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Meet Our Experts
Conservation Lands: Joe Kiesecker
Joe Kiesecker
Lead Scientist for the Conservation Lands Team
Joseph Kiesecker is a Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Lands Team. In this capacity his main responsibilities include developing new tools, methods, and techniques that improve conservation. He pioneered the Conservancy’s Development by Design strategy, to improve impact mitigation through the incorporation of predictive modeling to provide solutions that benefits conservation goals and development. He also conducts his own research in areas ranging from disease ecology, to the effectiveness of new conservation tools such as conservation easements.
Read Joe Kiesecker's Full Biography
Joe in the News
Balancing Oil and Gas Drilling with Natural Resource Protection
Proactive planning helps reduce conflicts between development and wildlife conservation, Joe tells Land Letter. "By identifying conflicts between conservation and development early, we can provide effective, balanced options."
The Nature Conservancy's Win-Win-Wind Interactive Map
Wind and solar farms can have severe impacts on wildlife and their habitats, Joe explains to Forbes.com. But there is a way to help balance our growing energy needs with those of nature, and begin to gain energy independence in the process.
Regional Planning in Wyoming
Joe talks to Land Letter about how the Conservancy is using new technology to conserve land on a regional scale.
Stemming the Impact of Energy Production on Wildlife
PBS Newshour reports on how Joe has helped preserve key habitat for species that will replace habitat lost to natural gas drilling.
Sage Grouse Should Get Species Protection
Bloomberg turns to Joe for analysis on endangered species protection for the greater sage grouse.
Foreign Turtles Don’t Smell Dangerous to Tadpoles
Wired magazine quotes Joe on an invasive species study of “nervous tadpoles.”
Articles by Joe
Animal Extinction Can Be Hazardous to Your Health
Evidence suggests that the loss of wildlife may translate into an increased risk of human disease, Joe writes-- providing a more tangible reason for people to value nature and the services it provides.
Eight Myths and Challenges of Renewable Energy
Nature Conservancy lead scientist Joe Kiesecker takes a hard look at what it really means to produce green energy.
Sleeping with the Enemy
Critics claim our work with extractive industries is "greenwashing." One of our lead scientists explains why this new paradigm is just good conservation.
The Greater Sage-Grouse Dilemma
A decision on listing the greater sage grouse as protected will impact its future as well as economic and conservation opportunities across the country.
Publications
Obermeyer, B; Manes, R; Kiesecker, J; Fargione, J; and Sochi, K. (2011). "Development by Design: Mitigating Wind Development's Impacts on Wildlife in Kansas." PLoS One.
Kiesecker JM, Evans J, Fargione J, et al. "Win-Win for Wind: A Vision to Facilitate Sustainable Development." PLoS ONE In Press.
Kiesecker JM, Copeland H, McKenney B, Pocewicz A, and K Doherty. (In Press) Energy by Design: Making mitigation work for conservation and development. Chapter in: Energy development and wildlife conservation in Western North America (Edited by DE Naugle)
Kiesecker, JM, Copeland H, Pocewicz A, and B McKenney. (2010). Development by Design: Blending Landscape Level Planning with the Mitigation Hierarchy. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 47: 261-266.
McKenney B, and JM Kiesecker. (2010). Policy Development for Biodiversity Offsets: A Review of Offset Frameworks. Environmental Management, 45:165–176.
Kiesecker, JM, Copeland H, Pocewicz A, Nibbelink N, McKenney B, Dahlke J, Holloran M, and D Stroud 2009. A framework for implementing biodiversity offsets: selecting sites and determining scale. BioScience, 59:77-84
Joseph Kiesecker is a Lead Scientist for The Nature Conservancy’s Conservation Lands Team. In this capacity his main responsibilities include developing new tools, methods, and techniques that improve conservation. He pioneered the Conservancy’s Development by Design strategy, to improve impact mitigation through the incorporation of predictive modeling to provide solutions that benefits conservation goals and development. He also conducts his own research in areas ranging from disease ecology, to the effectiveness of new conservation tools such as conservation easements.
His training was in ecology, conservation biology and animal behavior, with a Ph.D. from Oregon State University in 1997. He has held faculty appointments at Yale University, Penn State University and currently holds a faculty appointment at the University of Wyoming. He has been a Donnelly Fellow, and has received funding for his research from National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the IUCN and numerous private foundations. Kiesecker has published over 100 articles, on topics ranging from climate change to the effectiveness of conservation strategies; examples of his work have been published in Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Conservation Biology, Ecology and American Scientist.
His past work has focused primarily on the conservation and ecology of freshwater systems. In particular, he has been interested in the global amphibian decline phenomenon. This line of research has involved investigating how perturbations resulting from climate change and land use changes can stress organisms, making them more susceptible to disease. He began his job with the Conservancy in 2004 with the challenge of putting years of classroom teaching and academic research into conservation practice in the real world. Kiesecker has been married for thirteen years to his wife Cheri, together they have a 9 year son (Jackson) and 7 year old son (Griffin).
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Contact
Blythe Thomas
Media Contact
Phone: (703)841-8782
E-mail: bthomas@tnc.org
Connect with Joe
Read his latest posts on Cool Green Science
