Small isolated populations are of particular conservation interest due to their increased extinction risk. This dissertation investigates two small wild bird populations using genetic approaches to inform their conservation. Specifically, one case study investigated a Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) population located in northwest Wyoming near Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park. Microsatellite data showed that the Jackson sage-grouse population possessed significantly reduced levels of neutral genetic diversity and was isolated from other Wyoming populations. Analysis with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and microsatellite data provided further evidence that the population's timing of isolation was relatively recent and most likely due to recent anthropogenic habitat changes. Conservation recommendations include maintaining or increasing the population's current size and reestablishing gene flow with the nearest large population. The second case study investigated the genetic distinctiveness of the Floreana island population of the Galápagos Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus galapagoensis). Mitochondrial DNA sequence data did not detect differences across nine island populations, yet microsatellite and morphometric data indicated that limited gene flow existed with the population and surrounding island populations, which appeared asymmetric in direction from Floreana to Santa Cruz with no indication of gene flow into Floreana. These results have important conservation implications and …

Sound recording of Alden Whitman, obituaries writer for the New York Times, speaking at the Ninth Annual National Colloquium of the Oral History Association at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park.

Sound recording of Robert Hine giving two speeches titled "Western Sense of Community" and "California's Communes: Oral History and Mystery" during a luncheon.

Sound recording of psychiatrist Dr. Robert Menninger speaking about memory at the Ninth Annual National Colloquium of the Oral History Association at the Jackson Lake Lodge in the Grand Teton National Park.

Sound recording of William Moss giving a talk titled "The Future of Oral History" during the 5th Oral History Workshop in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Photograph of an unidentified woman speaking at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Moran, Wyoming. At the OHA's Jackson Hole Colloquium, Fall/Winter of 1974.

Photograph of an unidentified woman speaking from behind a podium with two unidentified men seated next to her. They are at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Moran, Wyoming. At the OHA's Jackson Hole Colloquium, Fall/Winter of 1974.

Photograph of Robert Hine captivating the Saturday luncheon gathering at the Jackson Lake Lodge podium in Moran, Wyoming. At the OHA's Jackson Hole Colloquium, Fall/Winter of 1974.

Photograph of Sam Proctor speaking at Jackson Lake Lodge for the OHA's Jackson Hole Colloquium in the Fall of 1974.

Article explores the circumstances surrounding the decision to move starving Rocky Mountain elk from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to the Wichita Mountains National Forest and Game Preserve in southwestern Oklahoma in 1911, and the Progressive conservation ideals behind bringing the elk to Oklahoma.

Photograph of MHR Estrellita, a champion Hereford female calf with small horns wearing a harness.