Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA) represents 24 states and Canadian provinces, an area covering nearly 3.7 million square miles of some of North America’s most wild and scenic country. Since 1922, WAFWA’s goal has been to support sound resource management and build partnerships at all levels to conserve wildlife for the use and benefit of all citizens, now and in the future.

Mike became the Wild Sheep Working Group (WSWG) Chair in September 2016. One of the original WSWG members, he continues to be the statewide bighorn sheep and mountain goat program coordinator for Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) where he has been a big game biologist for over 27 years and WAFWA Mule Deer Working Group member for a decade.

Mike has been a part of one of the most successful bighorn sheep restoration programs in the west bringing bighorn sheep back in Nevada from a low of 2,000-3,000 in 1960 to over 12,000 bighorn sheep today. Mike earned his BS degree from South Dakota State University in Wildlife and Fisheries Science and MS in Wildlife Ecology at Iowa State University. Though Mike’s formal training in graduate school was population demography and modelling, he has accepted the role of bringing people together and working on solutions through fostering relationships and unconventional approaches to inform and educate people. Mike has an active lifestyle from backpack hunting to backcountry skiing