Renee Seacor, Carnivore Conservation Advocate
Renee Seacor is an interdisciplinary environmental advocate with a background in wildlife ecology and environmental law and policy who has dedicated her professional career to using science-based advocacy to guide and develop policy solutions to challenging conservation issues. She currently serves as the Carnivore Conservation Advocate for Project Coyote and The Rewilding Institute, where she advocates for the conservation of carnivores and wild nature through rewilding and science-driven advocacy.
Renee grew up in the beautiful Hudson Valley region in New York, where she developed her deep appreciation for nature and wildlife. She followed her love for wild landscapes out west and spent over ten years exploring and living in the beautiful states of Montana and Oregon. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Rocky Mountain College in Montana and a J.D. with a concentration in environmental law from the University of Oregon School of Law.
It was in learning and connecting to the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem where she developed a deep passion and understanding of the necessity of carnivores in the landscape. She spent a season studying winter ecology dynamics in Yellowstone National Park, observing the Park’s wolf packs, and learning firsthand the ecological importance of carnivores in the landscape. She also conducted historical research on the extirpation of wolves from the landscape, documenting and analyzing predator bounty certificates from livestock commission records across the state of Montana. In addition, she worked on numerous wildlife research studies in the Yellowstone River ecosystem, specifically studying the health of Osprey nesting in the region. These research experiences were foundational in inspiring her advocacy for policy solutions protecting wild carnivores and fostering coexistence between humans and wildlife.
She has built a career in environmental advocacy, advocating both through litigation and policymaking for a variety of conservation issues protecting wildlife and wild nature. She’s worked on issues such as endangered species litigation to provide increased protections to the Marbled Murrelet (an imperiled seabird), campaigned for clean water legislation in the state of New York, and provided policy research on urban forest growth for the U.S. House Committee on the Climate Crisis in Washington D.C. When not advocating for conservation and coexistence with wildlife, Renee can be found exploring the outdoors via canoe or on foot with her partner and their dog or curled up with her cat and a good book.