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Jacqueline Moreau was born in San Francisco, California in 1948. Moreau majored in chemistry at City College of San Francisco, but pursued other academic interests as well, namely Native American history and the environment. The writings of University of California, Davis professor Jack D. Forbes, and scientist and author Rachel Carson, motivated her to support civil rights issues and awareness of the environment. She joined the peace and equality movement and, in 1969, volunteered gathering and delivering clothing and canned goods for the Indians of All Tribes (IOAT), a Native American civil rights group who had occupied Alcatraz in November of that year.

In 1970, Moreau moved to Ashland, Oregon where she attended Southern Oregon University, focusing her studies on social change and social stratification, and graduating in 1977 with a Bachelor's of Science in Sociology. During the summer breaks, she worked at a nearby forest fire lookout, and learned to use a 35mm camera. After graduation, Moreau pursued an interest in photography that had begun during her time at SOU. She was especially interested in the intersection of photography as an art form and a tool of social justice, and was influenced by Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith, photographers of the Farm Security Administration, and the "concerned" photographers, such as Henri-Cartier-Bresson.

In 1979 she began work as a freelance photographer, landing jobs with the Ashland Daily Tidings and the Medford Mail Tribune; she also worked as a correspondent for The Oregonian. Two years later she moved to Portland, where she worked as a stringer for United Press International, and as the chief photographer and photo editor for the The Daily Journal of Commerce, and Portland Today. She also worked as a photography lab technician, processing film and making prints at Pro Lab Northwest and other labs. In her free time, Moreau installed a darkroom in her home and studied the making of archival prints, adopting chemical formulas that maximized the small size limitations of "fast" 35mm film.

In 1987, Moreau received a visual arts grant from the Portland Metropolitan Arts Commission – now the Regional Arts and Culture Council – to exhibit images she had captured that documented the lives of Native American fishing families embroiled in treaty rights struggles along the mid-Columbia River. The intent was to expand public awareness of Native American groups whose lives depend on salmon, and the cultural, economic, and religious significance of the Columbia River. The result was a video and exhibit entitled The River People. In 1991, several of Moreau's River People photographs, sponsored by the Oregon Arts Commission, were exhibited in the Oregon state capitol.

In 1992, Moreau, sponsored by the Yakama Nation, received a grant from the Washington Commission for the Humanities. Moreau used the photographs that resulted from this grant to create an exhibit with photographs and text. The exhibit, Respecting this Earth: Native Americans of the mid-Columbia River, was displayed publicly and later housed in the Yakama Nation Museum and Cultural Center. In 1994, Moreau's photographs were installed in The Discovery Center, and the Wasco County Museum, in The Dalles, Oregon.

Moreau's other work has included employment as a Paraeducator II (2001-2008), assisting high school teachers to provide learning assistance and support to students with learning disabilities. Between 1972 and 2007, she worked as a fire lookout, manning 12 fire lookouts over the course of 22 fire seasons for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U. S. Forest Service, and the Oregon Department of Forestry. Moreau, who lives is White Salmon, Washington, has two children, Jessica and Colt, both of whom spent their childhood summers in fire lookouts. Colt is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.