We are pleased to announce Shawn Clem, PhD, as the director of conservation.
Clem joined the Audubon Florida team in 2005 at the Everglades Science Center in Tavernier where she worked on an aquatic fauna monitoring project in Big Cypress National Preserve as part of a multi-agency team responsible for supporting the objectives of Everglades Restoration called RECOVER. After laying the groundwork for the Western Everglades Restoration Project and other Southwest Florida restoration initiatives, she relocated to Naples and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in 2006 to be closer to the sites she was studying. In 2011 she began working full-time on research focused on Corkscrew Swamp. In 2013, Shawn helped establish Audubon's Western Everglades Research Center to answer critical questions about Western Everglades conservation and restoration and in 2018 she assumed the role of research director.
Shawn began managing the conservation team in January 2023 and now officially assumes the role of director of conservation. In this role Shawn oversees and brings together the Sanctuary's research and land stewardship teams, ensuring science-driven land stewardship at Corkscrew Sanctuary and providing the science needed to influence Audubon's regional and state conservation policy work. She also works closely with many other programs at the Sanctuary and in the Audubon network.
"Over the past year in particular, Shawn has worked to bring our hydrologic research to the forefront of wetlands conservation, establishing herself and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary as valuable resources and leading the way to healthier wetlands around the state,” said Keith Laakkonen, sanctuary director.
