Brian Tavernia

Brian Tavernia was the Saline Lakes Ecologist (2019-2021) and a member of the National Audubon Society’s Western Water Initiative team. Brian guides the science efforts to drive conservation outcomes for the network of saline lakes across the West and the birds that depend on them.

Prior to joining Audubon in Jan 2019, Brian spent 8 years working for federal agencies and The Nature Conservancy. During this time, he assessed the impacts of climate and land-use change scenarios on habitat and water resources as part of the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Forest Futures Project. He also acted as a Science Coordinator for the Integrated Waterbird Management and Monitoring program, a regional-scale adaptive habitat management program for waterfowl, waders, and shorebirds. Most recently, he was a Spatial Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy and guided conservation and management of Colorado’s forest, wetlands, rivers, and cities.

Brian holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Tufts University where he researched the effects of urbanization on wetland bird communities.