Celebrating Women in Conservation
Highlighting Women in Conservation at Sageland Collaborative
Sageland Collaborative’s Frances Ngo, Mary Pendergast, Janice Gardner, and Sierra Hastings at the 2025 Utah HerpSearch training.
This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the women on our team who bring our work to life. Our skilled team of scientists, project managers, and communications & outreach professionals work hard to achieve our ambitious goals for wildlife and land conservation.
At Sageland Collaborative, we are proud to support women in the natural resources field. From hosting inclusive volunteer and outreach events to welcoming the next generation of professionals into this work through paid internships, we strive to ensure equal opportunities for all. These efforts to create safe and equitable spaces are championed by our entire team, who know that human and wildlife communities are only made more resilient when representation is at the forefront.
Get to know the women of Sageland Collaborative below!
Janice Gardner, M.S., CWB®, Executive Director
What first sparked your interest in working in the natural resources?
I had the great fortune to spend a lot of time outdoors growing up and this sparked my love of nature. This led on me on a path to work in a profession where I can help conserve and best manage our natural resources.
How do you think local communities, especially women, play in role in conservation success?
Every person on the planet needs our ecosystems to function in order to breathe, eat, and live a healthy life. The more types of people that are engaged in conservation relates to better outcomes for everyone. In the past several decades, it has been wonderful to see the progress women have made in the conservation sector. I am hopeful for even more positive outcomes as the conservation field moves towards even more inclusion.
Mary Pendergast, Ph.D., Ecologist and Conservation Biologist
For you, what has been the most rewarding part of working in conservation?
Devoting my career to finding science-based solutions to conserve and restore habitats and associated wildlife communities for future generations is a reward in and of itself. It is a great privilege to be a mother and working conservation biologist with hopes that native plant and animal communities will persist on our landscapes such that my children and their children's children will live in positive relation with them.
What is the value of diverse representation in the natural resources field?
Diverse representation at all levels of the field of natural resources is key to increasing our ways of knowing beyond formal science and into community engagement, traditional ecological knowledge, and enhanced problem-solving to complex environmental challenges. The connection between diverse representation and more equitable and lasting on-the-ground conservation actions is more clear to me with each new conservation project and challenge I am engaged in.
Rose Smith, Ph.D., Stream Ecologist
What is the most rewarding part of working in conservation?
The most rewarding part of working in conservation is the ability to work alongside and learn from passionate, creative and service-oriented people. Working in conservation can be heavy at times, but there is also so much potential for joy in connecting with the natural world. To me, there is nothing more rewarding than sharing in that joy with others, especially when we can celebrate a conservation win!
How do you mentor and support young women looking to enter this field?
We still have our work cut out for us when it comes to gender equality in science and conservation. Mentorship is important to me because I have benefited from strong women who came before me—from family members, to mentors and representation in media and culture. I've also navigated situations that were less empowering, from being the only woman in a room, to the subject of indirect and overtly sexist words and actions. For all these reasons, I place a lot of value on showing up authentically in my own identities, and creating spaces where people from all walks of life can feel a sense of belonging.
In terms of mentorship, I try to encourage all younger people, but especially women, entering this field to:
Reflect on their own unique gifts, talents and passions toward developing a strong sense of the value they bring to different situations,
Learn and practice salary negotiation and other practical self-advocacy as early as possible,
Practice awareness of your own “gut feelings” or intuition about situations and learn how to work with that information.
I also encourage younger folks to remember self-compassion while navigating the early career years. There can be so much pressure to get everything “right.” In reality, everything gets easier with practice, and the conservation field is ever-evolving. Today's “common knowledge” could very well be re-written in five years!
We are committed to ensuring equal opportunities and fostering the next generation of professionals into the natural resources.
These opportunities are supported by our generous donors.
Will you donate today to support this work?
Sierra Hastings, Communications & Development Specialist
How did you get your start in this field?
Though I’ve always loved nature, my time spent as a volunteer Naturalist Guide at Silver Lake was my first formal foray into working in this field. Inspired, I sought out every opportunity to learn more and get involved in this world—from taking the Utah Master Naturalist courses and planting trees at Alta to (of course) building beaver dam analogs with Sageland Collaborative. Each opportunity gave me a glimpse into what I wanted to be doing, and when a Communications position opened on the Sageland team, I jumped at the opportunity! I haven’t looked back since then, and have been proud to be able to bring my passions together in this work.
What is one misconception people may have about women working in conservation?
There seems to be this idea that women in the outdoors or natural resources field should be a certain way—that they should have a certain look, personality traits, interests, or attitude. While this misconception may have been born out of the historic underrepresentation of women in this field and further enforced by inequitable standards, we are beginning to see a shift in this culture. As more folks enter this field, these standards are continually being reevaluated and adjusted to meet the growing need for accommodations.
So while there is still so much room for improvement, I hope that everyone feels empowered to get involved. There is no “one-size-fits-all” in this type of work, and what makes us unique only adds to what makes conservation amazing.
Emm Clark, M.S., Avian Ecologist
What has been your proudest achievement in your career so far?
Learning other languages never came easily to me, but I am proud of my dedication to keep working towards Spanish fluency. By continually putting myself out there, I still make mistakes, but I don’t let them bother me anymore. I love being able to connect with people from different places and cultures, mimicking how the birds I study move through these artificial boundaries. We are all connected!
What advice would you give to young women pursuing a career in natural resources?
Stay curious and open to pivoting topics. Early in my career I planned to focus on herpetology but found few opportunities. I ended up with a tech position studying shorebirds, and it has been my passion ever since! Also, don’t be afraid to seek out other women mentors to learn from and get support. You don’t need to navigate this journey alone.
Frances Ngo, Community Engagement & Outreach Specialist
Can you share a memorable experience working with wildlife?
One of my favorite memories was getting to hold a Rufous Elephant Shrew for the very first time! After finishing undergrad, I spent time in Kenya doing fieldwork with a former professor. We were helping his grad students study noctural mammals and one of the mornings that we checked our survey grid, we had caught an elephant shrew in one of our live traps!!! It was like holding a very soft, tiny potato. I had only seen these critters in documentaries but here I was—a full-fledged scientist weighing and giving ear tags to these small mammals!
If you could change one thing to make conservation work more inclusive for women, what would it be?
I would urge more leaders in the conservation field to take strong stances (in words and actions) to uplift women of color. Ideally, folks who hold positions of organizational power or societal privilege would be doing the work to evaluate their role in perpetuating systemic barriers and using their power to be accomplices in changing policies in the conservation field that have disproportionately excluded women and nonbinary folks of color.
Kim Howes, Development Director
What impact do you hope to leave on the conservation world?
I want to contribute to a lasting, positive impact on the natural world by advancing projects that protect biodiversity, enhance habitat connectivity, and weave conservation into the fabric of policy and planning. I aspire to leave a legacy where ecosystems are thriving, endangered species are recovering, and communities are actively engaged in conservation activities. Through my work, I’m privileged to raise awareness, secure funding, and forge partnerships that drive long-term, sustainable change. I want to cultivate a future where conservation isn’t just a goal—it’s an integral part of how we coexist with wildlife and nature.
How do you stay motivated when facing challenges in conservation funding?
I stay motivated by focusing on the long-term impact of the projects we are advancing. I’m driven by the larger vision we’re working toward—healthier ecosystems, greater biodiversity, and more sustainable management practices. When faced with funding challenges, I focus on fostering strong relationships with donors, partners, and communities, knowing that their support is vital for our success. I stay inspired by seeking creative solutions—whether that’s diversifying funding sources, exploring new opportunities, or crafting compelling narratives that underscore the urgent need for conservation. Ultimately, my belief that the work we do is part of something far greater than any single obstacle is what keeps me moving forward, no matter the challenges ahead.
We are honored to work alongside many inspiring women, including our volunteers and partners in conservation. Thank you to all of the incredible women working to make the natural resources field more inclusive!
You can support Sageland Collaborative’s work by getting involved in our community science projects, making a recurring donation, and staying up to date with our monthly newsletters.
Article by Sierra Hastings