I completed my MA in English and an internship with a small academic publisher in 2012. From there I entered the workforce as a Senior Editor at University of Phoenix. I worked there for three years, and in that time my position grew from editor, to project manager and editor, to faculty grants manager. I realized after my first three years that, while I loved helping faculty realize their research projects, I really wanted to work in conservation and science outreach and education. While still working full time, I went back to Arizona State University for a Master’s in Biology focusing on anthropogenic impacts on ecosystems and land management. A year into my program I decided to change to the Ph.D. program in order to pursue a much larger research project than I initially had in mind. In 2017 my partner was offered a position in Woods Hole, MA, at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Because I had finished my course work and was working on data collection, I was able to move and work on my dissertation remotely. I have finished data collection for my four cases and have been writing my dissertation. I plan to graduate in spring 2021.

research

My research focuses on management of federally designated wilderness. The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) is a collection of lands designated as wilderness under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Federal Wilderness lands are supposed to be pristine examples of nature where the overseeing agency has not built new structures, roads, or made any other permanent changes to the ecosystem or land. The language of the act assumes that the land that is designated as wilderness is “untrammeled” by people, discounting thousands of years of human influence, particularly Native American influence. It also discounts the potential effect of surrounding lands and visitors on the wilderness.

The management of these lands crosses all four federal land management agencies, and they each had – and still have – their own organizational perspectives on the Wilderness Act and their agency’s role in its implementation. The disparate views of wilderness tie back to the different philosophies of how conservation should be implemented on public lands. This diversity of views and approaches has created administrative divides between wilderness lands and other land types as well as boundary lines on maps that guide the application of administrative policies. In parallel, the introduction of subsequent environmental laws has created additional legal boundaries on the land, creating parcels of wilderness next to and within other public and private lands. Neither of these sets of boundaries, however, consistently follows ecosystem or geophysical boundaries, and thus impact the ecosystems they divide.

The Wilderness Act provided criteria for designating and managing wilderness, albeit vague ones. This has caused a rift between those who believe that wilderness should be actively managed and those who believe that wilderness should be preserved and left alone as much as possible. Ecologists seem divided on what actions should be taken, but there is a general agreement that at least some interventions are required to achieve important conservation and ecological management goals.

My study focuses on the effects of public land parceling due to legal obligations; how statuary ossification affects current interpretations of the various laws that affect wilderness lands; and ultimately how this affects land managers and agencies, who are looking toward a future of increased anthropogenic impacts on wildlife biodiversity and endangered/threatened species, and the potential mitigation of these impacts on wilderness lands. Additionally, I look at how other anthropogenic effects impact biodiversity and endangered species (such as fire management’s effect on bighorn sheep, or climate change on glaciers). Biodiversity and endangered/threatened species are good metrics for all anthropogenic effects because ecosystem health depends on biodiversity.

other interests

I love running, hiking, biking, canyoneering, and climbing! I have an over-healthy fear of ticks, so I’ve also taken up a sort of screechy dance for whenever I think there is one on me. Despite that fear, I do love being outside. 

When not running around outside I am an avid bookworm. My first two degrees were inspired by my love of reading. Even now, with juggling work, research, and dissertation writing, I read between four and ten books a month.