Roy C. Averill-Murray , Desert Tortoise Recovery Coordinator, Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office, Reno – Roy has been the Fish and Wildlife Service's Desert Tortoise Recovery Coordinator since December 2004. Roy earned his B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University in 1990 and his M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the University of Arizona in 1993, where he completed his thesis on estimating density and abundance of desert tortoises in the Sonoran Desert . He worked for the Arizona Game and Fish Department as Desert Tortoise Coordinator from 1995 to 2002, where he directed the state's population monitoring program; conducted research on desert tortoise ecology; and co-chaired the Arizona Interagency Desert Tortoise Team. From 2002-2004, he served as Amphibians and Reptiles Program Manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. He has published 11 peer-reviewed scientific papers and book chapters on desert tortoises.
Linda Allison , Desert Tortoise Monitoring Coordinator, Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office, Reno – Linda has worked since 1996 in the field of design and analysis of studies for rare species. Before joining the Desert Tortoise Recovery Office in 2006, she worked for 10 years as the Nongame Statistician for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. She received her Bachelor's degree in Ecology and Evolution from the University of California , Berkeley , and then completed a Master's degree in Ecology at Arizona State University .
Catherine Darst , Regional Desert Tortoise Recovery Coordinator, Ventura Fish and Wildlife Office, Ventura , California – Catherine (Cat) completed a post-doctoral Presidential Management Fellowship with the Department of the Interior, where she worked in Washington D.C. in science policy and conservation biology. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Texas , Austin , in 2006 with an emphasis in amphibian and reptile biology. She completed her undergraduate degrees in Ecology, Evolution, and English from the University of California , Davis . Cat has published her research in journals such as Nature, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , and The American Naturalist .
Kimberleigh J. Field , Regional Desert Tortoise Recovery Coordinator, Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office, Reno – Kim completed her B.S. in biology from Montana State University in 1995. The following year, she moved to Las Vegas , Nevada , to begin studying the desert tortoise. In 1999, she completed her M.S. at the University of Nevada-Reno where her studies were focused on the translocation of desert tortoises in southern Nevada . From 2000-2005, she was employed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, first as a Ranid Frog Biologist then as the Amphibians and Reptiles Conservation Planner for the state. In 2005, she returned to Nevada to become one of the founding members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Desert Tortoise Recovery Office. Kim has published papers on various topics including conservation, genetics, disease, and physiology of reptiles and amphibians of the southwestern U.S.
Jody Fraser , Regional Desert Tortoise Recovery Coordinator, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office, Carslbad, California – Jody began her career with the Fish and Wildlife Service in the Southern Nevada Field Office in 1998. She graduated from the University of California , Santa Barbara , with a degree in Biology in 1992. Jody first began working with the desert tortoise when employed with the Nevada Department of Transportation from 1996-1998, where she performed project-specific surveys for tortoises and other sensitive desert species. Her work with the Service has been centered on botanical resources and working with partners to actively conserve threatened species. |
