Steering Committee
Julie Carter - Arizona Game & Fish Dept.
Julie is the Statewide Native Aquatics Program Manager with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, overseeing a program with 35 species of native fish. She has almost 20 years of experience working with native fish; her focal areas in Arizona include native trout and other native aquatic species conservation, and she spent many years in Alaska working on native salmonid research projects. Julie is still actively involved in native trout conservation in the west, and currently serves as the Chair of the Western Native Trout Initiative Steering Committee. She received her B.S. in Biology with Wildlife and Fisheries Management Emphasis from Northern Arizona University in 1995, and her M.S. in Fisheries Science from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2003.
Jay Thompson - Bureau of Land Management
Jay has been the fisheries and riparian program lead for the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado since 1998. His first fisheries job was with the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program in Grand Junction where he spent the summer before graduate school chasing radio-tagged pikeminnow on the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers. He has a MS degree in fisheries from Colorado State University (overwinter survival of young-of-the-year Colorado pikeminnow in the upper Colorado River Basin). Prior to his current job, Jay worked as a fisheries biologist for BLM in Glenwood Springs before moving to BLM’s National Training Center in Phoenix (note: never move from Glenwood Springs to Phoenix in July). In his current role as the state program lead, Jay serves as the BLM rep on several species recovery teams and organizes and instructs at riparian condition assessment workshops each year. Outside of work, Jay and his wife (Therese) are enjoying their newly empty nest and looking forward to even more travel adventures while only needing to buy two airline tickets instead of four.
Heidi Blasius - Desert Fishes Council
Heidi is a fisheries biologist for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Safford Field Office, AZ. She received a BS Degree in Environmental Resources with an emphasis in habitat management and a MS Degree in Zoology with an emphasis in native fish conservation and management from Arizona State University (ASU). Her passion and love for native fish developed and was fostered by her professor Dr. WL Minckley while she was a student at ASU. Heidi considers it a privilege to be able to work with Arizona’s desert fish and believes it is her duty to educate the public to their plight and to speak out on their behalf.
Harry Crockett - Colorado Parks & Wildlife
Harry Crockett has served as Native Aquatic Species Coordinator for Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) since 2011. In this capacity he represents Colorado on the Desert Fish Habitat Partnership, Upper Colorado and San Juan Endangered Fish Recovery Programs, Greenback and Colorado River Cutthroat Recovery Teams, Boreal Toad Recovery Team and others. He also coordinates Colorado’s conservation efforts for native fish and amphibians statewide. Before assuming this role he worked for CPW as an Area Aquatic Biologist and subsequently as an Aquatic Researcher. A native of North Carolina, Harry has made Colorado his home for the past 23 years. Before receiving his M.S. he worked for a number of seasons as a river guide, and continues to fish, canoe, raft, and otherwise enjoy Colorado’s outstanding aquatic resources. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a master’s in Aquatic Ecology from Colorado State University (2004).
Steve Parmenter - California Deptartment of Fish & Wildlife
Steve is a senior fishery biologist for California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Inland Deserts Region. He leads conservation, recovery, and streamflow protection for 12 imperiled native fishes in a 15,000 mi2 swath of the Mojave and Great Basin Deserts. Current interests include restoration of emergent alkali marsh, management for genetic conservation, developing new techniques for invasive species removal, and endangered species policy. Steve has his BA in Biology from University of California, Santa Cruz, and studied aquatic ecology in Sweden
Timmie Mandish - Natural Resources Conservation Service
Timmie is the Western National Fish Biologist for the NRCS where she provides technical assistance and training to 13 western states out of their West National Technology Support Center in Portland, OR. She has 20 years of experience in the natural resources field primarily focused on fisheries biology and habitat restoration, and how restoration practices can be integrated into viable solutions for working landscapes. Timmie has developed, managed and implemented stream restoration projects across the Pacific NW and Alaska, as well as developed strategic prioritization tools to integrate current research and monitoring data into a GIS format to highlight restoration actions that can provide the greatest benefit to aquatic species, while vetting those actions by feasibility.
Alan Mauer - Oregon Representative
Bio: Coming Soon
Mark Smith - Wyoming Game & Fish Department
Mark Smith is the Assistant Fisheries Management Coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. In his current position Mark shares responsibility for managing the state of Wyoming’s sportfisheries and conservation of native fish, reptiles, amphibians and crustaceans. Mark is a graduate of Utah State University (BS, Fisheries Management) and the University of Wyoming (MS, Zoology and Physiology).
Megan Bean- Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept.
Megan is a Watershed Ecologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. She has a MS degree in Biology from Texas State University - San Marocs where she studied native fish conservation in the Rio Grande basin. As a Watershed Ecologist, she coordinates the planning, design, and implemtation of landscape-scale habitat restoration, enhancement, and preservation projects in priority rivers and associated watersheds. She also provides technical guidance on conservation best management practices to landowners and local community partners to support healthy rivers, natural habitat conditions, sustainable native fish populations, and high-quality conservation-oriented recreational activities in Texas rivers. She loves spending time playing outside and camping with her husband and two little boys.
John Wullschleger - National Park Service
Bio: Coming Soon
Kimberly Conley - US Forest Service
Kimberly is currently the Assistant Regional Fisheries Biologist for the Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest Service. She has worked throughout the region for 15 years and spent half of those years in southern Oregon managing native fish in the Klamath and Goose Lake basins, including Modoc suckers. Prior to working in the northwest, she was a wetland ecologist in Nevada working for the Bureau of Land Management. She received her Bachelors of Science degrees in Fisheries Science and Botany/Biology from Oregon State University. She devotes many of her weekends to working on her family’s farm in western Oregon, where she enjoys spending time being outdoors.
Jacob Mazzone - Southwest Tribal Fisheries Commission
Jacob Mazzone is the Fisheries Biologist for the Jicarilla Apache Nations Game and Fish Department where he manages the Nations Rio Grande Basin, Colorado River Basin and recreational fisheries programs. In his free time serves as the Chairman for the Southwest Tribal Fisheries Commission and Chairman of the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program’s Biology Committee. As a student at Colorado State University Jacob was attracted to a career in fisheries by the field work and living long periods of time out of a duffle bag. As a full time Fisheries Biologist, Jacob understands that although the field work and data collection is essential to fisheries management, coming to the table for meetings and identifying opportunities for collaboration are equally important. It is here where continuing education, interacting with peers, developing a grasp of regional policy shifts, and the sometimes convoluted “eco-politics” at tribal, state, and federal levels comes together. Jacob brings a forward outlook with positivity and limitless potential to the table and is looking forward to joining the Desert Fish Habitat Partnership as our Tribal Liaison where he hopes to help continue the mission of actively managing and conserving sensitive endemic species of the western U.S for current and future generations.
Paul Badame - Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Paul currently serves as Assistant Chief of Native Aquatics for the Utah Division of Wildlife (UWDR). In this capacity, he administers five Recovery Programs, seven conservation programs, and the implementation of Utah's Wildlife Action Plan. The majority of Paul's career has been focused on the Upper Colorado and San Juan Endangered Fish Recovery Programs (1996 - Present). He is originally from Illinois but has called Utah home for more than 40 years. Paul attended Utah State University for both undergraduate and graduate studies in Fish and Wildlife Management and Aquatic Ecology. Paul's career dream is to see all four endangered fish of the Colorado basin recovered.
.jpg)
Jess Newton - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Jess Newton began working at the Arizona Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office in March of 2014 and came from the Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office - Ecological Services, where he served as the Assistant Field Supervisor for Maui and Hawaii Island and, previously, as the Recovery Program Leader. In the Pacific Islands, Jess’ work focused on implementation of the Endangered Species Act: including consultations, HCP’s, recovery permits, and recovery planning. Prior to that, Jess spent 12 years at the Red Bluff Fish and Wildlife Office, California, where he served as a fisheries program manager, working to recover listed Chinook salmon and steelhead trout. Jess also worked for the USGS conducting radio telemetry research on migration patterns of juvenile fish affected by large hydropower facilities on the Snake River, Idaho.
Dan Dauwalter - Trout Unlimited
Dan is a fisheries scientist with Trout Unlimited (since 2008) in Boise, Idaho where he works on projects ranging from conservation planning across broad landscapes to understanding how microhabitat structures fish communities and habitat use by desert fishes. Dan completed a post-doc at the University of Wyoming where he worked with the Forest Service developing long-term monitoring plans for management indicator species, and he completed his Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University in 2006 where he studied how stream restoration influences fish populations and communities. Dan is also the chair of DFHP's Science and Data Committee.
Chris Crookshanks - Nevada Department of Wildlife
Chris Crookshanks is the Native Aquatics Staff Specialist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife and is responsible for the development of Natural Resources and Conservation and Wildlife Management Programs. He works to ensure the health and vitality of Nevada's fish in its network of streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs.