Jes Braun, CE, WPIT

Staff Ecologist

Plants and water are the focus of Jes’s work. Prior to starting with Inter-Fluve in 2023, they were a limnology researcher at the Finlay Lab at the University of Minnesota, completed a year of Americorps focused on stormwater and urban forestry, and researched revegetating lakeshores on Utah Lake, a terminal basin just upstream of the Great Salt Lake, as a part of their Masters in Ecology from Utah State University.

Why plants?  “You can do so much with plants. They feed us, they feed fish, they can be used to build habitat, they capture ground water,” Jes explains. Jes’s role at Inter-Fluve focuses on all things related to plants including developing planting plans, performing vegetation analyses, plant monitoring and performing wetland delineations. It also includes plenty of map making and field work. While Jes appreciates all things plants and water, one of the things they appreciate most about Inter-Fluve is collaborating on multi-disciplinary teams.

Out of work, you’ll find Jes engaged in a variety of creative activities including rug weaving, furniture restoration, bone art, cooking, hiking, biking…the list goes on. Jes is proud of their journey to becoming an Ecologist. They are the first of their family to attend college. Where’s home? Jes grew up on the move. “I was born in North Dakota, but Minnesota feels like home,” Jes says.