Ariana Scipioni

Ariana brings a deep passion for wildlife conservation and a diverse background in research, restoration and mitigation to her role as Urban Conservationist. Her career includes work reintroducing Kiwi in New Zealand, tracking Swift Fox on the Great Plains, and trapping Northwestern Pond Turtles in the Willamette Valley. Before joining West Multnomah SWCD in August 2024, she was a Regional Habitat Biologist for the OR Department of Fish and Wildlife where she shared habitat expertise on Oregon Conservation Strategy species and other wildlife by conducting landowner outreach, collaborating with agencies, tribes, non-governmental organizations, and watershed councils, managed two habitat tax incentive programs, and reviewed land management activities for seven counties. She finds her greatest joy in encouraging and empowering people from all walks of life to connect with and care for the land, and she integrates environmental justice and indigenous knowledge into her conservation efforts. She takes pleasure in helping landowners develop conservation plans that restore habitat and enhance connectivityConnectivity the degree to which patches of landscape are connected, either helping or impeding animal movement and other ecological processes like the flow of water or dispersal of seeds, increasing the District’s climate resilience to stormwater and wildfires, planning new community gardens, and managing our small grant program. Outside of work, she loves spending time in nature with her family, whether it’s catching snakes with her three children, backpacking with her girlfriend in the alpine lakes, or foraging with friends.