Josiah Velner

Science & Monitoring Associate

Josiah is an AmeriCorps Member with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa. The Conservation Corps engages youth and young adults in meaningful service, leadership development, and environmental stewardship. As a Remote Sensing Field Technician Specialist in his year of service with the Monarch Joint Venture, Josiah assists with surveying pollinator habitat on public and private land across the Midwest. He uses both the Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program (IMMP) and cutting-edge remote sensing technology to quantify the density of common milkweed and other pollinator-friendly plants. Josiah was born and raised in Hopkins, a suburb of the Twin Cities. As a child, he always enjoyed getting his hands dirty and running around in the small woods behind his house which he considered a forest. This appreciation for the outdoors helped guide him to get a degree related to natural resources. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in December of 2021 with a degree in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. Since attending the University of Minnesota, he has held jobs involving urban forestry, habitat restoration, and fisheries surveys for the MN DNR. He is now working alongside Monarch Joint Venture and is very excited about implementing new remote sensing technology. In his free time, he enjoys gardening, camping, fishing, hunting, and training muay thai.

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