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Roseann Beggy Hanson grew up in the rural Tanque Verde Valley east of Tucson. She studied journalism and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, and has worked in the American Southwest, Mexico, and East Africa as a conservationist, naturalist, author, and artist for over 35 years. She was the first executive director at Sky Island Alliance, helping to establish its extensive community-science program and to grow the organization into a regionally important conservation leader. She was a program director at the Sonoran Institute, working on the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan and as co-chair of the county open-space bond election to fund the plan. Roseann was named a Fellow of both the Explorers Club in the U.S. and the Royal Geographical Society in Great Britain for her conservation and expedition work.
She is the author of The San Pedro River: A Discovery Guide, a collection of essays and field notebook sketches. With her husband, Jonathan, she has authored over a dozen natural history and outdoor books, including the popular Southern Arizona Nature Almanac which includes Roseann’s extensive work in Sonoran Desert phenology. The Hansons’ 50 Common Reptiles & Amphibians of the Southwest was cited for Interpretive Excellence by the National Park Service and their Ragged Mountain Guide to Outdoor Sports won the 1997 Outdoor Book Award.
Roseann is also watercolor artist and a lapidary and metalsmith, creating one-of-a-kind gemstone and precious metal jewelry. She has sold her creations under the name Desert Rose Design Studio online and at galleries throughout the West. For over 30 years she has kept science-based nature-journals, recently adding watercolor. She is assisting the online Nature Journal Club, founded by artist and nature journaler John Muir Laws, with creating the first annual nature journal conference in fall 2019. She leads regular nature journaling sketch-meet-ups at Tumamoc Hill and around the Tucson region, open to anyone who enjoys or wants to learn about connecting with nature through regular observation, note-taking, and sketching.
http://www.exploringoverland.com/fieldarts
https://www.facebook.com/roseannhansonexplore
Gallery
Publications
San Pedro River: Natural and Cultural History Discovery Guide (University of Arizona Press, 2001)
Southern Arizona Nature Almanac (Pruett Publishing, 1996; UA Press reprint 2001)*
Animal Tracking (Globe Pequot Books, 2000)
Natural History of the Sonoran Desert (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 1999) chapter contributors*
National Park Tours of the Southwest (Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, 1999)
Backroad Adventuring (McGraw-Hill's Ragged Mountain Press, 1998)*
50 Common Reptiles and Amphibians of the Southwest (SW Parks & Monuments Association, 1997)*
Ragged Mountain Guide to Outdoor Sports (McGraw-Hill's Ragged Mountain Press, 1997)*
Desert Dogs (Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Press, 1996)*
Discovering the Desert Museum and the Sonoran Desert Region (ASDM Press, 1996)*
(*indicates co-authored with husband Jonathan)
Book and Magazine Design and Production
Tales of the Southwest by Jonathan Hanson (Natural Selection Press, 2018)
Blood and Leather: Maasai Shields (ConserVentures Charitable Organization in collaboration with the South Rift Association of Land Owners, 2012)
Overland Sourcebook (Overland Expo companion magazine, 128 pages color)
Magazines
Outside, Arizona Highways, Sunset, Audubon, Backpacker, Sea Kayaker, Overland Journal
Appointments, Awards, & Expeditions
2017 – Expedition member, re-creating the 1939 Cecil Madigan crossing of the Simpson Desert, Australia
2013 – Elected, National Fellow of the Explorers Club
2012 – Expedition member, Sykes-MacDougal 2012 Centennial Expedition, Libyan Desert, Egypt
2009 – Elected, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
2008 – First Trans-Rift Mara-Amboseli overland crossing by invitation of the Maasai landowners, in order to develop a potential eco-tourism route to benefit communities
2006 – Appointed, Arizona Game & Fish Commission Heritage Fund Committee
1998 – 1999 San Pedro River Expedition (by foot)
1997 – Outdoor Book Award for the Ragged Mountain Guide to Outdoor Sports
1997 – National Park Service Award for Interpretive Excellence, 50 Common Reptiles & Amphibians
1993 – Mackenzie River - Arctic Ocean Expedition (sea kayak, from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada)