aime_weldonAimee Weldon, Coordinator
Aimee_Weldon@fws.gov
Phone: 413/253-8407

Aimee Weldon joined the ACJV in January, 2016 and is based in Hadley, Massachusetts at the USFWS Northeast Regional Office. In her role as Coordinator, Aimee is responsible for guiding the strategic vision of the Joint Venture, including working with the Management Board and Technical Committee to coordinate the many efforts of the partnership to move the needle on priority species conservation. Prior to joining the ACJV, she directed the land protection and habitat restoration activities at Potomac Conservancy, a regional land trust and watershed organization dedicated to conserving and improving water quality in the Potomac River Basin. Aimee has also held wildlife leadership positions at Defenders of Wildlife in Washington D.C., where she managed a national program to engage land trusts in biodiversity conservation, and the National Audubon Society, where she coordinated the Virginia Important Bird Areas program. She is the primary author of ‘Conserving Habitat through the Federal Farm Bill – A Guide for Land Trusts and Landowners’, a guide created to connect a wider network of practitioners to the many opportunities to leverage Farm Bill dollars for wildlife conservation. Aimee received her Masters degree in Ecology at North Carolina State University and her Bachelors degree in Biology from the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota.


Mitch Hartley, Assistant Coordinator, North
Mitch_Hartley@fws.gov
Phone: 413/253-8779

Mitch Hartley has been with the ACJV since 2004; he is based in Hadley, Massachusetts, at the USFWS Northeast Regional Office.  After five years as ACJV Coordinator, Mitch recently returned to his original position as Assistant Coordinator, North, to focus on habitat delivery from Maine to Virginia.  That work includes assisting partners with USFWS grant programs (i.e., NAWCA, National Coastal Wetlands Conservation, and the GLRI Joint Venture Habitat Restoration and Protection programs); saltmarsh conservation planning and habitat delivery; and leading efforts to leverage external funding (e.g., National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Natural Resources Conservation Service) to build partner capacity for habitat delivery from New England to Chesapeake Bay.  Mitch has a B.S. in Natural Resources from Cornell University, an M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Louisiana State University, and a Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology from University of Maine.


 

Craig Watson, Assistant Coordinator, South
Craig_Watson@fws.gov
Phone: 843/300-0420

Craig Watson has been with the ACJV for almost 20 years and has been a part of the transition from a focus of waterfowl under NAWMP to that of all bird conservation under NAWMP and NABCI (North American Bird Conservation Initiative). Craig is the Assistant Coordinator, South of the ACJV, with a current geographic focus from North Carolina to Puerto Rico.  His primary activities are working with partners to secure funding for bird habitat conservation projects that benefit high priority species in four bird conservation regions (BCRs) in the South Atlantic region. Working with partners in Florida, a BCR plan for Peninsular Florida was just completed, the last BCR in the ACJV to have a bird conservation Plan. His initial efforts for BCR planning in the ACJV beginning in 1999 with the South Atlantic Migratory Bird Initiative (SAMBI) have resulted in one of the most successful national and regional conservation efforts under NABCI, NAWMP, through an ecologically based partnership driven conservation effort.


 

kirsten lukeKirsten Luke, Spatial Analyst
Kirsten_Luke@fws.gov
Phone: 850/319-3666

Kirsten Luke has been with the Joint Venture since 2006 primarily focused on GIS mapping and spatial analyses that support many JV and partner projects and outreach materials. She brings dedicated capacity to the ACJV to obtain, develop, manage, and maintain geographic information systems (GIS) and other databases needed by ACJV staff and partners for effective biological planning, conservation design, monitoring and research, habitat delivery, accomplishment reporting, and evaluation.

Recent Projects include: ArcGIS Online and Story Maps; assisting ACJV and Black Duck JV to develop a decision support tool to inform non-breeding habitat delivery goals for the American Black Duck; and maintains and modifies AMAPPS aerial survey transects as needed and supports efforts to develop aerial survey transects for re-designed mid-winter waterfowl survey and provides GIS support for the Integrated Waterbird Management & Monitoring Project.


 

deb2Debra Reynolds, Communication Coordinator
Debra_Reynolds@fws.gov
Phone: 413/253-8674

Debra Reynolds has been with the Joint Venture since 2005 and is based in Hadley, Massachusetts at the USFWS Northeast Regional Office. She works to ensure that communication and outreach are integrated into biological planning and supports the staff and partnerships’ biological priorities. She is responsible for all aspects of the communication program including coordinating with biologists to write compelling stories and developing a full suite of materials including brochures, fact sheets, exhibits, web, blog, or other social media products.

Debra serves on several regional and national communication teams and is the lead communication specialist for the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative and is the lead designer for several national products including the Partner in Flight 2016 Landbird Conservation Plan.