Desert Rivers Restoration Manager
Tucson seemed like the driest land imaginable to Jace when he moved here from the Land of 10,000 Lakes just before starting college at the University of Arizona. An early life immersed in the natural landscape of his grandparents’ rural Minnesota farmstead left a lasting impression that guided Jace to pursue a degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management. His childhood fascination with native herpetofauna, or “herps,” carried into fieldwork that would range from Gila Monster radiotelemetry on Tumamoc Hill, to salamander sampling in the Appalachian Mountains, to leopard frog conservation in Minnesota and southeastern Arizona. The objective of his frog work in SE Arizona was to support critical habitat for the recovery of threatened native species reliant on the health of our waterways. Jace has expanded that objective to encompass the health and recovery of the Santa Cruz watershed as a whole and desert rivers beyond. When Jace isn’t herping the Sky Islands or enjoying a long Rillito River Park Trail run, he’s balancing out his high-activity pastimes with meditative reads of Edward Abbey or Stephen King.