Mike Adam received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a Master’s degree from the University of Kentucky. Prior to joining the Health Department, Mike worked on various research projects focusing on wildlife ecology in WI, KY, FL, and OR. Mike currently is the Senior Biologist at the Lake County Health Department, Lakes Management Unit. He oversees intensive surface water assessments of lakes, beaches, and streams in northeast Illinois. He is also in charge of terrestrial wildlife issues including West Nile virus and Lyme disease. Michael Anteau grew up in Alaska, where he developed a passion for wildlife, particularly waterfowl. He attended the University of Alaska in Fairbanks where he earned two B.S. degrees (Biological Sciences and Wildlife Biology). He then attended graduate school at Louisiana State University, where he earned a M.S. and a Ph.D. working on identifying causes for the continental decline in lesser scaup populations. He was recently appointed to a research scientist position with the USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center in Jamestown, ND. He continues to research conservation issues associated with waterfowl and other avian species including least terns and piping plovers. Chuck Corell is the Chief of the Water Quality Bureau for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The bureau has many diverse programs including drinking water permitting, wastewater permitting, State Revolving Fund administration, non-point source pollution control, storm water regulation, water quality standard development, flood protection, and environmental certifications. Prior to his current position, Chuck was a supervisor in both the department's Air Quality Bureau and in the Atlantic Field Office. His career with the DNR started in 1990 as an inspector in the Spencer Field Office. Chuck earned a B.S. from Iowa State University in 1982 majoring in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Chuck now resides in Urbandale. John Downing is a professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, and the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University. His research interests include limnology, aquatic ecology, terrestrial ecology, microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, population conservation, and whole ecosystem restoration and management. He received his B.S. from Hamline University (St. Paul, MN), his M.S. from NDSU (Fargo, ND) and his Ph.D. from McGill University (Montreal, Canada). He was formerly a professor at McGill University and the University of Montreal where he was Director of the Laurentian Biological Station. He has been at ISU since 1995 and runs the Iowa State University Limnology Lab and has surveyed water quality in Iowa’s lakes since 2000. Katie Foreman has worked with the Water Monitoring Section of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as a part-time research assistant since 2000 and joined the section as a full time employee in 2004. Katie received her water resources education at the University of Iowa, where she obtained her B.S. in geography in 2002 and her M.A. in 2004. Her research includes analyzing pesticide trends in Iowa’s surface waters as well as developing analytical tools for understanding trends in water quality data. Katie’s interest in non point source pollution aligns her with many projects undertaken by the Water Monitoring Section. Her main duties within the section have been in data collection, management and analysis, as well as water sampling. Most recently, Katie has been named snapshot coordinator of the IOWATER volunteer water monitoring program. As snapshot coordinator, Katie coordinates large-scale sampling events involving IOWATER volunteers. Scott Gritters graduated from Iowa State University in 1987 with a B.S. in fish and wildlife biology. Presently, Scott is a fisheries biologist at Guttenberg with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He performs a variety of tasks including northern pike culture, Mississippi River habitat development, sovereign lands permit reviews, public fish aquariums, freshwater mussel issues, and commercial turtle harvest. Scott is a past president of the Iowa Chapter of the American Fisheries Society and served as the game fish chairperson of the 28-state, Mississippi Interstate Cooperative Resource Association. Currently Scott serves as the chairperson for the Protection and Relocation sub-committee of the higgins eye mussel coordination team. Mike Hawkins currently is a Research Biologist with the Fisheries Bureau of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Natural Lakes Investigations located in Spirit Lake, IA. Mike received his B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Dubuque and his M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University. Mike grew up and worked on a dairy farm near Cascade, IA. He is currently involved with GIS watershed assessment of two watersheds in northwest Iowa, shallow lakes restoration based on alternative stable trophic states, and population densities, biomass, and age-growth of Common Carp and Black Bullhead in Clear Lake, IA. Bernard Hermanson graduated from Luther College in 1968 with a B.A. in chemistry and earned an M.A. in chemical education from UNI in 1988. Bernie has taught chemistry and a variety of other science courses for 38 years in three school districts. He currently teaches in Harlan, Iowa. He is a presenter for the American Chemical Society through “Science in a Technical World” curriculum. He is a Water Treatment Plant Operator level 2 and works part time at the water treatment facility in Panama, Iowa. He has been the lead person in student-based water quality analysis projects since the fall of 1987. The last 4 years the project ran every two weeks, year around. Donations and grants were used to supply equipment. For these efforts, Bernie was awarded the Sierra Club of Iowa Environmental Educator of the year in 1996. In 2001 the current student based project was started through the urging of a local Harlan resident. A combination of grants and donations enabled this project to start. For these efforts, he received an NRSC individual volunteerism award. Joseph Herriges has been a professor of Economics at Iowa State University since 1999. He received his bachelor’s degree in statistics and economics at Marquette University in 1978 and his masters and Ph.D. in economics in 1982 and 1983, respectively, from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. His research areas focus on the valuation of environmental goods and services, as well as econometric issues in modeling recreation demand. In addition to his research, Dr. Herriges has been managing editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management since 2001. Nate Hoogeveen is coordinator of the Iowa DNR Water Trails Program. He has been an outdoor recreation consultant and writer, and is author of the guidebook, Paddling Iowa. He is a board member of Iowa Whitewater Coalition and he is coordinating the Iowa Rivers Revival conference and retreat March 4-5, 2006. He graduated from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism in 1998. He has written articles for a number of magazines, including Outside, Hooked on the Outdoors, Midwest Living, and The Iowan. James Johnson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995. His professional experience includes working for the Wisconsin DNR (motorboat impacts to lakes, shallow lake ecology, aquatic plant management), the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (lake/stormwater monitoring), and Three Rivers Park District in Minnesota (lake/stormwater management and aquatic plant management). Stacie Johnson, a graduate of Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, IA, is just a regular person who is working with those who make up the land development community to improve Iowa’s creeks, streams, rivers and lakes by establishing a land - water quality connection and changing how “we” manage the one-inch rain. Bill Kalishek has worked with the Iowa DNR Fisheries Bureau for 25 years with areas of responsibility ranging from the Mississippi River in southeast Iowa to lakes and streams in north-central Iowa. For the past 15 years, Bill's primary area of responsibility has been the management of coldwater and warmwater streams and rivers in northeast Iowa. Bill currently has fishery management duties for an eight-county area in the northeastern corner of Iowa. He oversees all fisheries activities in these counties including sampling fish populations, improving river and stream habitat, and public relations activities. Bill is a native of Protivin, Iowa. He received a B.S. from Iowa State University in Fish and Wildlife Biology (1981). Catherine Kling is a Professor of Economics at Iowa State University and Head of the Resource and Environmental Policy Division of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at ISU where she directs a group of interdisciplinary researchers focusing on water quality, carbon sequestration, and the valuation of environmental resources. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland in 1986 and was an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of California, Davis until 1993. Dr. Kling serves on U.S. EPA's Science Advisory Board, is listed in the 2003 Who’s Who in Economics, and is a past board member of the American Agricultural Economics Association and the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Eric O’Brien is an environmental microbiologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Eric completed his master’s research in Environmental Science at the University of Northern Iowa in May 2003. His primary interest of focus is environmental microbiology, specifically focusing on bacterial source tracking. He directs most of his efforts toward the ongoing bacterial monitoring of Iowa’s state and county owned beaches, tracking of bacterial sources at these beaches, and cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin monitoring. Thanos Papanicolaou is an expert in sediment transport. His dozen-plus current projects employ laboratory, field, and numerical studies to uncover theoretical and applied properties of sediment transport by running water, generation by varied landforms, and source according to land use; cleaning up contaminated sediments, and ameliorating erosion through watershed engineering. Thanos came to the UI’s Civil and Environmental Engineering and IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering in 2003 as a tenured associate Professor, six years after receiving his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. In the interim, he taught at Washington State University for 5 years as an Assistant Professor. Thanos publishes regularly in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings. He is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, ASCE and Chairman of the ASCE national sedimentation committee. For the past ten years, he has been the project manager for sediment related projects Roger Pederson, Ph.D. is the Manager of Conservation Programs for Ducks Unlimited, Inc. He delivers DU habitat conservation programs in Minnesota and Iowa. He serves as resource expert for farmbill policy, wetland protection, wetland management, and other habitat issues. He also assists with state grants for Ducks Unlimited work in Canada. Roger has worked in the natural resources field since 1982 via employment with the Delta Waterfowl Research Station and Ducks Unlimited. Duane Rieken is the Executive Director for Hardin County Conservation. Duane graduated from Ellsworth College with an A.S. degree from their Conservation Tech program. He attended the University of Northern Iowa and received a B.A. in Natural History Interpretation with a minor in Anthropology. He has been with the Hardin County Conservation for 18 years. Randy Schultz has a bachelor's degree from Saint Cloud State University, Saint Cloud, Minnesota and a Master's degree from Tennessee Technological University. Randy has worked for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources as a fisheries research biologist for nearly three years. Prior to that, he spent ten years with Kansas Wildlife & Parks in fisheries management and then research. His current research efforts relate mostly to fisheries management activities in both large and small impoundments, particularly in regards to water quality issues. Rod Scott is a contractor specializing in fire, flood, and historic renovation. Since relocating to Iowa in 1998 to provide care giving to his in-laws, Rod has been active in many local historic preservation efforts as well as the re-development of the Iowa River Water Trail. Rod is a Governor appointed Trustee of the State Historical Society of Iowa, President of the Iowa Cultural Coalition, board member of the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance, board member of the Scenic City Empress and Boat Club in Iowa Falls, and a board member of the Iowa River Greenbelt Resource Trust. Mary Skopec is the Section Supervisor of the Water Monitoring Program at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Mary earned her B.S. and M.A. degrees in geography from the University of Iowa, and in 1999 she completed her Ph.D. in environmental science. Mary has worked at the Iowa DNR since 1991. During that time she has been involved in water quality projects including the development of a statewide pesticide database to track the occurrence of pesticides in Iowa’s waters. As supervisor of the water monitoring section, Mary directs the state’s water monitoring program, including the collection, analysis, and management of information on stream, lake, wetland, and groundwater resources. Gregory Smith is the Director of the USGS National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, LA. Dr. Smith has more than 25 years of ecological research and management experience, with a background in population dynamics and environmental toxicology. He has worked in federal research, as well as with a non-governmental organization and the private sector. He has developed international science programs in fisheries, invasive species, and ecological research. Dr. Smith received a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1978 from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. He received a master’s degree in wildlife ecology in 1980 and a Ph.D. in wildlife ecology and veterinary science in 1984 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Smith is a member of The Wildlife Society and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. He has served on numerous scientific review panels and authored a major publication on the impacts of pesticides on wildlife. Dr. Smith was born in Marquette and now resides in Lafayette. He and his wife, Kathy, have two children, Jennifer and Andrew. Laurie Sovell has a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin and a M.S. in Fisheries Biology from the University of Minnesota. She has been coordinator of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Citizen Stream-Monitoring Program since it began in 1998. Her graduate research evaluated the impacts of rotational cattle grazing to streams in southeastern Minnesota. Laurie lives with her two kids and husband on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, across from downtown St. Paul. Elwynn Taylor, Agricultural Meteorologist, is well known for his analysis of weather influence on the Midwest. He is widely recognized for his clear explanations of the complexities of long-term weather variability. Dr. Taylor is the Extension Climatologist at Iowa State University. Before moving to Iowa in 1979, he was a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Alabama. He was educated in botany at Utah State University and completed his doctoral studies at Washington University in St. Louis in 1970. He has published more than 200 articles reporting his research on the impacts of weather conditions. His voice is well known from his regular Midwest radio broadcasts of crop-weather and other educational information. His explanations of Global Warming, Ozone Depletion, El Niño, and other weather events and how they impact life and our economy are clear, insightful, and concise. All persons concerned with climate associated risks will benefit from Dr. Taylor’s clear and often humorous explanations. You can hear Dr. Taylor on WOI radio (640 kHz) at 12:45 noon Monday-Thursday, and 12:10-1PM on Fridays. Gregory Vitale, trained in economics, works in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office as an expert witness in utility proceedings. He has also kayaked in the Adaman Sea off the coast of Thailand and closer to home, white water, moving water and flat water, in a dozen states. He is an American Canoe Association certified canoe and kayak instructor and is active in other outdoor recreation and conservation groups. Greg is a founding member of the Skunk River Paddlers who, among other initiatives, co-sponsored with the county conservation board a water trail grant for the South Skunk River in Story County. Since the grant was approved, he, along with dozens of other volunteers, continue to make access and other improvements along a 28-mile corridor. Jeffrey Vonk became the Director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in March of 2001. Since then, he has led the Iowa DNR in the development of the nationally recognized Pollution Prevention Intern program. Under his leadership, the DNR has become an Iowa Charter Agency, which emphasizes measurable customer benefits, contributes to savings/revenues, and is exempt from many bureaucratic requirements. Kaizen process improvement events have taken place department-wide, resulting in dramatic improvements in customer service. Environmental protection efforts and enhanced recreational opportunities in Iowa have both been major priorities for Jeff as Director. Jeff was born and raised in New York State. He received a Bachelors Degree in forest biology from Syracuse and a Masters degree in wildlife management from the University of Maine. After working with the Smithsonian Institution for two years, he and his wife, Mary Anne, volunteered with the Peace Corps in Chile. Jeff and Mary Anne have two children, Peter and Laura. Scott Wallace is an environmental engineer specializing in the design of wastewater treatment systems, including constructed wetlands. He is a registered professional engineer in 18 states. Mr. Wallace has authored papers in numerous technical publications and holds U.S. and Canadian patents on wastewater treatment processes. He has designed over 200 wastewater treatment systems across the United States and internationally, ranging in size from single-family homes to large-scale municipal and industrial systems. He is the principal author of Feasibility, Design Criteria, and O&M Requirements for Small-Scale Constructed Wetland Wastewater Treatment Systems (published by the Water Environment Research Foundation) and Ecological Wastewater Management in Iowa – Hope for Iowa’s Small Communities (published by the Iowa Policy Project). Mr. Wallace has a B.S. in Civil Engineering and a M.S. in Environmental Engineering, both from the University of Iowa. Pete Weyer is Associate Director of the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC) and is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Geography and in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Iowa. At CHEEC, he is responsible for developing and implementing the center’s research programs, which focus on exposure assessment of contaminants in Iowa drinking water supplies and related health outcomes in rural and urban populations. Dr. Weyer’s research interests include environmental epidemiology and cancer, water contaminants and chronic health effects, and environmental health policy. He received his Ph.D. in preventive medicine and environmental health from the University of Iowa. Kyle Zimmer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. His specific research interests are the role of food web interactions in the alternative stable state model for shallow lakes. He has studied shallow lake and wetland ecosystems since 1995. He has a B.A. from Luther College, a Masters from St. Cloud State University, a Ph.D. from North Dakota State University, and was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Department at the University of Minnesota.
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