Building a Better Wyoming

 

UWAA honors Sue Consolo-Murphy for her lifelong commitment to conservation.

 

By Sunnie Lew

 

Sue Consolo-Murphy fell in love with Wyoming at 12 years old.

On a family vacation, she crossed Togwotee Pass and saw the Teton Range. “I can still remember that view opening up of Jackson Hole,” she says. “I hadn’t seen it before, and it just caught my breath — and it still does to this day.”

That moment changed her life. On that trip, she met a female park ranger and told her father, “That’s what I want to be when I grow up.”

The West is where she chose to build her life. She left Ohio to attend the University of Wyoming and, after graduating in 1977 in recreation and park administration, began a distinguished career with the National Park Service. She served in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, among others, devoting nearly four decades to protecting the natural treasures that define Wyoming and shaping how people experience the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

“I’ve always thought the point of doing your job is to try to keep things wonderful or to make them better if you can,” Consolo-Murphy says. “Building a better Wyoming happens when people just live here, love this place and put their heart into their work.”

At Yellowstone, she participated in grizzly bear recovery programs and supported the successful return of wolves to the region. As chief of science and resource management at Grand Teton National Park from 2003 to 2019, she championed science-based management to guide decisions affecting wildlife and visitors. She led restoration of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, oversaw the removal of diversion dams to restore native trout passage, supported the restoration of historic structures, and promoted awareness of the nation’s first designated wildlife migration corridor for pronghorn antelope.

Under her guidance, strategic relationships flourished with many public and nonprofit conversation partners to ensure the long-term health of one of the most intact ecosystems in the continental United States. Working with local communities, she says, underscored the importance of listening and building understanding across perspectives.

“Listening to people who were very passionate on both sides taught me the value of respecting different viewpoints coming together to find common ground,” she says.

Her influence extended beyond park boundaries. A lifelong advocate for research and education, Consolo-Murphy was instrumental in renewing the agreement between UW and the NPS to operate the Jackson Lake UW-NPS Research Station, the longest operating research station in any US national park. The partnership has supported generations of students and faculty studying everything from pikas and Teton glaciers to pollinator health and the cultural history of the American West. “It flies under the radar,” she says, “but the research done there benefits every agency and community that depends on the greater Yellowstone ecosystem.”

A mentor to many, Consolo-Murphy inspired a generation of scientists—especially women—entering the field of resource management. Her leadership earned her the 2013 National Park Service Director’s Award for Natural Resource Management and recognition from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee for her contributions to grizzly recovery.

In retirement, she continues her commitment to preservation through storytelling. Her book, The Bears of Grand Teton: A Natural and Cultural History, offers the first comprehensive account of black and grizzly bears in the park and the evolving human relationship with them.

“There are so many stories in parts of Wyoming that deserve to be told before they’re lost,” she says. “If it’s at all interesting, write it down or share the story in some way.”

For her lifelong dedication to Wyoming’s landscapes, her stewardship of science and collaboration, and her enduring commitment to education and conservation, the University of Wyoming Alumni Association proudly honors Sue Consolo-Murphy (B.S. ’77, College of Arts and Sciences) with the 2026 Building a Better Wyoming Award.