Laura Thomas is a biologist with over 13 years of field-based leadership and scientific data collection experience. She has a diverse background in the environmental field including field science education, adventure ecotourism, ecological monitoring, and program management. For the past several years, Laura has as held numerous roles implementing standardized scientific protocols collecting botanical, aquatic and wildlife data for the National Ecological Observatory Network, the US Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. Her experience includes conducting riparian vegetation characterization, PFC assessments, herbaceous and belowground biomass studies, reclamation vegetation monitoring, special status plant surveys, noxious weed surveys and technical report writing. Laura has also worked as an Aquatic Monitoring Lead for the BLM’s Aquatic AIM program collecting water quality, physical habitat, macroinvertebrate and riparian vegetation data along streams and rivers.