Ingelfinger returns to career roots as Kalispell area wildlife biologist

Sometimes, however hard or easy, a career move just makes sense.

And when opportunity knocked for Franz Ingelfinger to rekindle a specialty not only of prime interest, but also chief within his academic focus, an opening in Northwest Montana to resume wildlife biology served one of those sensible situations — this choice being easy.

Ingelfinger has worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks since 2016 as a restoration ecologist, already living the Flathead Valley.

Overall, he’s worked within natural resources for more than 20 years, having earned a master’s degree emphasizing wildlife management from the University of Wyoming.

Now returning to those roots, he officially swapped roles last month at FWP to begin serving as Kalispell’s area wildlife biologist.

He joins a team of similar staff peppering the department’s northwestern Region 1.

“I think everyone’s career in wildlife and natural resources, you know, it goes in circuitous routes,” Ingelfinger recently told the Inter Lake while vacationing in Colorado. “I had a wildlife background.”

Restoration ecology focuses on helping to restore ecosystems, sort of leading fisheries and wildlife habitats back to their natural, unimpacted iterations.

Wildlife biologists, rather, assess and manage the animal populations living in those habitats. Both work hand-in-hand but remain separate.

Ingelfinger said he had worked in the latter for about 15 years after leaving UW.

That culminated into work in Massachusetts, where he first settled into restoration ecology with the commonwealth’s Department of Fish and Game.

Massachusetts ultimately then delivered Ingelfinger and his family cross-country to Montana.

Joining FWP in Region 1, Ingelfinger said his work previously focused on collaborative efforts between the department and the Bonneville Power Administration, managing and restoring habitat. Of late, he helped reintroduce sharp-tailed grouse west of the Divide.

“That’s where I sort of got my feet on the ground here,” he said of joining the department in 2016. “When I first got into natural resources, I was on a wildlife track, and that had always been near and dear to my heart.”

FWP Region 1 is headquartered in Kalispell, with additional Libby and Thompson Falls area offices. Ingelfinger said he joins team of wildlife biologists based at both field offices, plus another based in Eureka.

Overall, they’re charged with state wildlife management efforts in mostly Flathead, Lake, Sanders and Lincoln counties. The region includes portions of Missoula and Powell counties.

Ingelfinger said his scope for FWP basically covers wildlife management efforts within the greater Flathead Valley area, including a large portion of the Bob Marshall Wilderness complex.

Outside of work, Ingelfinger, his wife and two teenaged kids are active — outside — from hunting and fishing to backpacking and climbing.

His kids being members of the Glacier Nordic Ski Team, Ingelfinger said he’s coached others on the club’s Prep Team during winters over the past five years.

Back at work, two main bonuses are at play now for Ingelfinger in the new position, he said.

“I have kind of the ‘A’ team of biologists that I get to work with and learn from,” Ingelfinger said.

“And then, I think, the other bonus is that I get to work with a public that is very passionate about a resource I’m also passionate about,” he added.

Reporter John McLaughlin may be reached at 758-4439 or jmclaughlin@dailyinterlake.com