Congratulations to the following finalists who advanced to the live judging round at NACCR 2026!

Full-length talks, competitors include:

Tyler Treakle Job Impacts of the United States Endangered Species Act

Faranak Parkami Public awareness of illegal wildlife trade and the role of tourists

Samir Bhandari Forest Ecology and Ethnobotany of NTFPs in Sirdibas, Gorkha of Manaslu Conservation Area, Gandaki Province, Nepal

Max Scheel Prescribed fire and cattle grazing differentially affect alpha, beta, and gamma diversity of small-scale restored tallgrass prairies

Aruni ARIYAWANSHA Microsite Manipulation Promotes Native Seedlings but Also Benefits Invasives in Urban Forests

Kira Pfoch Wildland–urban interface growth changes fire regimes and vegetation communities in Mediterranean Ecosystems globally

Isabel Dunn Impact of Great Lakes coastal wetland restoration on seasonal bird assemblages

Jennalie Lutes EVALUATING PREY COMMUNITIES AND STABLE ISOTOPE SIGNATURES IN OFF-LAKE FORAGING WETLANDS FOR LAKE OKEECHOBEE WADING BIRDS

Bhavya Iyer No Place Like Home! Understanding landowner motivations for engaging in northern bobwhite conservation in Kansas, USA.

Ishana Shukla Functional Roles of the World’s Recovered Predators – BEST CONTRIBUTED TALK!

Nelson Gathuku A unified framework combining trajectory, spatial configuration, and network theory approaches to classify animal ranging syndromes

Rebekkah LaBlue Evaluating the role of protected areas as climate-change refugia for range-shifting birds

Milene Wiebe An in situ experimental approach for assessing density‑impact thresholds in invasive species

Hyun Yong Chung Widespread disturbances synchronize communities and couple abundance with occupancy

Charles Lehnen Rewilding Santa Fe Island: Evaluating Española Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis hoodensis) introduction with remote sensing and behavioral models

Cassandre Venumiere-Lefebvre Bears avoid residential neighborhoods in response to the experimental reduction of anthropogenic attractants

Speed talks, competitors include:

Li Murphy Pestwork: Insect Outbreak Response in the Western U.S. – BEST SPEED TALK!

Kiara Kattler Coastal mustelids as predators of invasive European green crabs (Carcinus maenas) in Haíɫzaqv Territory

Julia Lankisch Wildlife Crossings Governance: Enablers and Barriers to Implementation

Quanhuan Liao Beyond classification: inferring pollination services from computer vision and Bayesian modeling

Chandika Rani Ganesh Babu Stable signals from Genome-wide Association Study of Chronic Wasting Disease in White-tailed Deer

Julia Armour Smith Hands-on childhood experiences in ecological restoration lay the “breadcrumbs” for community action in Seattle, WA

Saketh Tammisetti Design of a novel biodegradable starch-chitosan composite film as an LDPE alternative for UV-triggered degradation

Posters, competitors include:

Tajul Islam Mamun Linking fire ecology and disease dynamics in the conservation of Florida Scrub-Jays

Kevin Zhang Annual Patterns, Seasonal Shifts, and Modeled Trends in Polar Bear Encounters Near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Oli Beigel Abundance, distribution, and habitat preference of grey crowned cranes (Balearica regulorum gibbericeps) in Amboseli National Park and its environs

Cecilia Sahnow Getting attached: community composition and environmental drivers of riparian bryophytes in a tropical stream

Divyasheel Sukhari Trophic-mediated dispersal of cnidarian symbionts: A tractable marine model using Aiptasia pallida and Berghia stephanieae

Jessica Wimmer Population Genomic Investigation of Introduced Argentine Black and White Tegus in Florida – BEST POSTER!

McKenzie Henkelman Integrating museum collections and historical genomics to investigate the extinct Merriam’s elk (Cervus canadensis merriami)

Elyse Malamud Tracking oak-associated ectomycorrhizal communities with historical survey records

Max Luther A global survey of species needing habitat restoration to recover populations and avoid extinction

Kaitlyn Lund Who’s That Organism?: A Comparison between iNaturalist User and Species Diversity in Urbanized versus Natural Areas

Alice Sansonetti An Adaptive Framework Evaluating the Impact of Forest Thinning Restoration on Biodiversity Outcomes in a North-Central Arizona Case Study

Holly Andres Disentangling Biotic and Abiotic Soil Legacies in Tallgrass Prairie Restoration following Juniperus virginiana Encroachment

Rachelle Ketelhohn Individual Identification of Grey Wolf Camera Trap Images Using Machine Learning

Ryan Masayesva Beyond co-management: Indigenous sovereignty as the foundation for conservation on Yáláƛi