I'm a wildilfe conservation biologist and cultural geographer, with a Ph.D. in Environment from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and a pending M.A. in Folklore from the Department of American Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Currently serving as the Chief of Staff to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, I support the Office of the Chief to engage with stakeholders and communities to support sustainable conservation practices, ensuring that NRCS remains a leader in natural resources management.

As a conservationist, I seek out sustainable solutions to human-wildlife conflict that allow big carnivores to share a landscape with their human neighbors.

As a cultural geographer, I study the traditions and lifeways of Indigenous and Aframerindian/Afro-Indigenous Yesàh (Occaneechi, Tutelo, Monacan, and Saponi) people who migrated back from the Amanishuq (Piedmont Plateau) and Ahkanshuq (Blue Ridge Mountains) to the Okahok Amaī (Ohio River Valley) between 1810 and 1860. Specifically, I am interested in exploring the ways in which these migrants seized upon the experience and direction of migration as a means to reaffirm their indigeneity and accelerate the cultural transmission of histories, geographies, and tribal identities to their descendants. I'm especially interested in documenting the ways in which contemporary Midwestern Yesàh (predominately members of the Saponi Nation of Ohio) now engage with contemporary dialogues of indigeneity among Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous/Aframerindian tribal communities across these three historical landscapes.

As a consultant, I'm deeply invested in understanding best practices in environmental justice & corporate sustainability, and I wholeheartedly support efforts to establish evidence-based conservation as a standard worldwide. I'm deeply motivated to build stronger links between scientists, marginalized communities, and the private sector, with the hope of designing collaborative, impactful initiatives that benefit everyone.

I'm also the founder of Kedge Conservation, LLC -- a social enterprise consulting firm that works to provide financial literacy skills and environmental education to rural communities in East and Southern Africa.

--------------

Check out my Google Scholar Page to see more of my research: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_Yj4rDwAAAAJ&hl=en

And my LinkedIn Page to learn more about my work: linkedin.com/in/aesutton/