The Coalition is excited to announce the hiring of our new Conservation Science Director, Jessica Moreno. Jessica has been working with the Coalition for the past year and a half as an Independent Contractor on a few specific wildlife linkages projects. She is going to be an important and valuable member of our team moving forward. In her new position, Jessica will be monitoring and protecting wildlife, connected habitat, and ecosystem health in the Sonoran Desert, along with engaging people to create stronger community connections and values with desert wildlife and open space. Jessica will be taking over the reigns of our popular Wildlife Camera Monitoring Project and our Critter Cam Program. In collaboration with our Program and Operations Manager, Sarah Whelan, and our amazing volunteers, she will be refining and further strengthening these programs, along with her many other projects. 

Jessica brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position. In her own words, here’s a brief biography:

I was raised by the desert. I don’t know exactly when this led to my decision to be a biologist, but maybe it was that moment, shin-dagger thorns in my jeans, when I saw the sunset light up the Atascosa mountains after my first volunteer trip setting wildlife cameras. Or maybe it was leaving my bed at night with a flashlight to find the spadefoots calling after a flash flood. But the desert led me right here.

After graduating from the University of Arizona with a degree in Wildlife Management in 2007, I coordinated mountain lion and bobcat studies in the Tucson Mountains for the UA Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center. For the next seven years I work with Sky Island Alliance, leading the Wildlife Linkages Program, studying jaguars and ocelots in the borderlands, and protecting Wilderness through outreach, research, policy, and planning. I have served on the Arizona Wildlife Linkages Working Group, the Pima and Cochise County Wildlife Linkages Assessment Working Groups, and the RTA Wildlife Linkages Committee. 

With the Coalition I have found a community that brings my experience and passion full circle to protect the desert that I call home. CSDP’s superhero team of staff, partners, and volunteers is a joy to work with. I focus on our community science wildlife monitoring projects, from volunteer data collection to analysis, and applying what we know to build safe passages for wildlife.

I also serve on the Executive Board of the Arizona Chapter of The Wildlife Society, and in my spare time explore website design, writing, and photography. I have two children, Sofia and Mateo, and love outdoor cooking, wading barefoot in creeks, and the scent of wild open spaces. 

Want to meet Jessica? Please join us for our Member Group & Supporter Happy Hour on Thursday, September 20th from 5-7pm at the Public Brewhouse at 209 N. Hoff Ave. in downtown Tucson. 

Welcome Jessica! 

Tags: Coalition staff, Conservation Science Director, CSDP, Jessica Moreno