Elizabeth (Liz) Neipert is a Research Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Environmental Laboratory (EL) stationed in Interior Alaska, where she conducts wildlife research and monitoring projects on DoD lands nationwide.
Ms. Neipert is the Director of DoD’s Avian Knowledge Network (AKN) Program where she leads the interagency partnership to address all DoD avian data needs. She coordinates DoD’s use of the AKN with Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Military Services, installations, cooperators, and partners to create an organized, strategic, and comprehensive approach that directly supports bird conservation and DoD’s military missions.
She also chairs the National AKN Steering Committee, the primary decision-making body for the AKN, committed to fostering the international collaboration of diverse institutions and agencies with goals to improve the conservation of birds and their habitats utilizing scientific data and cooperative partnerships. She leads the federal agency partnership, coordinating plans and actions with all AKN partners, over 100 organizations.
Previously, Ms. Neipert served as President of the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association (NMFWA) from 2016-2018 and co-founded NMFWA’s Bird Conservation Working Group in 2015. From 2008-2014, she was the Natural Resources Program Manager and Wildlife Biologist at U.S. Army Garrison Fort Wainwright’s Donnelly Training Area (DTA), Alaska managing over 750,000 acres of military lands. It was while working at DTA, that she became first involved in PIF through the Boreal PIF Working Group. She later became a member of DoD PIF’s Steering Committee and served as the Technical Coordinator for five years where she collaborated with military natural resources managers and directed DoD-wide conservation efforts designed for mission support for the Military Services and DoD Natural Resources Program. She has previously participated in activities for both PIF Western and Eastern Working Groups. Liz was also a recipient of PIF’s 2022 Individual Leadership Award for using the AKN to meet PIF Strategic Action Plan priority goals and objectives by expanding resources for increased full life cycle conservation science capacities.
Liz is a Wisconsin native who found her love for birds on the shores of Lake Superior. A trip to Africa almost 20 years ago, solidified her passion as she was the only person ignoring the megafauna to focus on a lilac-breasted roller. She has a lofty goal of seeing all penguin species in the wild, which has taken her to some far-flung places and provided some adventurous travel anecdotes. She has resided in Delta Junction, AK for the last 18 years where she enjoys gardening and adventuring in the boreal forest.
She’s excited to serve the PIF organization and its partners by continuing the mission and momentum of on-going work. She also looks forward to helping shape PIF’s next steps in serving its members and the larger bird conservation community.