A Day in the Life of a PF/QF Biologist
By Mandie Lang, Coordinating Wildlife Biologist and Hannah Pippert, Farm Bill Wildlife Biologist
Ever wondered what it’s like to be a Pheasants Forever Biologist in Kansas? Mandie and Hannah interviewed each other about what a day is like, here are their answers!
I’m Mandie Lang, Coordinating Wildlife Biologist in Seneca, KS. In high school I thought I might like to be a park ranger because of family trips to national and state parks over our summer vacations. I searched the internet for what kind of degree you needed to become a park ranger. Wildlife, forestry, and conservation law enforcement were the most common results and for me, wildlife was the obvious choice.
I went to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to earn my degree in Wildlife Ecology and Management. Throughout my time there, I shifted my career goals a number of times, and by graduation I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do! I applied all over the country to any wildlife or conservation job that sounded interesting and accepted the position with Pheasants Forever in February of 2021. I have grown so much in my knowledge of Kansas prairies and habitat management, and my goal now is to be an advocate for the land, to encourage people to steward land well to provide the greatest benefits not just to wildlife, but also to the soil, water, plants, air, etc. and ensure the viability of these areas into the future.
And I’m Hannah Pippert, Farm Bill Biologist in Lawrence, KS. I graduated from KU in 2018 with a degree in Environmental Studies. It was a journey to get there, I changed my major multiple times and chose one that offered a wide breadth of experiences in research and field work. This is where I fell in love with
I am lucky to have worked for a variety of people and organizations who also prioritize prairie. I have worked for a small business, a community college, county parks and recreation, and finally I found myself at PF Kansas in March of 2022! I work in Lawrence, covering 9 counties in east/central Kansas and my favorite days are when I get to meet with landowners about habitat and conservation! The tallgrass prairie is critically endangered, and I count myself lucky to be working to preserve it and all the plants and animals that call it home!
Today, we’re talking about what a day in the life of a biologist is like! We’ve prepared some questions for each other.
Mandie: So, Hannah, you’ve been on the Kansas team for over a year now. What has it been like to be a Farm Bill Biologist in Kansas?
Hannah: One of the things that I enjoy most about being a FBB is that every day is different! We wear a lot of hats. On an average day, you might find me in the field providing technical assistance to landowners, hiking through CRP to assess for the FSA, in the office designing seed mixes for people, working with partners to plan and execute outreach events, and much more!
I work with many different partners every day. Frequently, I am in the field with KDWP or NRCS, using those connections to get more conservation on the ground in Kansas! I also get to work with the Conservation Districts in my counties on outreach events and ordering native plant seeds. More partners that I see at outreach events are K-State Extension and the Kansas Biological Survey, both excellent resources with very knowledgeable people!
Conservation work cannot be done in a vacuum, what we do requires a variety of people and organizations to collaborate. Working with people who have the same goals of conservation, education, and learning fills me with a sense of satisfaction that our work is making a difference!
Biologist Hannah Pippert examines a plant on remnant prairie in Shawnee County.
Hannah: Mandie, one of our main responsibilities is private lands conservation. How do you prepare to meet a landowner when they call you for technical assistance?
Mandie: When a landowner calls, I like to get an idea of what their goals are for their land. Do they want to see more quail and pheasant, are they interested in pollinators, are they looking to improve the productivity of their crops, increasing forage quality on their rangeland, or interested in wildlife habitat overall?
It's important that I know what they are wanting to achieve with their management, so I can direct my recommendations accordingly. I will prepare an aerial map of the property to take along with me to the field so I can mark it up and take notes on it. I like to visit each type of habitat or every field that a landowner is working on, so I can get a good idea of where we are starting out. I identify areas of good habitat so the landowner can get an idea of what we are aiming for and then talk about what areas might need work. We will talk about ideas to improve the land- how it will work, what it will achieve, and the way it aligns with their objectives.
I always consider input from the landowner on what type of equipment they have to work with, how much they are capable of, and what they are interested in doing. I like to follow up with an email so that they have a concrete list of recommendations and a timeline to organize the projects. And then it’s just a matter of hard work and time to get those improvements going!
Photo from a landowner visit featuring KDWP, KFS, and the landowner.
Mandie: Another big part of our workload is education and outreach. Hannah, what do you do to plan for an event like this?
Hannah: Outreach events are some of my favorite days! I have to think about the event, who will be there, and who my target audience will be.
For example: if I am running a table with information at a prescribed fire demonstration, I can be fairly confident the attendees will be mostly adults looking for information on how to manage their land. I will bring one-pagers, articles, and books that relate to the topic and complement what other presenters will be saying.
If I am going to be presenting at an event geared towards children and families, I bring coloring pages and fact sheets about the plants and animals I talk about frequently. I may also bring materials for a game that demonstrates predator/prey interactions or migrating wetland birds.
Once I get to the event and get set up, I am ready to answer questions, offer resources, and talk about habitat and plants and animals!
Photo from an equipment demonstration during a prescribed fire workshop in Douglas County.
Hannah: Mandie, would you go into more detail about the partnerships we get to work with every day?
Mandie: A lot of the work I do involves our awesome partners throughout the state. Whether I am consulting FSA on CRP paperwork, going on a site visit with an NRCS engineer, consulting on a planting strategy with KDWP, or helping out my Conservation District with an outreach event, we are constantly interacting with others in the conservation world!
All of our bios work out of an NRCS office- they are one of our biggest partners in Kansas and provide training on programs and conservation planning. They provide technical standards and specifications that we use to ensure the conservation work we are doing is appropriate to our area. I also work frequently with my local conservation districts, who have a manager stationed in each county’s NRCS office. A lot of the work I do with conservation districts is in education- whether a youth pollinator day, a farmer-to-farmer meeting, or women in agriculture event, they are always involving me in great outreach events!
KDWP is another one of our strongest partnerships in Kansas. I have gained a ton of technical knowledge and habitat management information from my local private lands biologists. I can’t say they taught me everything I know, but I wouldn’t be the biologist I am today without KDWP!
We also get to work with a large variety of other conservation partners throughout the state- The Sorghum Checkoff Program, National Fish and Wildlife Federation, Kansas Forest Service, Kansas WRAPS, The Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited, and The Nature Conservancy to name a few! These collaborations may include outreach events, joint workshops, private lands management, and a variety of other conservation-focused activities.
Photo from a conference on Northern Bobwhite conservation.
Mandie: Hannah, could you talk about working with programs a bit? They are a huge asset to our landowners and a critical part of our partnerships in Kansas.
Hannah: A big part of our job is connecting people to programs that support conservation. Our bios are all either certified conservation planners or are working towards that certification. This means that we can work at local, state, and federal levels to get landowners the support they need to increase habitat on the ground!
We spend a lot of our time on CRP and EQIP, both writing conservation plans and monitoring progress through the life of the contract. These aren’t the only resources we can point people to, however! Since we collaborate closely with KDWP, we can refer people to their programs Habitat First and WIHA for support. Another resource we can call on is our chapters! They often have a budget for habitat improvement that we as bios can connect with people doing habitat conservation.
One of an FBB’s greatest strengths is our network that we can tap into to support conservation on the ground in our counties!
Mandie: So you bring up a great point here. Our organization started as a grassroots effort to push upland conservation at the local level. Tell me a little bit more about the biologist’s role with PF/QF chapters?
Hannah: In addition to the biologists, habitat specialists, and regional reps, PF has a wing of volunteer chapters across the US with dozens of chapters here in Kansas. Our chapters fundraise and collaborate with bios on ways to use those funds for upland habitat conservation! If I have a project that I think my chapter would be especially interested in, or if the landowner doesn’t fit in to a cost-share program very well, I will bring that to my chapter to see if they can fund it. They also plan multiple outreach, youth, and hunting heritage events each year. You can find the map here to find out how you can get involved!
Hannah: Mandie, we work for Pheasants and Quail Forever in Kansas. This begs the question: which bird do you like more, pheasants or quail?
Mandie: I am really not interested in pheasants and quail, personally. I know they are important to a lot of folks here, so I want to make sure to say I don’t dislike them! But for me, conservation has never been about one species or one group or even wildlife as a whole. I want to work to improve the ecosystem as a whole.
If we can restore grasslands to their former glory, this will provide good bird habitat, but will also improve soil and water quality, nutrient retention, attract native pollinators and other insects, and innumerable other benefits.
Photo from a prescribed fire with a PF/QF chapter.
Mandie: I think we can both answer, what sticks out to you from your time with PF so far?
Hannah: Some of my favorite days are when I get to practice plant identification and talk to people about conserving historic tallgrass prairie! As an FBB, I get to do this all year long in addition to everything else we talked about earlier in the blog post. Connecting with people over our shared concern and passion for habitat is what attracted me to PF and is what keeps me coming back day after day!
Mandie: I love that! What really sticks out to me is the passionate people. Folks who see the problems we are facing on the landscape and are willing to do something about it are the ones I find most enjoyable to work with. I can’t do this all on my own so the more landowners, conservationists, and partners I get to work with on this, the better!