Thanks to those of you who attended our March 22nd Nature Night, Wild Horses, Wolves, and Other Wildlife of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. It was an fascinating, informative, and in-depth look at wildlife management from Austin Smith, Jr. If you missed it or would like to see parts of it again, you can watch a recording of his presentation below.
Austin provided a wealth of information during his Nature Night presentation. Check out some links related to his talk and a few resources that were mentioned during his presentation:
- Learn more about the organization that Austin works for—The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Branch of Natural Resources
- A local news article about bighorn sheep reintroduction efforts—Bighorn Sheep Thriving in Warm Springs Home, The Bend Bulletin, 2005
- A local news article about mountain goat reintroduction—Of Mountain Goats and Unicorns, The Nugget Newspaper, 2016
- Learn more about OR-93—The Wolf That Roamed to Southern California, The New Yorker, 2020
- Get more information about projects on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation by listening to KWSO 91.9 and reading the Spilyay Tymoo
Austin Smith Jr. has lived in Central Oregon most of his life. He grew up on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and is an avid hunter and fisherman, exercising his rights as a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs like his ancestors before him. Austin served in the United States Marine Corps from 2004 to 2009, and was deployed three times overseas before separating from the Corps with an Honorable Discharge to pursue an education using the GI Bill. Austin attended Central Oregon Community College where he earned his Associate's degree, and then transferred to Oregon State University-Cascades and graduated with a degree in natural resources conservation and technology with a focus on wildlife management. While attending college, Austin worked as a wildlife technician for the Tribes from 2010 to 2015, and was hired on full-time by the Branch of Natural Resources in Warm Springs as the tribal wildlife biologist in 2015. Currently, he oversees the Branch of Natural Resources for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Austin has a lovely wife, a 20-year-old son, a 3-year-old daughter, and the newest addition, a 1-year-old son. He enjoys his time with his family taking adventure trips to the "Inche'Wana" (Columbia River), and exercising his treaty hunting and fishing rights.
Learn more: