Network Staff

Bill Route - GLKN Network Coordinator

Bill Route has an undergraduate degree in wildlife resources from the University of Idaho and a Masters degree in vertebrate ecology from Michigan Technological University. Bill has worked 18 years in the National Park Service at parks in Minnesota, Alaska, and New Mexico and is currently the Coordinator of the Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network stationed in Ashland, Wisconsin. Bill has also worked for other federal and state natural resource agencies as well as private consulting and nonprofit organizations. He has a broad interest in natural resource ecology with an emphasis on wildlife

Ulf Gafvert - GIS Specialist

Ulf Gafvert graduated from Iowa State University in 1986 with a BS degree in Watershed Science. He has been employed as a soil scientist initially in Missouri, moving to northern Wisconsin in 1988, and has done soil survey work along the south shore of Lake Superior from 1992 to spring of 2002. For the past several years, this work involved 3D visualization and mapping, GIS projects and orthophoto development. In April of 2002, he assumed the position of GIS Coordinator with the National Park Service, Great Lakes Network Office.

Ulf has also been involved with local watershed projects and has provided many training and educational presentations on landform, geology and wetlands.

Joan Elias - Aquatic Ecologist

Joan Elias, Aquatic Ecologist, joined the National Park Service in June 2002. She has a BS in Zoology and a MS in Environmental Science. Joan has extensive experience in field ecology, spanning several taxonomic groups. She began her career at a university limnological field station, collaborating in research on fish communities and diet, benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, and freshwater sponges. She next conducted vegetation surveys in Great Lakes coastal wetlands, and eventually moved onto dry land, conducting research on habitat preferences of forest songbirds. As a private consultant, Joan has conducted surveys and inventories of birds, amphibians, fish, and a variety of vegetation types, including aquatic, wetland, and upland.

Mark Hart - Data Manager

Mark Hart has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Dartmouth College, and completed research on behavioral ecology of waterfowl in the Ecology and Behavioral Biology department at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Graduate School. His biological experience is strongest in silviculture, sociobiology, and genetics. Mark's data management background started with extensive work on biological data sets in graduate school and moved to developing specialized databases as a private consultant in biological and horticultural fields. Mark started NPS employment as a Data Specialist in the Great Lakes Network Office in 2003, and started in the Data Manager position in 2004.

Suzanne Sanders - Ecologist

Suzanne Sanders completed a B.A. in Botany from Miami University and an M.S. in Plant Science from the University of Idaho. While in Idaho, she studied weed control in cropping systems in the intermountain West. In 2004 she obtained a Ph.D. in Biology from West Virginia University where she focused on understanding causes of rarity in plants. She joined the Park Service in June of 2004 and now coordinates the long-term vegetation monitoring program for the network. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, canoeing, and botanizing.

Ted Gostomski - Science Writer/Biologist

Ted Gostomski has a M.S. in Conservation Biology from Central Michigan University and has worked for the National Park Service (Isle Royale National Park and Apostle Islands National Lakeshore), the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute at Northland College, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. He is co-author of Island Life: An Isle Royale Nature Guide (2007) and a contributing author to the Atlas of Breeding Birds of Wisconsin (2006) and Important Bird Areas of Wisconsin: Critical Sites for the Conservation and Management of Wisconsin’s Birds (2007). Ted provides writing, editing, and outreach services for the Network office; field assistance to Network programs; and is a boat operator in the Apostle Islands.

Jessica Grochowski - Botanist

Jessica received her B.S. from Northland College in 2001, majoring in Environmental Science. During college, she became interested in plants and started working as a field botanist for private and government agencies. Jessica continued doing botany work, as well as work in environmental education, before earning her M.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Botany through the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2007. She began working for the Great Lakes Inventory & Monitoring Network in 2007, serving as the crew leader for the vegetation monitoring crew in 2007 and 2008, and as a botanist starting in 2009.

Al Kirschbaum - Remote Sensing Specialist

Al Kirschbaum received his undergraduate degree in Forest Science from UW-Madison in 2000. Following this degree, he worked as a research specialist in a UW forest ecology lab on a MODIS validation project (http://www.fsl.orst.edu/larse/bigfoot/) until 2003. He then moved to Corvallis, OR to join a remote sensing research lab (www.fsl.orst.edu/larse) at Oregon State University where he helped develop a Landsat-based monitoring protocol for the North Coast and Cascades Network of National Parks. After finishing this project, Al stayed in the same lab and started his Masters work in remote sensing. His research used Landsat imagery to map mortality in the pinyon-juniper ecosystem in the southwestern U.S. and he earned his degree in June 2008. Al joined the Great Lakes Network in July 2008 to help develop and implement the Land Cover/Land Use protocol.

David VanderMeulen - Aquatic Ecologist (rivers)

David VanderMeulen has an undergraduate degree in Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences from Michigan Technological University and a Master's degree in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota - Duluth. David began his career working as an private consultant, focusing on water quality monitoring, aquatic plant surveys, and lake management planning. He joined the Park Service in 2005, and as an Aquatic Ecologist assists with monitoring water quality at National Parks in the Great Lakes I&M Network. David is primarily responsible for monitoring water quality at the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway.

Rick Damstra - Aquatic Ecologist (lakes)

Rick Damstra holds a BS in fisheries and wildlife management from Lake Superior State University, where he acquired an interest in aquatic ecology and fisheries biology. He also holds a MS in biology from Central Michigan University. For his MS thesis, he studied population dynamics and habitat use by lake sturgeon in the Manistee River, Michigan. He has worked for a variety of natural resource organizations on diverse projects, including: culturally-significant wildlife management plans for a tribe, inland fish as well as Great Lakes fisheries assessments, salmonid aquaculture, zooplankton identification, and sea lamprey control. Rick was hired by the Park Service in August 2009 and is responsible for water quality sampling at Isle Royale National Park as well as other tasks that span all network parks.

Tammy Keniry - Administrative Technician

Tammy Keniry has an undergraduate degree in Biology from UW-Superior and a Master’s degree in Aquatic Ecology from Michigan Technological University. She has experience in biology (assisting with fisheries projects and monitoring zebra mussels in southern Lake Michigan) and administration (institutional research and records management for a small college). Tammy was hired as the Administrative Technician in 2003, and provides administrative support for the I&M Network and the Great Lakes Exotic Plant Management Team.

Rebecca Key - Data Management Specialist

Rebecca Key has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Northland College and is working towards a Masters degree from Governors State University in Environmental Biology, focusing research on population viability of an endangered plant species . She began her career working at a county natural resource agency and has experience in biology (endangered/threatened/rare species monitoring, biological inventories, prescribed fire), GIS, and data management. Rebecca joined the park service in 2007.