About Washington Conservation Science

Roger grew up in Nigeria where his childhood fascination with natural history was sparked by oiny-going-goings and ungaloos. Similar experiences with odd plants and animals in Washington and later Argentina sent him on a career trajectory studying ecology. Currently, Roger works on conservation of coastal watershed and estuarine biodiversity, focusing on Puget Sound. He is developing tools to help coastal managers assess and restore estuaries, working with partners on a regional monitoring and adaptive management framework for river delta restoration, and identifying links between healthy ecosystems and healthy human communities. As an undergrad, Roger was the only vegetarian Animal Science major. Currently, he is neither a vegetarian nor an animal science professional.

Born in Pennsylvania, Jim discovered plant ecology and met his wife Leslie while living in Vermont in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  He came west for a new set of mountains to explore and has been fortunate to be involved with learning about, teaching about, and restoring wild lands for the last 20 years. As a Shrub-steppe and Dry Forest Biologist, Jim is now currently managing research and restoration projects in the East Cascade foothills in central Washington, with an emphasis on Oregon white oak woodlands and riparian ecosystems. For fun, Jim loves playing music (guitar or drums) with his teenage son and enjoys exploring wild places with his camera, binoculars, and notebook in hand.

Jesse has worked with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in a variety of settings, including municipal and state government. Jesse’s passion for biodiversity conservation eventually led him to The Nature Conservancy.  As a Conservation Information Manager, Jesse’s goal is to organize and maintain the data developed by The Conservancy, and provide access to the best available conservation data for staff in Washington. For fun, Jesse enjoys gardening, playing piano, and creating 3D art.

Sanders grew up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, enjoying and exploring nature in the coastal forests. During graduate work, he began working as a field crew member in the south Puget Sound prairies in 2002, and since has progressed to a project biologist. Sanders’s current projects include western gray squirrel recovery on Fort Lewis, oak and pine community restoration, cavity creation and artificial wildlife structures, bat conservation and artificial roost creation, Olympia oyster recovery in the south Puget Sound, and Oregon spotted frog recovery, augmentation, and reintroduction. My personal interest is herpetology, especially Western Toads. Sanders was once an Oregon state wrestling champion and is now an assistant coach at a local high school- go Blazers!

Cheryl is currently investigating pollinator populations, their ecology and habitat dynamics on western Washington prairies. Her efforts focus on identification of key habitat elements and restoration actions that support the critical ecosystem service of pollination. She is also investigating approaches to enhancing prairie habitat for rare butterflies. This work includes partnering closely with WDFW to support the reintroduction of a federal candidate butterfly species, the Taylor’s checkerspot, and participating as scientific advisor to a multidisciplinary, inter-agency, Department of Defense sponsored Butterfly Habitat Enhancement Team. The latter is charged with developing a strategy to promote habitat for butterflies that are candidates for federal listing.

Liane’s work primarily focuses on watershed ecology: in essence, how can we restore ecological processes and functions representative of late-seral forest landscapes to forests and streams found within managed, working-forest landscapes. She lead the design and implementation of a long-term study at TNC’s Ellsworth Creek preserve to evaluate the efficacy of active and passive watershed restoration pathways. This effort included extensive ecological monitoring throughout the watershed in order to quantify pre-treatment conditions, evaluate long-term treatment response, and inform on-the-ground management and restoration practices. Another element of her work that she enjoys is connecting Ellsworth Creek to similar projects throughout the region through groups such as the Pacific Northwest Forest Restoration Learning Network as a way to facilitate communication of scientific information and expand knowledge of watershed restoration. In her spare time, Liane has no plans for competing in the Tour de France but she did make it to the top of the race’s famous Mt. Ventoux during a bike tour of southern France last fall.

Kara has studied coastal areas in Washington and Chile, and has a strong interest in applied conservation and planning.  Her background includes intertidal biodiversity and plankton ecology research, biology education, and science-based planning and adaptive management facilitation.  She currently leads community-based conservation planning to set priorities and develop strategies locally and regionally. Kara is also dedicated to advancing conservation planning and practices and is working on integrating socioeconomic values as well as climate change adaptation science to inform policy and implementation. Kara’s favorite place in the entire world is a Pacific Northwest beach.

Sonia provides science support for central and eastern Washington programs. Her current focus is central Washington, in shrub steppe and dry forest systems (Moses Coulee Conservation Area and Tapash Sustainable Forest Collaborative, respectively). She works with program staff to determine how best to learn from the stewardship and restoration actions taken, and what scientific knowledge or tools can be brought to bear to strengthen the scientific support for decision making. She is currently starting a research project focused on identifying species that can be monitored as indicators of the impacts of climate change in shrub steppe and east-side forests. She is also working with program staff to develop a wheat field restoration experiment, and a monitoring plan to measure progress towards shrub steppe conservation goals.

As a GIS Specialist, Erica provides cartographic support to The Nature Conservancy’s Washington Chapter. She also provides staff with geospatial technical hardware and software assistance and acts as webmaster for the Washington Conservation Science and Planning website. Her passion for both art and the environment is reflected in all of her work. For fun, Erica enjoys buying food at farmer’s markets and cooking gourmet meals.

Julie has been conducting research on migratory birds for over a decade, with a focus on population dynamics of threatened or endangered shorebirds and seaducks. Much of her career has been spent living in a tent, driving a zodiac, and searching for nests in very remote locations of Alaska. She has an M.S. in Wildlife Biology from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, where her research focused on human disturbance of Black Oystercatchers breeding in Kenai Fjords National Park. Julie’s best job ever (aside from Washington TNC of course) was a zodiac diver/ornithologist on south Georgia Island.

Sarah is the Restoration Ecologist for Washington TNC. Her work here is aimed at restoring endangered species habitat in the South Sound prairies and oak woodlands using rigorous science and careful conservation planning. She is also working to expand the restoration science community within (and beyond) the South Sound region.  Before arriving to Washington, most of her training and experience was in ecosystem ecology, with a focus on forest and grassland soils. Her dissertation examined forest fire effects on soil biogeochemistry and microbial community dynamics in California and Colorado. She has also studied climate change impacts on Minnesota tallgrass prairies, wolf behavior and demographics in Yellowstone, fire effects on invasive species in Sequoia National Park, and, most recently, restoration techniques for endangered species in central Florida rangelands. She has also enjoyed teaching backcountry field ecology courses in the Rockies and Sierras and can generally be found playing outside, no matter the weather!

As the Conservation Associate, Alycia supports the Conservation Science team, Eastern Washington program, Heritage program, and Collins Northwest Conservation Fund. Her previous work experience includes working for Cascade Land Conservancy and the University of Washington. In her spare time, Alycia is an amateur ghost hunter.

Brad is a Landscape Ecologist with the Washington Chapter’s planning team. He works on habitat connectivity conservation and climate change. Brad is also responsible for Circuitscape, a software package for habitat connectivity modeling. Brad did genetic work on mountain lions for his Ph.D, but the first animal he genotyped was his pet cat.  It didn’t go well- the first sample was contaminated with his own blood when the angry donor scratched him.

As a marine ecologist, Jo directs the conservation of marine species, habitats and processes of the continental shelf and coastal ecosystems. Her current research includes an ecoregional assessment and a gap analysis off the coast of Washington, both designed to inform marine policy and ocean management.  Jo currently serves on the SeaDoc Science Advisory Council and is on the Recovery Team for pink-footed shearwater and short-tailed albatross in Canada. Jo has worked as a marine ecologist since 1997, studying marine birds at sea and on their colonies, commercial fisheries issues, and effects of introduced species on islands.  Prior to moving to Seattle, she had a private consulting business in Canada, and worked with federal and provincial agencies to mitigate seabird bycatch in commercial longline fisheries and introduce new legislation. Her Ph.D. research examined the foraging ecology of an endemic seabird in Chile, and her passion for all things salty has led to studies on Haida Gwaii, Robinson Crusoe Islands, Palmyra Atoll, and the Galápagos Islands. For fun, Jo plays the 5-string banjo.