The three-year project will deepen understanding of how CWD may persist and spread through the environment and provide essential data that could influence wildlife management practices across the region.
CWD is a fatal neurological condition in deer, elk, and moose caused by prions, which are misfolded proteins that accumulate in the brain and nervous system. Similar to mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, CWD leads to severe weight loss and eventual death. While most CWD research has focused on direct transmission, such as animal-to-animal contact, Dr. Richardson’s work will explore the largely understudied potential for CWD to be spread through environmental exposure, specifically through soil, vegetation, or water contaminated by infected animals.
“Few studies focus on environmental or behavioral pathways for infection because prions are difficult to detect in the environment and because infected animals can appear healthy for years” said Richardson. “Our project aims to fill some of that information gap by examining how prions might persist and move through the environment.”
The study will focus on three key questions:
- Are infected carcasses a source of environmental contamination?
- Is the amount of environmental contamination linked to CWD prevalence in local deer populations?
- Which environmental conditions help break down or degrade CWD prions?
To answer these questions, Dr. Richardson and his team will place infected deer carcasses at study sites and monitor changes in soil and vegetation prion levels over time. They will also test environmental variables such as temperature, moisture, and ultraviolet exposure to determine how prions degrade.
“It’s important to understand how CWD prions are shed into the environment,” Richardson explained. “If we can show that prions leach into soil and vegetation from carcasses, that means we have a major source of disease that isn’t currently being managed. Understanding that risk is critical for both containment and long-term eradication strategies.”
Another important aspect of the project is student involvement. Dr. Richardson plans to integrate this research into several biology courses at UMW, including Ecology, Disease Ecology, and Wildlife Ecology and Management. Students will be involved in all phases of the project, from field sampling to lab work and data analysis, and up to three students each year will be hired as paid disease research technicians.
“This is exactly the kind of hands-on research experience that UMW’s block schedule is built for,” said Richardson. “It gives students real-world scientific experience while contributing to a broader body of knowledge.”
The project also includes collaboration with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, private landowners, and a network of scientists from across the state and abroad. According to Richardson, the grant will not only boost ongoing research efforts but also highlight the important role student-faculty research plays in shaping UMW’s academic identity.
“Five students have already graduated after contributing to this project in its early stages. With continued NSF support, we hope to provide even more students with meaningful research opportunities that prepare them for careers in science and conservation,” he said.
For a university known for its innovative experiential learning model, this NSF-funded project represents both a scientific and educational milestone. It supports wildlife conservation in Montana while fostering the next generation of researchers.
For more information about this research project, contact Dr. Kyle Richardson at kyle.richardson@umwestern.edu. To learn more about the University of Montana Western, visit www.umwestern.edu or call Admissions at 877-683-7331.
