STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Wildlife biologist Jim Williams promises to tell some incredible migration stories as he explores the importance of maintaining migration routes across Idaho and other parts of the West Thursday night.

Williams, a wildlife biologist with the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, will present “Keep It Connected: Conserving Wildlife Movement in the Wood River Valley and Throughout the Transboundary Rockies” at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at The Community Library in Ketchum.

The presentation is being presented as part of the Wood River Land Trust’s Think Globally, Act Locally series. It can be watched online at https://vimeo.com/event/5547528. And the event will be recorded, available to watch later on the Library Archive.

The Idaho region offers one of the best remaining chances to protect a full theatre of wildlife, so the actions the wood River Valley community takes today will have effects far beyond the valley, WRLT officials say.

Jim Williams holds a B.S. in biology from San Diego State and Florida State universities, and a M.S. in wildlife biology from Montana State University where he studied mountain lion ecology.

As a wildlife biologist and wildlife program manager in Montana for more than 31 years, he has managed big game populations, flown countless hours in helicopters and fixed wing aircraft doing wildlife surveys and worked with private agricultural landowners on wildlife tolerance and conservation easements.

In 2018, Patagonia Inc. published his autobiography Path of the Puma, which highlights his work with mountain lion conservation in Chile, Argentina, and other parts of the Americas.

His Heart of the Rockies Initiative strives to ensure connected habitat for wildlife in the Rocky Mountains.