Christopher Fill came to the School of Natural Resources in May as a research technologist with a face already familiar to many.
He had researched bat activity in agricultural lands as a master’s student in the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship at Nebraska from 2018 to 2020. After graduating with a natural resource sciences degree, he continued working with Craig Allen, now an emeritus professor, on a Nebraska project of the North American Bat Monitoring Program. He managed the project through the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the United States Geological Survey and the Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes.
When that project ended in 2023, Fill hired on at Environmental Solutions and Innovations doing compliance work with bats, birds and other threatened and endangered species for three years. He returned to the university this spring and is working alongside Dan Uden, interim director of CRAWL.
“I'm delving more into the management side of things, while also still collecting and analyzing data,” he said. “That's obviously the fun part.”
Fill holds state and federal permits that allow him to continue the work he enjoys with bats and birds, but he is also training interns, Research Experiences for Undergraduates students, technicians and incoming graduate students. He helps Uden manage their schedules and plan and carry out projects, especially collecting and analyzing data. He said he hopes to contribute to writing reports and papers on CRAWL findings. He published six papers as a master’s student.
“Chris is skilled working with wildlife and their habitat, which, in Nebraska, is often agricultural land,” Uden said. “He understands the importance of keeping our landscapes resilient. He is also resilient himself and always seems to find a way to get the job done. He’s a great fit for CRAWL, and we are happy to have him back.”
Fill said his experience with bat monitoring equipment has given him a jumpstart on learning similar equipment for birds. He has been increasing his knowledge and experience with bird acoustics in a CRAWL collaboration with the AWESM Lab directed by Andy Little, associate professor in the School of Natural Resources. This work contributes to both the Advancing Development of Assessments, Practices and Tools grant through the university’s Grand Challenges program and the Collaborative Adaptive Management project at Barta Brothers Ranch. Fill said they hope to use bird sensors to look closer at populations of songbirds, migratory birds and game species like turkeys.
In a CRAWL collaboration with the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies, he has been gaining more experience with remote sensing and drones. He has used the remote sensing training to help an undergraduate researcher study vegetation health and productivity at university properties like Barta Brothers Ranch, the Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory and the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center.
In past compliance work delineating wetlands, he learned about hydrology, grasses and soils, but he has learned even more about grasses in his short time back at CRAWL. Coworkers have spoken with him about warm and cool season grasses and subcategories of them.
“They were talking about C3 and C4, and I thought C4 was an explosive,” he said with a laugh.
He was correct that C-4 is type of explosive, but C4 is a category of perennial grasses adapted to warmer temperatures in moist or dry environments. He welcomed this knowledge in helping him more completely understand the ecosystem of Nebraska.
He originally came to the state from Massachusetts in March 2016 to study prairie chickens for five months on a project of professors Larkin Powell and Walt Schatt. What Fill thought would be a temporary stint led to connections, applications and the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship offer. Ten years later, he is still in Nebraska, having found community in Lincoln.
“Most of my training has come out here,” he said. “This has been a big part of my education and growth, and so, it means a lot to me. I wouldn't mind staying.”
His current position is temporary, for up to two years. He said he hopes to continue building skills, experience, connections and publications in a way that will lead to full-time, permanent work or advanced education. Uden has been great to work with on this, he said.
“He's really knowledgeable and gives a lot of support, but he also gives you the freedom to grow on your own and find your niche,” he said. “I feel like there's a good balance there, where I can do stuff that he wants me to do but also explore my own interests and grow and incorporate them.”
One additional perk he identified for his current job is having an office to himself on the fifth floor of Hardin Hall.
“It's my first solo office ever,” he said. “So, I'm just happy with that—my first time not sharing a space with at least two to like 20 other people.”
