Shawn Pladas is a Wildlife Conservation Biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR). His efforts focus on conserving, managing, and understanding Utah’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). He is specifically focused on the wide diversity of Utah’s avian and mammal SGCNs - from bats, kangaroo mice, kit foxes, and pika to rosy-finches, pinyon jays, sage grouse, and more. He implements a diverse group of projects within the UDWR's Wildlife Conservation Program and collaborates with numerous partners on their projects and research, including otter monitoring, shorebird surveys, and migratory bird monitoring. Shawn has extensive experience in sensitive species ecology and an M.S. in Ecology from Southeastern Louisiana University, where he completed research on the movement ecology and associated climate impacts to Mexican free-tailed bats in the South-Central U.S.