Dan has spent countless hours in the field studying the Sandhill Crane, making them his favorite species. As the Migratory Bird Coordinator for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Office, he works with a number of Migratory Bird Joint Ventures and state wildlife agencies on habitat conservation. His areas of expertise include migratory game birds and freshwater wetland management and ecology, including playa and saline lakes, which are unique and important habitats in the PLJV region.

Dan earned his master’s degree at Sul Ross State University studying American Badgers in south Texas. Through a series of field jobs, he gained extensive experience with birds including Gunnison Sage Grouse, Gambel’s and Montezuma Quail, and Mourning Dove. He also worked as a Fire Management Technician with The Nature Conservancy. Dan earned his Ph.D. at Stephen F. Austin State University where he investigated moist-soil management and its impacts to the vegetative, aquatic invertebrate, and waterfowl community on Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Working as the assistant to the Pacific Flyway Representative in Portland, Oregon, Dan helped manage annual hunting regulations, survey and monitoring of game birds, as well as participated in waterfowl banding in many Canadian provinces. In 2011, Dan joined the Migratory Bird Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico as the Migratory Gamebird Biologist and later transitioned into the Migratory Bird Coordinator position.