Worland senior named first Youth Conservationist of the Year

WORLAND - The first Game and Fish Youth Conservationist of the Year, Isabelle Burky of Worland, will be recognized at the 2020 Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame Banquet March 20 in Cody.

The award acknowledges a Wyoming youth who has shown enthusiasm and leadership in the outdoors and conservation. Burky is a senior at Worland High School, and has worked in Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks where she's constructed trails, monitored wildlife, repaired historic cabins and helped control noxious weeds. Her favorite outdoor activity is hunting.

She intends to pursue a degree in wildlife biology. She said her goal is to finish her degree debt free and will pursue a master's and a PhD. While most of her conservation work has been in the national park system and she says it is a beautiful system that goes throughout the country, she may also be interested in the world of academia and passing on her love of conservation to others as a professor at a university.

In learning of being honored as the Wyoming Game and Fish's first Youth Conservationist of the Year, Burky said, "My first thought was I was very thankful to Grand Teton National Park. A lot of people there supported me and pretty much all my past employers. I was a little bit shocked that they went out of their way to do this."

She said she has always been interested in the outdoors and her parents pushed her to be active outdoors and be involved in outdoor programs. She said she started with school programs in about fifth grade and worked her way up to conservation crews and then the Park Service.

Burky's most recent conservation work was at Grand Teton National Park where she did a "lot of trail building." She said the crew she worked with worked well together.

She also volunteered as a wildlife biology tech on the weekends.

This summer, she said, she has some options but hasn't applied for any at this time. "I'm always working on getting a job over the summer. I'm definitely looking to have a job similar to this past summer."

She is the daughter of Brian and Courtney Burky of Worland.

NOMINATION

Burky was nominated by Donald Galvin, season park ranger with the Bureau of Land Management. He said he first met Burky in 2016 as a project partner for a Montana Conservation Corps crew. Burky was part of a seven-person crew working on several projects on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. He wrote in his nomination form that he learned Burky finished out the 2016 season working on trail projects in the Bridger Teton National Forest.

"Since then I have maintained contact with her and have watched her grow and become a more active participant in the conservation movement. I learned also that in the following years she spent significant time working on conservation projects in Glacier and Yellowstone national parks and in 2019 she worked 10 weeks in Grand Teton National Park performing trail construction, campground rehabilitation and other activities designed to both educate visitors and maintain the natural settings of the park."

Galvin also wrote, "One thing, in addition to her personal accomplishments, which I've noted, is her commitment to conservation and her understanding of what the entire conservation concept encompasses. Isabelle is not a conservationist in word only but also in deed. She understands not just the synergy of the conservation strategy, but also is keenly aware of the concept of unintended consequences that may evolve from decisions made. I have heard her explain at length to her peers on a work crew that hunting is not an exercise in killing wild animals, but also a vital part of a control and conservation mechanism that is in place to ensure not only a healthy animal population of any given species, but also to ensure that the ecosystem that supports those animals remains healthy. She is a skilled hunter herself."

He added, "While her passion for the outdoors and conservation is evident, it is her unbridled curiosity that fuels that passion. She not only seeks to know the 'how' of a project, she is involved in but also, more importantly, the 'why.'"

Burky has earned other accolades for her conservation work, including Grand Teton National Park Foundation bonus award, BLM certificate of appreciation, U.S. Youth Conservation Corps certificate of appreciation and the Presidents Volunteer Service Award in 2016 and 2018.

Burky's supervisor on the Grand Teton National Park's Youth Conservation Program, Stacy Myers, wrote, "Isabelle is, without a doubt, the most passionate, committed, and enthusiastic corps member that I have encountered throughout the YCP's history.

"Not only did Isabelle have perfect attendance during the program, but also, in order to do so, she drove an hour both to and from work each day ... In spite of these long and arduous days, Isabelle's enthusiasm and motivation remained consistent throughout the program."

Myers added, "I have met few people, of any age, who display such commitment to learning and self-improvement."

Clifford Kipp of the Montana Conservation Corps wrote, "She is eager to learn, to work hard, and to support her crew. In a group setting, when something needs to be done, Izzy is the first to volunteer. She always has a smile on her face, and is clearly passionate about the outdoors, conservation work, leadership and teamwork."

INDUCTEES

Burky will be honored at the banquet, along with the three individuals who will be inducted into the Outdoor Hall of Fame. Helen Roylance, Richard Guenzel and Duaine Hagen will join 63 past honorees. The induction ceremony will take place Friday, March 20 in Cody at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

Helen Roylance of Cheyenne is a trailblazer for women and the outdoors in Wyoming. Roylance was the first woman to hold the position of hunter and outdoor skills coordinator for the Game and Fish in 1995. Roylance established the Game and Fish's Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program in 1996 where more than 1,000 women have participated to date. She also set up the first online hunter education course in the state. Roylance is the first woman to be solely inducted into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame.

Richard Guenzel of Laramie is a retired Game and Fish biologist who worked with the department for 27 years. He, in collaboration with Dr. Bruce Johnson of Game and Fish, Dr. Fred Lindzey of the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and Fred Reed of Western Air Research helped develop and implement an aerial line transect technique to more accurately estimate pronghorn populations. Guenzel was the first biologist in Wyoming to capture a pronghorn using a net gun from a helicopter.

Duaine Hagen of Meeteetse is an accomplished horseman who has been outfitting and running guest ranches for hunters and anglers in Wyoming for 40 years. Hagen has guided hundreds of hunters and anglers over the years, as well being active in the Outdoor Dream Foundation for kids dealing with illnesses, and the Wounded Warrior Project for veterans and active military duty members.

Tickets are available for the Outdoor Hall of Fame online; individual tickets and tables are available.