About Arizona Conservation Science

Rob manages the Conservancy’s Conservation Science Program in Arizona, which consists of eight ecologists, hydrologists, and GIS analysts. Trained as an avian ecologist, Rob’s professional work has focused on endangered species, conservation planning, and developing a program of applied science to address some of the major conservation and land management issues in the southwestern U.S. While with the Conservancy Rob has lead two bi-national conservation planning efforts – for the Sonoran Desert and Apache Highlands ecoregions – and has lead the Conservancy’s effort to make its ecoregional assessment work available to the public. Rob developed the habitat protection priorities for Pima County’s successful 2004 conservation bond initiative, and has lead the Conservancy’s collaborative effort with the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico – the Southwest Forest Assessment Project.

Rob previously served as the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s lead biologist for the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher and as a research scientist for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Experiment Station. Rob holds an appointment on Pima County’s Conservation Acquisition Commission, which oversees the obligation of bond funds for the acquisition and management of conservation lands, and on the Recovery Team for the southwestern willow flycatcher.

Edward began working with The Nature Conservancy first as a seasonal naturalist at Hart Prairie Preserve, and then as a forest and fire ecologist and conservation planner. He now works primarily on forest management policy across all land ownerships, advocating for the appropriate return of fire as a natural ecological process. He is also working on the Southwest Forest Assessment Project, providing high quality information on the historic range of variability of several forested, woodland, and grassland communities for use by the US Forest Service.

Dale leads planning efforts for the Arizona chapter of The Nature Conservancy, working on site, watershed, and ecoregional efforts to guide and prioritize conservation action. Current and recent efforts include whole-river planning exercises for the San Pedro and Verde rivers, and a multi-agency management plan for the Aravaipa Canyon area.

Trained as a herpetologist, Dale has studied dune-dwelling lizards and plants, and conducted herpetological inventories in protected areas around southern Arizona. He also worked for the National Park Service, studying saguaros in Saguaro National Park and helping direct a biological inventory program for 11 National Park Service units.

Jeanmarie serves as the state hydrologist, providing technical assistance to Conservancy programs throughout the state. Jeanmarie works with a wide range of collaborators to develop the science to support environmental flows – the provision of water in sufficient quantities to support ecosystems and the services they deliver to humans. With a team of academic researchers, she is currently focused on documenting streamflow-ecology relationships in the Verde River watershed.

Prior to joining the Conservancy in 2001, Jeanmarie spent 15 years working as a hydrologist conducting water resource investigations in Arizona, Mexico, and Chile, including 9 years with a groundwater consulting firm and 4 years with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Jeanmarie is an Arizona native who has logged many hours on foot and in boat covering the back-country trails and rivers of the southwest.

Gita’s focus with The Conservancy is on helping land managers identify and fill their biological information needs and tie this information back into decision making. A major part of this work has been partnering with the Bureau of Land Management to design more informative and efficient ecological monitoring for the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area near Tucson, AZ.

Gita got her start as an Ecologist as a child in the woods of northern New Mexico. She has been active in conservation of the Sky Island-Apache Highlands region since 1993, doing teaching, outreach, policy, and science work with several schools and non-profits. Her Ph.D. research on biodiversity and systematics of tropical jumping spiders indulged her love of the little things that run the planet and taught her to make the most of limited data about an unlimited world.

Marcos comes to TNC after a six-year stint at NatureServe, where he lead an ambitious project to harmonize the conservation priorities and common interests of a number of federal, state, and private entities in the Southeastern United States. Marcos obtained his Masters degree in Ecology from Colorado State University and did his thesis work on grasslands in Wyoming.

Dan manages GIS and information resources for Arizona’s Conservation Science program, conducts spatial analyses, and designed and maintains the azconservation.org website. Dan comes to TNC from Northern Arizona University, where he worked with Dr. Paul Beier developing CorridorDesigner, a set of GIS tools for designing and evaluating wildlife corridors. Dan also worked with Dr. Beier to complete wildlife connectivity analyses for 8 regions in Arizona as part of a project funded by the Arizona Game & Fish Department. Prior to moving to Arizona, Dan studied GIS and statistical methods for modeling the distribution of Costa Rican birds for his Master’s thesis at Purdue University.