Contact Biologist
Scott has been involved in the bolson tortoise project since 2006. He is a tortoise biologist who focuses most of his work on developing techniques to support the preservation and recovery of various North American tortoise species. Scott grew up under the wide-open Kansas skies and has been fascinated with reptiles and amphibians for as long as he can remember. He has concentrated his studies on tortoises for the last 25 years. His main project as a Research Scientist in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA revolves around desert tortoise population augmentation in the Mojave Desert. He pursues questions of tortoise ecology and biology as well as improving techniques for tortoise head-starting (following tortoises from egg to reproductive adult). Scott has served as a consultant, contractor, and, starting in 2013, as a Turner Endangered Species Fund team member, with the bolson tortoise restoration project on the Ladder and Armendaris ranches in southern New Mexico.
Scott holds a B.Sc. in Systematics and Ecology from the University of Kansas in 1989 and earned his M.Sc. degree from Colorado State University in 1996. His thesis work explored the thermal ecology of juvenile desert tortoises. Scott contributes not only invaluable expertise and a wealth of knowledge about the biology and husbandry of desert-living tortoises, but his outstanding building skills were put to excellent use on the erosion control work and much-needed renovations of the Ladder Ranch Mexican gray wolf holding facility in 2012.