Jon Dale manages American Forests’ efforts at thornforest restoration in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. He also chairs the Thornforest Conservation Partnership (TCP), a diverse group of stakeholders set on conserving the region’s thornforest ecosystem for the benefit of both diversity and community resilience in this dynamic trans-national environment. Through the TCP, Dale works alongside American Forests’ regional partners to determine methods of restoration strategy and implementation that will have the greatest lasting impact on conserving native biodiversity in this unique region. Dale has two decades of experience in conservation field research with various agencies, nonprofits and universities throughout the U.S. and Latin America, as well as past roles in program management for both the environmental consulting and specialty crop production sectors of south Texas.