Abe grew up in south Louisiana where the surrounding coastal wetlands piqued his interest in aquatic biology. After moving to the West Coast, he completed his B.S. and M.S. degrees at Southern Oregon University while working on a variety of research and monitoring projects in the surrounding Klamath/Siskiyou/Cascade bioregion and in Ash Meadows, Nevada. His fascination with the Desert Southwest prompted a move to Arizona in 2006. There, he worked as a research specialist at Arizona State University and a project manager at a private consulting company, helping to oversee razorback sucker and bonytail research projects on the lower Colorado River, as well as a variety of other native fish conservation projects throughout southeast Arizona. Abe worked in Domain 10/13 at NEON in Boulder, Colorado, prior to moving to Tucson, Arizona.
