Joshua Cohen has worked for the past twenty years as an ecologist with Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI), Michigan’s natural heritage program. His primary duties as the lead ecologist with MNFI involve refining and revising the natural community classification through ecological inventory and sampling, literature research, and data analysis. He is also responsible for classifying conservation targets and prioritizing areas for conservation and restoration; creating and delivering training sessions for resource professionals on biodiversity and ecosystem management; and designing and conducting vegetative sampling, ecological mapping and modeling, monitoring, and surveys for natural communities and threatened and endangered species. Cohen is the lead author for the MSU Press book A Field Guide to the Natural Communities of Michigan.