After graduating from Montana State University, Kaitlyn worked seasonal fisheries jobs across the western U.S. She hopped state to state working with montane trout, prairie minnows, pacific salmon, and desert fishes. These native species inspired her, and in 2020 she began her masters in the Bonar Lab. Her research focuses on habitat utilization of fishes in the Lower Verde River subbasin. Year round you can find her in the lush desert canyons of northern Arizona snorkeling and tracking fish with radio telemetry. This research is vital in securing water rights for wilderness tributaries of the Verde River, ensuring continued habitat for native desert fishes. 

Christopher Jenney began his career in fisheries as a guide working on tailwaters in Utah and exploring the west in pursuit of trout. Recreational angling motivated Chris’s academic pursuits and he graduated from Oregon State University with a B.S. in Fish and Wildlife Science. Following graduation, Chris worked with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife monitoring Pacific salmon in the Coast Range of Western Oregon. After multiple seasons doing field work in the rainforests of the PNW, Chris moved to Tucson to pursue his M.S. in Natural Resources at the University of Arizona where his research focused on the conservation of native fishes within the Verde River Basin with specific focus on native fish habitat associations and their response to a major flood event. Following graduation in 2020, Chris stayed with the Bonar lab in pursuit of his Ph.D. where he is monitoring Razorback Sucker Xyrauchen texanus that have been reintroduced into the Verde River. 

​Taylor got her Bachelor's degree in Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture at Mississippi State University where she developed a passion for Aquaculture and Fisheries during her undergraduate research opportunities there and through the National Science Foundation. The NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates at Arizona State University exposed her to the unique field of Southwest desert fishes. After graduating, she accepted a position with Marsh and Associates Native Fish Lab designing, building, and deploying PIT antennas monitoring Razorback suckers. In 2023, she joined the Bonar lab on a project that combines her love of native fish and aquaculture through the development of rearing techniques for Sonora sucker.