background photo: Zach Snavely
   bio photo: Clara Hoffman

Taylor Renee Ganz, Ph.D.

I am a wildlife ecologist interested in understanding how humans and landscape factors influence interactions between species. My goal is to conduct research that informs conservation and management in the American West. I currently study how snowpack dynamics affect wildlife as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington. I also contract for the USGS, helping synthesize science around the impacts of recreation on ungulates to better integrate research findings into the NEPA process.

I completed my Ph.D. in 2022 at the University of Washington under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Prugh, collaborating with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on the Predator-Prey Project. My research evaluated how ungulates (mule deer, white-tailed deer and elk) respond to predators (bobcats, cougars, coyotes and wolves), forage dynamics, and landscape change driven by humans, including wildfire and timber harvest. For my master's, I attended the Yale School of the Environment (M.S. 2017), where I researched the impacts of air pollution on an alpine watershed in the Wind River Range, WY. I also hold degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California (B.S. 2010) and Physics from Lewis and Clark College (B.A. 2009).​

In my work, I draw on my extensive background leading research teams and wilderness expeditions to collect data from remote locations. Before my academic career, I was a Senior Field Instructor at NOLS, wilderness ranger, horse-packer, teacher, and climbing guide. Outside of work, I like to trail run, ski, and fly-fish.