Leslie Dietz

Austin

Leslie grew up in central west Texas, near Rocksprings, on a 16,000 acre ranch.  There, her childhood was spent exploring the Edwards Plateau—the juniper and oak scrub as well as the karst features of the hill country.  Range management and land use techniques were lifelong principles taught for three generations on this land.

Studying prairie fungal diversity was the concentration of her research for over three years as she worked toward her undergraduate degree in Biology at University of Houston-Downtown with concentration in biotechnology and molecular biology.  She is now working on a master’s degree at Texas A&M in Natural Resource Management in the department of Ecosystem Science Management.

Leslie now works at Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept as a Natural Resource Specialist at Sheldon Lake State Park in Houston, Texas.  There she preserves and manages the same prairie she did all her undergraduate research on—looking and developing new techniques for prairie restoration of disturbed and previously fragmented land.  In addition to the prairie, bottomland hardwood forests, bayou/watershed and reservoir are under her direction.

In addition to Natural Resource Specialist, Leslie is also a Wildland Firefighter, Wildlife volunteer for the SPCA, community volunteer devoted single mom to two outstanding kids, and active member and participant of her church.  Her hobbies include rock climbing, dragonfly watching, reading, camping, hunting, fishing and learning new things.