Kyra is an MSc candidate in the Wildlife, Indigenous Science, and Ecology (WISE) Lab at the University of Guelph, co-supervised by Dr. Jesse Popp. In partnership with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON), her research combines community engagement and ecological monitoring to support Mkwa (Black Bear) conservation. Through interviews, conversations, camera trapping, and genetic sampling using hair snares, she examines community priorities and the distribution of a genetically isolated Black Bear population within SON territory. By bringing together Indigenous and Eurocentric science, her work aims to inform culturally relevant and community-driven wildlife conservation and management