Matthew Hewitt

Matt grew up in Kingsville, Texas, where he developed a passion for wildlife and wild places. Because of his exposure to the outdoors in Texas and around the country, he knew from an early age that he wanted to work with wildlife. Pursuing his interests, he received a batchelor’s degree from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and later a masters at Sul Ross State University. An exciting job opportunity working with black-tailed deer and Roosevelt elk took him to the Pacific Northwest for 2 years, but he is now back in Texas working towards his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University, in collaboration with Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University, looking at modeling density of black bears in the mountains of far west Texas. After a 30+ year absence from Texas, black bears are naturally recolonizing the Trans-Pecos. Because of this absence, there are large data gaps that need to be filled to make informed management decisions. Matt plans to fill some of these data gaps by estimating how bear density in the Trans-Pecos varies across the landscape and through time.