Joe Blastick has been with TNC for a little over 15 years.  He graduated from Purdue University in 2002 and spent the next few years doing research on various game and non-game species.  He worked in NC for 3 years doing land management on public lands in the SE part of the state.  It seemed like every critter down there wanted to bite, sting, or kill, so it was time to get back to a place with winters.  South Dakota was a great fit and the grasslands are his passion. TNC was a natural fit because it blends land management work with the working beyond fences approach. You cannot make landscape level impacts working within boundary fences.  The name of the game is retaining diversity in our grassland systems AND keeping working grassland operations working.