Lives of Consequence
Amy Brennan McCarthy '94
Executive Director, Teton Raptor Center
Amy Brennan McCarthy '94 has mixed drinks at Dornan's Bar in Moose, Wyo.; guided trips in the Tetons and Wind Rivers for Exum Mountain Guides; and served as communications and development director for The Murie Center, an organization dedicated to inspiring action to protect wilderness and wildlife, located in Grand Teton National Park. She has headed operations for an independent investment advisory firm; endured a season in Antarctica as a recycling specialist; and explored the world of filmmaking as the associate producer of Don't Fence Me In, a documentary about the lives of Wyoming girls and women. She now feels as if she has truly landed in the role of Teton Raptor Center's first executive director.
At the Teton Raptor Center, McCarthy has a broad range of duties and responsibilities, including fundraising, outreach, program development and marketing, even as she leads a staff of four and dozens of volunteers to help birds of prey through education, conservation and rehabilitation.
"I am not an ornithologist, nor am I a veterinarian. I would qualify myself as more of a conservationist, so my draw to this work comes from a deep concern and care for the natural world," McCarthy says. "Through my training in environmental studies at the Colleges and advanced training in natural resources in graduate school, I developed a keen understanding of the connectivity of all things. As John Muir said, 'When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.'"
Located in Wilson, Wyo., the Teton Raptor Center is a non-profit organization of conservation biologists, veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators, educators and volunteers, working together to help birds of prey and promote environmental health through veterinary care and rehabilitation, educational programs and conservation research.
"We are a small organization, endeavoring to make a global difference for birds of prey and the habitat they need to survive," McCarthy says. "Knowing that my work offers the opportunity to inspire others is what is most invigorating. Our underlying goal is to help people see more birds, to care about them and translate that care into action by becoming better stewards of the earth."
Following a childhood in upstate New York, McCarthy enrolled at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where she double-majored in environmental studies and economics. During the summer between her sophomore year and junior year, McCarthy worked at the CM Ranch in Dubois, Wyo., and returned in the following years, solidifying her deep love for the Wyoming landscape and the wildlife that call it home, before she moved there permanently.
McCarthy participated in the inaugural year of Teton Science Schools' Professional Residency in Environmental Education program and earned a master's degree in Forest Resources and Natural Resource Policy from Utah State University.
These experiences left her with a substantive foundation for understanding the natural history of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a deep appreciation for the community of Jackson Hole, a commitment to sustainability and wildness, and a thirst for ongoing discovery.
"Raptors-eagles, owls, hawks and falcons-are beacons for understanding interdependence in the natural world," McCarthy says. "Each time I watch the eyes of a student widen in awe and amazement as he or she stands at arm's-length from a Golden Eagle or Great Horned Owl, I am reminded of the value of this work. The live birds that we have the privilege to work with are avian ambassadors for an important conservation message."
McCarthy lives in Jackson Hole, with her husband Forrest and their aspiring mountain-mutt Fryxell, and still gets the chance to make the hour and a half drive to CM Ranch "to hike and reminisce in that area, which is my personal 'heartland,'" she says.