Rooted in service: How Brandon Vega is building a future in conservation through Public Allies Arizona
Long before Brandon Vega began introducing community programs or helping visitors discover Arizona's public lands, he already knew where he felt most at home. Growing up in Tucson, Arizona, the outdoors was simply part of life. His family had deep roots in the region, and weekends were often spent fishing, camping, hunting or hiking. Ranching traditions on both sides of his family shaped not only his childhood but also the career he would eventually pursue.
“So apart from my academics and everything, I spent a lot of time in the outdoors, either fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, did one or two cattle drives in the past, always in the outdoors,” Brandon says. “I came from ranchers on both sides of my family. So, it was only natural for me growing up to always be around in the outdoors, be around horses, things like that. It's something I continue to do in my free time.”
That lifelong connection to nature eventually led him to study Natural Resources with an emphasis in Wildlife Management and Conservation at the University of Arizona. During college, he completed an internship with the U.S. Forest Service performing trail maintenance in California. But when he returned to Arizona, he realized he wanted something different.
“While I was at the Forest Service, I was with the same few people for the entire summer,” he recalls. “I was like, OK, whatever I do next after this, I need to do something where I get to work with a lot of people, to talk with a lot of people.”
That opportunity arrived through Public Allies Arizona, a leadership development initiative at the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation that places emerging leaders in nonprofit organizations while helping them build the skills, relationships and experience needed to create lasting community impact.
For Brandon, Public Allies became much more than an entry point into the nonprofit sector. It gave him the opportunity to combine his passion for conservation with leadership development while learning alongside a diverse cohort of emerging nonprofit leaders.
Through his Public Allies Arizona placement, Brandon joined Western National Parks in October 2024, just as he was finishing college. After completing his first year of service, he chose to return for a second Public Allies term, giving him the opportunity to help shape the organization's programming in new ways. Over the next two years, he helped expand community outreach, coordinate educational programming and strengthen partnerships throughout Southern Arizona while discovering what kind of conservation professional he wanted to become.
His responsibilities ranged from facilitating public programs at the organization to coordinating outreach events across Tucson, helping community members connect with national parks and public lands. One of the biggest milestones came after his first year, when he evaluated the organization's outreach and programming efforts and developed recommendations for improvement. During his second year, he helped implement many of those ideas, strengthening processes that continue to guide the team's work.
Learning to lead through collaboration
Working at Western National Parks challenged him to develop an entirely new set of skills.
“Once I got thrown into it, I quickly adapted to it and it became something I really value because I feel like one of the things that led me to this position in the first place was the opportunity to get to communicate and work with multiple people on a specific project or for a specific event. And I got that experience throughout my time with Western National Parks and Public Allies.”
Beyond his placement at Western National Parks, Brandon says one of the most valuable parts of the experience was learning alongside other Public Allies.
“Between the two cohorts I was a part of, I got to interact and work with amazing people. I was one of the older individuals, especially with the second term, but I was still able to learn a lot from my peers and understand the experiences they brought into the work. I tried to take aspects from everybody so I could implement that into what I do with Western National Parks.”
Learning from peers working in different nonprofit organizations broadened his perspective and helped him bring new ideas back to his own organization, reinforcing one of Public Allies' core strengths: developing leaders through collaboration across communities and missions.
For Angela Seidler, Western National Park's Program Manager Brandon's supervisor, the difference between his first and second year was remarkable. “He just hit the ground running in his second term and has been such a vital, important part of our team,” she says. “From building processes for evaluation of existing programs that had not been evaluated before to creating spreadsheets for us and just tools that really helped me in my role assure that we are producing and hosting quality programming."
Connecting people to public lands and to each other
While Brandon's work focused on conservation, he quickly learned that protecting public lands also means building relationships with people. One example began with a Public Allies service day, where he met members of A Better Community, a grassroots organization serving Tucson's historic Black community. Brandon returned on his own to participate in a community bingo night, introducing himself, listening and building relationships. Those conversations eventually led to Western National Parks participating in the community's Juneteenth celebration for the first time.
For Angela, that initiative reflected Brandon's greatest strengths. “Brandon helped open the door to a new community, not just for them to know about us, but for us to know about them.”
Those partnerships continue to shape the organization's outreach today.
Leadership through empathy
Public Allies also reshaped Brandon's understanding of leadership. “I believe it's helped me become more empathetic toward people and their lived experiences,” he says. “Even if you're working in a group, you're not going to know the type of week people had before they went into that setting. Instead of asking why someone isn't doing something, I've learned to approach people with understanding and ask how I can help.”
For Brandon, leadership is no longer just about completing projects. It is about recognizing different lived experiences, supporting teammates and creating spaces where everyone can contribute.
A lasting impact
For Brandon, conservation has always been about more than protecting landscapes. “I always have this appreciation for the outdoors,” he says. “So, for me, it only made sense to share that appreciation with other people and to let as many people as possible know about the public lands that we have, why they're important, why we need to protect them.”
Angela believes that impact will extend well beyond Brandon's two-year service term. At his farewell celebration, Western National Parks' CEO remarked that she would not be surprised and hopes that Brandon returns one day, not as an intern, but as a leader helping to shape the future of our national parks and public lands.
Looking ahead
As Brandon prepares for the next chapter of his career, his goal is simple. “My goal is to find another job or position that I can really utilize the skills I've learned with my time with Public Allies and Western National Parks, but also to stay in the public land field,” he says. “People always ask me, What are your end goals? What job do you eventually want to have?' And I always tell them, as long as I'm in the public land space, I'm happy.”
Reflecting on his two years of service, Brandon says the experience exceeded every expectation.
“It's the best work experience I've had in my life.”
Through Public Allies Arizona, Brandon gained much more than professional experience at Western National Parks. He developed the confidence to speak in front of audiences, strengthened his leadership through collaboration, learned from peers across the nonprofit sector and discovered the kind of conservation professional he hopes to become. As he begins the next chapter of his career, he carries with him not only a passion for public lands, but also the skills and relationships to help protect them for generations to come.
Image: Brandon teaching conservation to school-aged children as part of his Team Service Project with Public Allies Arizona
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