Haley Wiggins of Bainbridge Island has been awarded a scholarship by the Wyss Foundation.

She was one of two University of Montana graduate students to win the scholarship.

The scholarships will aid these student-conservation leaders by funding up to half of each student’s tuition and supporting a summer internship or research project.

Wiggins is a student in the University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation. She earned a bachelor’s degree in ecological restoration and biology at UM in 2009 and has worked as a botanist for five years.

She currently works with UM Associate Professor Cara Nelson on a project funded through the U.S. Forest Service. The project involves the study of landscape-scale forest spatial patterns in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains and the Sierra de San Pedro Martir mountains of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.

“I chose to come back to the University of Montana for this project because of the excellent faculty and for the joy of living in Missoula,” Wiggins said. “I am extremely honored to receive this scholarship.”

The Wyss Scholars Program supports graduate-level education of a new generation of leaders in western land conservation. Wyss Scholars learn the latest in conservation science and policy and apply that knowledge to careers in land management agencies and nonprofit conservation groups.

Each year the Wyss Foundation selects scholars from Northern Arizona University, the University of Michigan, UM and Yale University.