avian and mammal species including Trumpeter Swan, Bald Eagle, Common Loon, Long-billed Curlew, Peregrine Falcon, wolverine and Canada lynx. In 2012, she was part of the team that received the first standard North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant in Wyoming, to purchase conservation easements, develop wetland ponds, and restore cottonwoods in the Upper Green River basin south of Pinedale, WY.  Retired since 2019, Susan continues to stay involved with conservation issues and monitoring swans, and other bird species.  She also learned a lesson from the birds and now migrates south to enjoy the biodiversity and birding in the Sonoran desert during the winter months.