Joe Nix was born on August 28, 1939, in Malvern, Arkansas. Moving to Arkadelphia in 1953, he attended public schools and Ouachita Baptist College, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 1961. Afterwards he attended graduate school at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, receiving his master’s (1963) and doctoral (1966) degrees in nuclear geochemistry. Upon graduating, he joined the faculty of the newly redesignated Ouachita Baptist University, where he worked extensively with the Arkansas Water Resources Research Center. In 1987 he married Laura McHaney, and in 1994 retired from the university. Afterwards he became Director of Programs for the Ross Foundation in Clark County, retiring from it in 2005.

As a boy he developed a passion for the outdoors, especially the Caddo River, leading him to become an environmental activist as an adult. He worked with organizations such as the Arkansas Wildlife Foundation and the Ozark Society, serving as its second president. Professionally he specialized in the study of the state's waterways, which complemented his activities as an environmentalist. His expertise led to him receiving appointments to the Arkansas Science and Technology Authority, the Arkansas Mercury Task Force, the State Committee on Stream Preservation, and the State Policy Committee Advisory Committee on Environmental Planning and Management. After his retirement from Ouachita Baptist he chaired the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Eagle Mortality Task Force.

His various honors include being named in 1970 the Arkansas Wildlife Foundation Conservationist of the Year and in 1980 a fellow of the Arkansas Museum of Science and History (now the Discovery Museum). He also received the Ozark Society's Neil Compton Award in 1988, and in 1989 the Lifetime Membership Award of the Arkansas Environmental Federation. In 1996 he was inducted into the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation’s Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame.