Meet The Author

Rob Campellone is a conservation catalyst, planner, and author of the 2026 book Designing Nature’s Half: A Practical Guide to Conserving 50% by 2050.

His work focuses on the real-world challenge of protecting nature at scale—where climate change, biodiversity loss, public policy, and human communities intersect. Drawing on decades of experience, Rob approaches conservation as a practical, collaborative endeavor, grounded in design thinking and shaped by the people and institutions responsible for stewarding the land.

Rob previously served as Senior Policy Advisor for Landscape Conservation Design with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System, helping advance stakeholder-driven approaches to some of the nation’s most complex conservation problems. He also led large-scale planning efforts as Chief of Conservation Planning in the four-state Southwest Region (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas), and earlier as a Planning Team Leader in Alaska.

Outside of formal institutions, Rob spends extended time traveling the country by camper van alongside his partner, exploring working lands, protected areas, and rural communities in CAV — the Camp Alone Van. These journeys inform his writing and reinforce a view of conservation as something lived and negotiated on the ground, not just planned on paper.

Media inquiries are handled through the Press & Media page.