CURRENT PROJECT MEMBERS
Thomas Gable
Project Lead
Voyageurs Wolf Project
Tom is the project lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project and has been studying wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem for over a decade. Tom completed his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and his Master's at Northern Michigan University. Tom is perpetually fascinated at how wolves and their prey interact and make a living in the southern boreal forests of the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. As such, much of Tom's research is focused on trying to untangle and learn more about these species and their interactions. Gable is particularly fascinated by wolf-beaver interactions and in understanding how the interactions between this apex predator and ecosystem engineer influence the larger ecosystem. Much of Gable's early interest in wolves stemmed from encountering wolf tracks, kills, and the occasional wolf while exploring the wild places around his family's cabin just outside of Killarney Provincial Park, Ontario during the winter.
Austin Homkes
Field Biologist
Voyageurs Wolf Project
Austin works full time as a field biologist on the Voyageurs Wolf Project and has been studying wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem since 2015. Homkes has a Master's degree from Northern Michigan University where he studied wolf predation on white-tailed deer fawns in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. Homkes received his Bachelor's in Biology from Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He has long been interested in exploring, conserving, and studying wild places and wildlife. Growing up, Homkes developed a passion for the outdoors by wandering around the forests near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore, where his family has a cottage, and around Holland, MI where he grew up. Prior to starting his Master's, Homkes thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and worked on the Cascade Carnivore Project as a research technician.
Joseph Bump
Associate Professor
University of Minnesota
Joseph is an Associate Professor and the Gordon W. Gullion Endowed Chair in Forest Wildlife Research & Education at the University of Minnesota. He is the University of Minnesota lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project. Bump studies how wildlife interactions affect ecosystem processes and biodiversity. Research in Bump's lab bridges wildlife research at the scale of biology, community, and population with landscape-scale ecosystem science. Bump’s curiosity in the natural world began with a childhood spent mucking around the Hudson River in upstate New York. Commercial salmon fishing off Kodiak Island, Alaska between undergraduate studies and work at the University of Michigan’s Biological Station confirmed his interest in wildlife ecology and conservation biology. Bump received his Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University and a Master's from University of Wyoming.
Sophie Heny
Researcher
University of Minnesota
Sophie is a researcher for the Voyageurs Wolf Project and began her time on the project in 2023. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Vermont, during which she worked in an agroecology lab and led a project in Northern Mongolia studying the impacts of livestock overgrazing on Daurian pika. This experience affirmed her love for wildlife research in remote and challenging environments. Prior to settling in the Northwoods, Sophie thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and worked in the Santa Lucia Range of California and the Green Mountains of Vermont. Growing up on a small farm in rural Virginia, Heny spent most of her childhood outside, and accredits her lifelong passion for conservation and natural history to these days exploring in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
PROJECT COLLABORATORS
Sean Johnson-Bice
Ph.D. Candidate
University of Manitoba
Sean first got involved with the Voyageurs Wolf Project while working as a technician for Voyageurs National Park in 2015. Sean continued working for Voyageurs until he began his Master's at the University of Minnesota in Fall 2016 studying the spatial and population dynamics of beavers, advised by project member Steve Windels. In 2019, Sean began his Ph.D. at the University of Manitoba as part of the Churchill Fox Project, a long-term research project focused on monitoring food web dynamics at the taiga-tundra-marine interface along the western coast of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba. His research is primarily focused on studying interactions between Arctic foxes, red foxes, and their prey, with a secondary focus on understanding how cross-environment resource subsidies affect these interactions. Sean fostered a passion for the outdoors, wild places, and wildlife through childhood camping trips and by working seasonal technician jobs in places like Maui, the New Mexico mountains, and the Florida Keys. He still reveres the Northwoods of Minnesota, and maintains a collaborative relationship with the project today.
John Bruggink
Professor
Northern Michigan University
John Bruggink is a Professor of Wildlife Biology at Northern Michigan University and has been involved with research in Voyageurs National Park for several years. He was the Master’s advisor for Tom Gable and is currently the Master’s thesis advisor for Austin Homkes and Lucas Beck. Bruggink has been interested in the natural world since boyhood but his interest in a wildlife career resulted from time in his teens hunting squirrels in the Macatawa hills, and grouse and deer near Hisperia, Michigan. Although much of Bruggink’s work has involved the ecology and management of migratory game bird populations, he has broad interests in wildlife ecology and has been particularly interested in wolf ecology since working as a field technician on a wolf project between his Master’s and Ph.D. programs. Bruggink received his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University and his Master’s from Northern Michigan University.
Lucas Beck
Graduate Student
Northern Michigan University
Lucas started work as a technician on the Voyageurs Wolf Project in the summer of 2018 after graduating from the University of Vermont. In total, Lucas has spent 3 field seasons on the Voyageurs Wolf Project and is currently a Master's student at Northern Michigan University where his work focuses on the reproductive ecology of wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem. In addition to working on the Voyageurs Wolf Project, Lucas worked for the Washington Predator-Prey Project studying cougar predation in the Methow Valley in Winter 2020. Lucas’s research interests include predation behavior, the ecology of hybridization, reproductive ecology and conservation biology. Lucas's hobbies include fishing, wildlife tracking, hiking and reading history.
Dani Freund
Graduate Student
University of Minnesota
Dani is a Master's student and her research primarily focuses on the ecosystem effects of wolf predation on beavers—the ecosystem engineers of boreal forests—in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem (GVE). Dani is also studying how wolves in the GVE take advantage of unique seasonal prey such as fish. Dani’s interest in scientific research began during her undergraduate degree when she joined a research lab studying the effect of testosterone on honest signaling in female American goldfinches. This experience inspired her to pursue a research study abroad program in Cambodia where she investigated the reproductive strategies of an understudied catfish species. After graduating, Dani was a Princeton-in-Asia communications fellow for 2 years with the World Wide Fund for Nature working on transboundary conservation issues within the Greater Mekong Region as well as the International Water Management Institute working on social inclusion in land management within rural municipal governments. These experiences fostered a drive to dismantle accessibility barriers within scientific research and the scientific community throughout her career. Dani grew up skiing in Washington State, where she developed her respect and passion for the natural environment.
Andrea Hynes
Graduate Student
Northern Michigan University
Andrea began her Master’s research at Northern Michigan University in 2022. Her research focuses on understanding wolf pup survival, which has been described as an enigma in wolf biology in the Great Lakes region. Andrea is working on developing a new method to estimate wolf pup survival and hopes her research will fill in some of the unresolved gaps in wolf ecology. Prior to beginning her Master’s research, Andrea worked as a wildlife technician studying jaguars on the Belize Carnivore Project, spent two seasons as a field technician on the Voyageurs Wolf Project, and worked for the Forest Service studying Mountain Quail and Northern Goshawks in the rugged mountains of central Idaho. When Andrea isn’t working on her research, she enjoys spending time playing the cello, doing jigsaw puzzles, and going on adventures with her dog Tundra.