Our Team

Bio:

As Conservation Director, Mark Salvo is responsible for supporting Oregon Natural Desert Association’s dedicated conservation staff and empowering our members to advance campaigns to protect, defend and restore wildlands, wildlife and other public values throughout southeastern Oregon.

Born, raised, and educated in Oregon, Mark launched his conservation career in Oregon’s high desert, and his circuitous route back to the desert has included stops in Phoenix, Arizona, and then Washington, DC, before returning home to join ONDA.

Prior to coming to ONDA in 2020, Mark served as Vice President of Landscape Conservation at Defenders of Wildlife. Working inside the “Beltway,” he was responsible for multiple programs and initiatives to protect species and habitat, while also defending against administrative and legislative policies and programs that threaten these resources.

Early in his career, Salvo helped to enact the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act. He petitioned to list three species and populations of sage-grouse under the Endangered Species Act, drafted various pieces of legislation, and managed a seminal species settlement agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mark earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon Clark Honors College and a law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law.

Mark is a real cyclist, a pretend fly-fisher and an aspiring kayaker who has run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain and survived his own cooking for decades.