We are excited to announce our first Conservation Nation Fellow! Taylor Rabe is an inspirational emerging conservationist. Dedicated to helping wolves in Yellowstone, she spent years working multiple jobs to be able to volunteer with the Wolf Project before she could pursue her passion as a profession. Through funding from Conservation Nation, Taylor now has a full-time paid position with Yellowstone Forever supporting the Yellowstone Wolf Project in Yellowstone National Park.
We know how difficult it is to break into the field of conservation, and we are committed to diversifying the field by removing barriers, like the ones Taylor had to overcome just to get her foot in the door. Taylor is currently the only Black female employee on the front lines of wolf conservation and education at the Yellowstone Wolf Project. While we are thrilled that we were able to make this happen for Taylor, we know it is only the beginning.
Meeting Taylor last summer and hearing her story about her struggles to get a paying job in wildlife conservation became a catalyst that drove Conservation Nation’s path forward. She was volunteering almost full-time at the world-renowned Yellowstone Wolf Project while working a full-time job to pay the bills – basically sun-up to sun-down, seven days a week.  This was a brutal schedule, and it was not sustainable, but she persisted because of her passion to help save the wolves. Seeing her dedication to conservation inspired us to launch a fellowship.
We rallied some amazing donors around the cause of funding a full-time job for Taylor. Thanks to our supporters and our partners at Yellowstone Forever and the Yellowstone Wolf Project, Taylor now has the paying job she deserves. As a Technician for the Yellowstone Wolf Project and Conservation Nation Fellow, Taylor will be conducting public outreach and education, tracking and monitoring wolf packs, observing wolf behaviors and interactions, helping park visitors see wolves, and acting as a role model and mentor to inspire a younger generation to pursue a career in conservation.
“I hope that being a Black woman in a white male-dominated field will give other underrepresented people someone to look up to. I hope kids can see someone who looks like them and came from a place like them and think to themselves, ‘That could be me.’ By working as Conservation Nation’s first inaugural fellow, I want people who otherwise would be overlooked to feel empowered and to feel like they can pursue a job in a field that’s so important going forward.”
As our fellow, Taylor will contribute to Conservation Nation communications through blogs and social media, serve as a mentor and engage with youth in Conservation Nation education programs, and join our growing Conservation Nation community.
