Larry Stevens was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1951, moved to Arizona in 1970, and attended Prescott College in Prescott, Arizona from 1970-1974, graduating with a Cum Laude double major in science and art. After working as an NPS biological technician and a river guide, he undertook graduate studies in biology at the University of Arizona, Tucson and at Northern Arizona University, where he received his doctoral degree in Zoology in 1989. He served as ecologist for Grand Canyon National Park (1989-1994), editor of Red Lake Books, and on many ecological councils and committees in the Southwest.

He teaches occasionally at both Prescott College and Northern Arizona University, where he has served on 34 senior, MS and PhD student committees. He continues to work as a whitewater rafting guide in Grand Canyon. Larry has authored many publications, including recent books on river running in Grand Canyon, the ecology of springs ecosystems in North America, and global biogeography.

He is presently director of the Springs Stewardship Institute, and curator of ecology at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, bringing to bear 45+ years of scientific research on springs and aquatic ecosystems, land and water resources management, and advisement to Tribes and all levels of governance about those topics.

Larry is the senior ecologist for Wild Arizona and Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. He has represented GCWC for the adaptive management of Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River through Grand Canyon since 2004.