Allison Jones, M.S.
Emerita Extraordinaire
Allison received her B.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz under the guidance of her mentor and adviser, Michael Soule. She then completed her M.S. in Conservation Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno in 1996. Her master’s study analyzed the effects of cattle grazing on small mammal communities in the Great Basin. She then worked as an ecological consultant in both Colorado and Utah as an endangered species specialist, where she performed habitat assessments and surveys for federally threatened birds, small mammals, and plants.
As staff conservation biologist for Sageland Collaborative (when it was Wild Utah Project), Allison collected and assembled biological data to be used in reserve design for Utah. Allison also provided biological analyses for Utah conservation groups that do not typically have these services in-house. Allison was also appointed by the Director of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to sit on two state task forces: one to rewrite Utah's black bear management plan, and another to write Utah's first wolf conservation and management plan. When organization founder Jim Catlin retired, Allison took the reigns as Executive Director in 2014.
After 21 years at Wild Utah Project, Allison is now a Sageland Collaborative Emerita Extraordinaire.
Allison was the recipient of the 2014 Jasper Carlton Activist in the Trenches Award.