Sharon Wilcox

As a conservation social scientist and cultural geographer, I work for the protection and restoration of wild things and wild places. While the involvement of social scientists in environmental programs is fairly new, our collective efforts are having significant impact as we work to better weave together communities and conservation initiatives.  Recognizing that many of the challenges facing wildlife are anthropogenic (human-caused), I believe it is essential to the long-term success of conservation programs that solutions incorporate the human dimension.

Through my work, I seek to understand how communities know, interact with, communicate about, and value wildlife. I advocate for culturally situated, place-based inclusive practices to connect diverse communities with sustainable futures, incorporating social values with scientifically informed conservation practices. My work utilizes a variety of social science methods to study the complex relationships between people and wildlife, with the goal of identifying sustainable programs that can facilitate long-term coexistence on the landscape. 

I have dedicated much of my career to the study, conservation, and restoration of the native wildlife that call the U.S.-Mexico borderlands home, in particular wild cats including the jaguar, jaguarundi, and ocelot. My work spans some of the wildest remaining places in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, where these rare species fight for survival at the very margins. This is a unique region in many regards: it is a meeting place of cultures and ecologies. The challenges wildlife face in these places are manifold, and require innovative, place-based solutions.

The U.S.-Mexico borderlands is at times a deeply misunderstood and misrepresented region. Place-based research helps us to better understand the nuances of these communities and their relationships to the land and wildlife to better design conservation programs that are adoptable, adaptable, and durable. 

Similarly, predator species have also been misunderstood and misrepresented. Predators have long occupied an unenviable place in the American imagination; viewed as impediments to progress and embodiments of immorality or evil, these animals were exterminated in large numbers with the settlement of the West. Today, social scientific research shows us that the place of these species in popular imagination is rapidly shifting. Today, animals like ocelots and jaguars are viewed with increasing fascination and even reverence. The idea of ‘who’ belongs on the landscape is changing, and with that opens new opportunity for conservation and even reintroduction of species to their historic range.