MISSOULA — A gift is set to help establish new academic research center within the University of Montana's W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation.
"This transformative gift is a $5.5 million gift from James Kennedy and it's going to be profound in how it impacts our institution," College of Forestry and Conservation Dean Libby Metcalf told MTN.
The Treasure Montana campaign seeks $20 million to build a new home for Forestry studies at UM. $2.5 million of Kennedy’s gift will go towards that.
"We have outgrown our old forestry building and this new building is going to highlight all the strengths that we have in our college," Metcalf said.
The other 2.5 million will create the James C. Kennedy Waterfowl and Wetlands Center.
"It's going to empower and strengthen some of the research we have in this area where we use our remote sensing data in order to understand what's happening on our wetlands and where our waterfowl are moving. We're going to get real time data that updates every 16 days," Metcalf explained.
Metcalf details that scientific exploration will be a team effort and include Ducks Unlimited, a professor and Natural Resources and Conservation Service Working Lands for Wildlife advisor, as well as the Ringelman Endowed Chair in Waterfowl Conservation.
“Wetlands are a really good indicator of ecosystem health. We want to be able to tailor our conservation efforts in order to increase some of those places where we know wetlands need to be strengthened," Metcalf said.
The goal, Metcalf says, is to continue improving UM's Wildlife Biology program and contribute meaningful research to nationwide studies.
