Experience

A new company grounded in prior work.

Epoch EthnoEcology was established in 2026. The company is new; the experience behind it comes from the founder’s prior and ongoing work with Tribal governments, federal programs, universities, and conservation organizations.

Experience behind Epoch

A practical foundation across research, modeling, and management.

Tony W. Ciocco is a Mvskoke ecologist and ethnobiologist with graduate training in natural resources and wildlife management. His experience spans Indigenous Knowledge research, ecological modeling, Tribal wildlife management, biological compliance, conservation planning, and field implementation.

He is a Mvskoke language speaker and cultural practitioner, is an in-law on the Navajo Nation, and has worked in Tribal, federal, academic, and nonprofit conservation settings. Epoch draws on that background while remaining clear about the distinction between the founder’s prior work and the company’s own developing project record.

Representative experience

Selected work that informs the company’s practice.

These examples describe prior and ongoing work led or supported by Epoch’s founder.

Ethnobiology

Mvskoke cultural representations of jaguar

College of the Muscogee Nation · University of Oklahoma · USGS North Central CASC

Mvskoke-language interviews and historical-source synthesis examining ue-kaccv as evidence of historical jaguar range and cultural relationships. Interview products also supported language archiving, educational materials, and traditional-food programming.

Ecological Modeling

Habitat, landscape, and decision-support modeling

Prior and ongoing work with Tribal, federal, university, and research partners

Jaguar habitat suitability and recovery modeling; state-and-transition simulation modeling; Bayesian decision networks; spatial covariate development; and planning for redesign of the Navajo Biological Resource Land Use Clearance Policy conservation-zoning map.

Environmental Compliance

Biological clearance review on the Navajo Nation

Navajo Nation Department of Fish and Wildlife · Natural Heritage Program

Biological review for homesites, infrastructure, and development projects using sensitive-species records, geospatial screening, biological evaluations, field review, and mitigation planning.

Tribal Wildlife Management

Planning, decision support, and field management

Prior work with Ute Mountain Ute, Southern Ute, BIA, USGS, and other partners

Climate-adaptation scenario planning with Tribal elders and managers, structured decision-making, rangeland and wildlife planning, and field-based wildlife and habitat management with Tribal programs.

Tribal Conservation Program Development

Building and expanding Tribal conservation programs

Ancestral Lands · Southwest Conservation Corps · Conservation Legacy

National development of Tribal conservation corps programs, partnership and funding development, staff mentorship, and operational growth of the Navajo program from one to as many as 19 crews annually.

Field Experience

Habitat restoration and land stewardship

Ancestral Lands Program · Southwest Conservation Corps · Conservation Legacy

Designed and implemented geomorphological stream-restoration treatments; led chainsaw crews for invasive-tree removal; and carried out fencing, revegetation, seed collection, trail construction, GIS mapping, and other field restoration work.

Selected research

A sample of relevant publications and research products.

Looking for experience that connects community knowledge, ecological analysis, and management?

Share the project need, partners, location, timeline, and intended products. Epoch can help define a practical role and scope.

Contact Epoch