Our Team

CV/Resume

As an ecologist and avid user of public lands, Megan is excited to work with stakeholders to balance the many resources public lands provide. Whether these resources are environmental, cultural, recreational, or financial in scope, she strives to provide a quantitative framework for decision-making that benefits all those who call themselves “public land owners”. While Megan has worked in a variety of systems from the Central American tropics to the Rocky Mountain west, she has become increasingly interested in working lands. These lands - and the soil at the heart of them - provide individuals with a means of living, communities with a source of pride, and society with a sense of well-being. As such, Megan values a strong and mutual relationship with Earth, and will work tirelessly to help us all become better stewards of the land.

Contact: megan@workinglandsconsevation.org

CV/Resume

Kendall is an ecologist with expertise in plant-soil interactions, microbial ecology, and soil carbon cycling. She has worked in a wide variety of ecosystems throughout the US, including mostly recently Southeastern deciduous forests and Midwestern tallgrass prairies. She is passionate about using rigorous science in conjunction with stakeholder partnerships to solve read-world environmental challenges. Kendall is excited to bring her research expertise to rangeland systems of the Intermountain West. In collaboration with the Lien lab at the University of Arizona, landowners, and conservation practitioners, she is working to identify the effects of restoration on carbon sequestration in rivers and streams on rangelands within Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. An important goal of this work is to quantify the potential economic value of carbon sequestration that can be expected from various riparian restoration practices using estimated carbon market prices.

Contact: bealsk@arizona.edu

Elana is an ecologist deeply interested in human interactions with the land, particularly how we can work together to maintain natural areas for a broad spectrum of uses. Her background is in land management with a particular focus on invasive plant removal and native plant restoration. Elana has worked in a variety of systems including forest plant communities in New England and wetland plant communities in the Great Salt Lake watershed. She is very excited to apply her skills to studying rangelands and building deeper partnerships with people who are similarly dedicated to managing natural resources.

Contact: elana@workinglandsconservation.org

CV

Jessica is an ecosystem ecologist with a background in soil carbon cycling, carbon-climate feedbacks, and tropical ecology. Her research focuses on soil organic matter dynamics and the mechanisms of soil organic carbon sequestration. She has also done extensive research on canopy soils, a unique type of soil that accumulates in tree canopies in wet forests. She has worked in many different ecosystems, including tropical montane and lowland rainforests, midwestern wetlands, tropical alpine shrublands, and now the arid rangelands of the southwestern U.S. She has over a decade of experience working in Latin America and is fluent in Spanish. She is originally from Georgia but has lived in Missouri, Costa Rica, and Utah. Jessica is passionate about understanding and protecting the ecosystem services provided by our wild and managed lands.

Contact: jess@workinglandsconservation.org

Katie moved to Utah to study ecology at Utah State University and fell in love with exploring and recreating on our public lands. A summer spent as a river guide in Montana uncovered her passion for relationship-building and science communication. Since then, Katie has explored how these concepts are at the heart of land management, especially western working lands. She is passionate about working towards collaborative partnerships to create innovative solutions, balancing sustainable uses of natural resources so communities and ecosystems can thrive.

Contact: katie@workinglandsconservation.org

Jamela is a crew member dedicated to ecological fieldwork, research, and GIS applications that facilitate adaptive land management and collaborative partnerships in the Intermountain West. She received her M.S. in Ecology and a GIS Certificate from Utah State University in the Fire Ecology Lab. Jamela’s experience working in western ecosystems includes her thesis research on fuel treatment effectiveness on public lands in Utah, GIS roles on projects studying sagebrush conservation and fire effects on aquatic insects, and ecological monitoring for the Great Basin Institute and National Park Service. She looks forward to contributing to our projects while developing a deeper understanding of working lands.

Paige is an undergraduate student in the Watershed Sciences department at Utah State University. She enjoys the field but specializes in GIS and is currently using remotely-sensed data to develop a protocol for long term riparian monitoring at the Three Creeks grazing allotment. She will also make you a map if you ask nicely. In her spare time, Paige uses geospatial data to research beaver-impacted riverscapes as well as statistical patterns and geomorphic changes in semi-arid streams. Apart from that, she waits for it to snow so she can go cross country skiing again.