When not immersed in the wild lands of the Northern Rockies, University of Montana alum Earle Layser and his late wife, Pattie, of Alta, Wyoming, were often on the move – or putting pen to paper and taking photos to capture their experiences.
Between them, they published hundreds of stories on conservation and natural history, drawing from their travels to far-flung destinations like Uganda, Madagascar, the Galápagos Islands and the Amazon.
While they explored some of Earth’s most stunning and biologically rich places, the Laysers considered the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem their “life’s landscape.” They made lasting memories canoeing, fly fishing, cycling, backpacking and watching wildlife – from wolves and bears in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley to Jackson Hole’s iconic elk.
But the pair also witnessed threats to the wildlife and habitats they loved so much, leading them to pose the question: As humans continue to encroach on wild, natural spaces, how can we coexist while sustaining these priceless places and creatures?
Driven by a conviction that UM in Missoula could make a lasting, positive impact on these issues, in 2014 the Laysers took the extraordinary measure of committing $1.5 million to create the Earle and Pattie Layser Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Conservation Biology and Policy. The professorship uplifts the University’s W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation.
“People must know before they are able to care,” Layser said. “Our gift is intended to contribute to that knowing and recognizing, and ultimately the caring, for the preservation and protection of the uniqueness of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in today’s rapidly changing world.”
Now the couple’s commitment has come to fruition with the appointment of UM faculty member Mark Hebblewhite as the first Layser Professor.
Hebblewhite, who joined the UM Wildlife Biology Program as a professor of ungulate habitat ecology in 2006, is the ideal candidate to embody the Laysers’ bequest.
As the leader of UM’s Ungulate Ecology Lab, he and his colleagues study how wild animals like deer and elk make choices to stay safe from predators while still finding enough food to survive. They also research how human activities like building roads or cutting down forests affect these choices, and what that means for protecting and managing wildlife in the future.
All the species Hebblewhite has studied, from wolves and caribou, to golden eagles and lynx, call the Northern Rockies home.
“This professorship helps me solidify my lifelong focus on conservation science and policy in the Northern Rockies,” Hebblewhite said. “It’s where I’ve worked, studied and poured my energy for the last 30 years – and where I believe the future of North American conservation lies.”
Hebblewhite earned his Ph.D. in ecology from the University of Alberta and served as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia-Vancouver. He graduated from UM in 1997 with a master’s degree in wildlife biology.
Endowed faculty professorships are prestigious roles that are among the highest honors a faculty member can achieve. They help retain talented professors who elevate an institution’s scholarly impact and profile.
The Layser Professorship brings the Franke College’s total number of named academic positions to seven, the most of any college at UM. The position also bolsters UM’s already renowned Wildlife Biology Program, which consistently ranks among the best in North America.
“Dr. Hebblewhite’s contributions have established him as one of the premier ungulate and carnivore ecologists in the world,” said Chad Bishop, director of UM’s Wildlife Biology Program. “His research output has contributed substantively toward UM’s standing as having a top-ranked Wildlife Biology Program in North America and has influenced numerous and diverse conservation strategies and policies to benefit species and ecosystems.”
The appointment of the Layser Professor comes amid the UM Foundation and Franke College’s “Treasure Montana: Cultivating Our Tomorrow” fundraising campaign.” The campaign aims to inspire $20 million in private support to construct a new facility that will bring together programs currently dispersed across campus, serving as the central home for the Franke College.
The Laysers made their gift not only to bolster education and research supporting the protection and existence of a vibrant, thriving ecosystem, but also to give back to a place like no other.
Both were accomplished academics: Earle graduated from UM in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in forestry and went on to earn a master’s degree in biosystematics from the State University of New York’s college of forestry, while Pattie attained degrees in English literature and psychology from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.
“We were compelled to give back in a meaningful way for all we had enjoyed and experienced in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” Layser said, “to an area that contributed so much to our quality of life and that of so many others.”
By: UM news service
