Meet Jason Buckley, a workshop coordinator with the Illinois Learn to Hunt program.
Jason was inspired to pursue a career in science at a young age after being exposed to the outdoors through Boy Scouts and camping, hunting, and fishing with his family.
Originally from Quakertown, Pennsylvania, Jason attended Kutztown University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate. There he majored in environmental science/biology and conducted research on hypoxia in Lake Erie's western basin. After graduating, he worked in the Stone Laboratory at Ohio State University's island campus in Lake Erie. Jason went on to earn a master’s degree in conservation biology at Central Michigan University. For his master’s research, he described the population characteristics of invasive rusty crayfish living on native fish spawning reefs in Lake Michigan.
Jason then moved to Illinois where he assisted with electrofishing surveys at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) for one summer. Afterward, he spent four years working for Waterborne Environmental, Inc. managing agricultural chemical studies, specifically monitoring spray drift, runoff, and surface water concentrations.
Jason is very excited to get back to what started his journey into science as a member of the Learn to Hunt team at INHS.
“I am thrilled about getting back into education, outreach, and conservation. Having one-on-one interactions with people is very fulfilling and having the opportunity to help increase conservation funding through educating new hunters is exciting,” Jason said.