Round River Conservation Studies

Home
United States
Salt Lake City, UT
Round River Conservation Studies

Directions Website Contact the organization

We work for the land and with the people who call it home.

Round River Conservation Studies partners with communities to achieve enduring conservation through applied science, education programs, and on-the-ground support.

10/16/2026

Have you been thinking about spending next semester in the field? There’s still space for you to join the herd!

The application deadline has been extended by one week for our Spring 2027 programs. Scholarship awards ranging from $500 to $10,000 are also still available for qualified students through the Edward Abbey Fund.

Apply by October 23rd through the link in our bio!

📸: Pedro Reali

10/09/2026

“Transect days in Kaziikini started at 5:00am before the first rays of light hit the sand. You are immediately greeted with crisp morning air and an unmistakable chorus of spurfowls calling for the day to begin.”

-Jacob Filipkowski, University of Vermont 🦒

Our Botswana cohort has been hard at work conducting wildlife transects, learning practical field data collection strategies, and immersing themselves in the local community. During their time in Kaziikini, they had some amazing wildlife sightings (check out that caracal!) and dove into learning tracking, coil-weaving, and the Okavango Delta’s natural history.

🔗 Read Jacob’s blog post about the group’s time in Kaziikini: https://www.roundriver-blog.org/first-tracks-and-big-cats-in-kaziikini/

📸: B. Alvez (1, 4-7, 9-10, 16) J. Filipkowski (2-3) Zhao (8, 11-15, 17)

10/08/2026

Apply for Spring 2027 programs by October 15th!

Does camping under the stars every single night sound like your perfect semester? Would you rather travel to a remote mountain to search for a species than read about it on a lecture slide? If so, it’s time to join us in the field!

There are still spots available on our spring programs in Patagonia, Nepal, Botswana, and Arizona. The deadline is October 15th - apply now: https://roundriver.org/study-abroad/student-application/

📸: Cat Schilli

09/19/2026

New photos from the field in Nepal 🏔️

On this program, students support our partner BIOCOS-Nepal (Biodiversity Conservation Society Nepal) in community-focused research on threatened and endangered species — from snow leopards in the high Himalaya to Bengal tigers in the lowlands of Chitwan National Park. Working alongside local communities and park rangers, the semester is spent advancing human-wildlife coexistence and contributing to meaningful conservation projects.

Applications are open for Nepal Spring 2027, 2028, and 2029.

⏳ Until October 1st, you can apply without the application fee using code FALL2026. This code isn’t limited to Nepal — it works for any of our study abroad program locations.

Link in bio to learn more or start an application.

Photo credit: Om P. Yadav

08/26/2026

We’re thrilled to have presented the findings of a decade of wildlife monitoring efforts in the Okavango Delta, Botswana to our partners today. This data, which covers herbivore monitoring conducted in select community concessions from 2013-2023, represents an important baseline for wildlife trends in the region.

We want to thank Sankoyo Tshwaragano Management Trust, Mababe Zokotsama Community Development Trust, Khwai Development Trust, and Khwai Private Reserve as well as the Okavango Research Institute and Department of Parks and Wildlife for their partnership.

08/17/2026

The Whiting River is a transboundary river that flows from the Coast Range of British Columbia, through Alaska, before reaching the Pacific Ocean. Partially due its remote nature, it lacks the research history of some of its neighboring systems. That gap has made it the focus of new monitoring efforts that seek to better understand wildlife occupancy and movement throughout the watershed.

This past June, Maggie Triska and Will Tyson of Round River Conservation Studies spent a week in Taku River Tlingit (TRT) Territory, working alongside TRT Land Guardians. Together they deployed twelve camera traps across a riparian corridor in the Whiting.

The cameras will quietly document wildlife movement through the study area before the team retrieves them this September. Their findings and analysis will be shared with TRT to support ongoing stewardship efforts in the region.

This project builds on more than 25 years of partnership between Round River and TRT, and is one of several on-the-land programming, community engagement, and collaborative research efforts that have been developed to support continued large landscape stewardship. This work is part of a research initiative in Northern Transboundary Watersheds, and is supported by the Wilburforce Foundation.

07/28/2026

Our programs are not your average study abroad. Round River students live, work, and study in the field, contributing directly to the conservation efforts of our local partners while immersing themselves in the ecosystem they are researching.

There’s still time to apply without the application fee! Complete your application by August 1st and use code SUMMER2026 when you submit.

07/21/2026

The search for Vansemberuu is on! The Mongolia team has been hard at work on the talus slopes of the Darhad Valley seeking out this endangered plant.

Vansemberuu, also called snow lotus, holds medicinal and cultural significance to the communities of the Darhad Valley, but its population is threatened by poaching. Our students are part of efforts to locate and tag adult plants, ensuring their long term monitoring and ongoing conservation.

While Vansemberuu surveys might be some of the most challenging fieldwork of the summer, everyone agrees - it makes up for it in views!

07/13/2026

Application fee: waived ✅

Now the only thing between you and a semester of conservation fieldwork in the mountains of Nepal or the floodplains of Botswana is hitting submit.

Apply before August 1st with code SUMMER2026 to waive the fee. That’s it!

🔗 https://roundriver.org/study-abroad/student-application/

Let’s get into the field 🌎

06/30/2026

Day in the life: wake up in the Darhad Valley, take in a stunning mountain view, go look for pikas. Repeat.

Over a week on the ground and the Mongolia crew is settling in and setting out to research plots to collect pika occupancy data.

Not a bad daily routine if you ask us.

Address

925 E 900 S Suite 210
Salt Lake City, UT
84105

Website

http://www.roundriver.org/, https://roundriver.org/study-abroad/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Round River Conservation Studies posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Round River Conservation Studies:

Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization in Salt Lake City?