Northwest Arkansas, southwestern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma are home to some of the greatest concentrations of poultry broiler houses in the nation.

Dr. Susan Rupp is currently the owner of Enviroscapes Ecological Consulting, LLC, based in Gravette, Arkansas. Prior to moving to Arkansas, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at South Dakota State University. She graduated as a University Honors Scholar from Colorado State University (1994) with a double major in Biology and Wildlife Biology and minor in Spanish. She completed both her Masters (2000) and PhD (2005) degrees in the Department of Range, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management at Texas Tech University. In addition, she has worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. In addition, she was one of 8 recipients nationally for the Canon National Park Science Scholars Award in 2001 – a program jointly funded by Canon USA, the National Park Service, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.