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On the Job with Jena Moon, Wildlife Biologist
B.S. Wildlife Management; M.S. Wildlife Science
In addition to USFWS assignments, Jena worked diligently within the Department, excited to latch onto any graduate student who would take her along to help. This led to additional internships working on Rio Grande turkeys in southwestern Kansas, collecting and identifying vegetation for the University herbarium, and trapping/tagging small mammals for a study on the Texas Tech campus. She was also an active member of the Range, Wildlife, and Fisheries Club, serving as an officer, and competed in national and international competitions as a member of the Range Plant Identification Team and the Wildlife Quizbowl Team. Following her pursuit of an undergraduate degree, Jena decided to enroll under Dr. David Haukos at Texas Tech to pursue her Master's degree. She worked with Dr. Haukos on a project with northern pintails. During this project they trapped and radio-tagged over 200 individual birds and followed their daily movements, survival rates, habitat use, and behavior across their wintering and migrational periods. They also took measurements of body condition and structural measurements upon capture.
Upon graduation, Jena took a job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a wildlife biologist in deep, south Texas. In Jena's current position she serves as staff specialist for all wetland and waterfowl related issues and management. While on the staff of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Jena restored more than 200 acres of riparian wetland habitats and improved more than 400 acres of wetlands in the Rio Grande Valley. Beyond wetland and waterfowl related tasks, she served as the pesticide coordinator, water rights officer, permit coordinator, volunteer coordinator, and banding coordinator. Jena is currently working as a wildlfie biologist in southeastern Texas on the McFaddin and Texas Point NWRs. She is responsible for wetland and waterfowl related activities, focusing heavily on migratory waterfowl use, waterbird habitat use, wetland ecology and restoration, habitat management, and hydrology. She is also responsible for the Refuge's pesticide program, GIS needs, hiring and managing interns during the summer months, running a banding crew, implementing a large scale telemetry project, instructing other Fish and Wildlife Service employees in motor boat and airboat operation and maintenance, and making habitat management decisions on two large coastal National Wildlife Refuges. |
Jena Moon is a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a graduate of Texas Tech's Department of Natural Resources Management. While an undergraduate, she was inducted into the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Student Career Experience Program (SCEP), and completed two internships within the program. Her first assignment was completed in Roswell, NM with endangered and wetland species, and the second was completed in Yuma, AZ on the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge working on big horn sheep and bat conservation.
Jena also continued to be enrolled in the USFWS SCEP Program, and she completed a stint with Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where she was responsible for planning a youth hunt, reviewing and modifying prescribed fire and grazing plans, and assisting with Centennial Celebrations for Buffalo Lake NWR and Muleshoe NWR. During her tenure as a graudate student, Jena presented at 11 international, national, and state conferences, and won the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society's Cottam Award for the outsntanding student presentation. She was also voted outstanding graduate student for the Range, Wildlife, and Fisheries Department.