Network Staff
Employees of the Heartland Network are located at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Missouri State University, and several parks throughout the network.
Heartland I&M Network and Prairie Cluster Prototype Monitoring Program
Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield
6424 West Farm Road 182
Republic, MO65738
Program phone: 417-732-6438
Program fax: 417-732-7660
| Program Coordinator: Mike DeBacker |
| Mike joined the park service’s I&M team in 1996 with the Prairie Cluster Prototype Monitoring Program. Over this time, Mike has served in several capacities including botanist, ecologist and most recently as network coordinator for the Heartland I&M Network. Mike’s primary research interests lie in the prairies of the Great Plains. He is currently involved in several projects examining spatial structure in species distribution, and the influence of fire and grazing regimes on plant community composition. Mike earned a BA degree in Political Science from The Colorado College and a MS degree in Biology from Missouri State University. |
| Administrative Assistant: Michelle Lee |
| In May 2008, Michelle joined NPS to provide administrative and budget support for the I&M program. Prior to coming to work for NPS, she served four years as Manager of the Christian County Soil and Water Conservation District located in Ozark,Missouri. There she developed the operating budgets, administered financial incentives to landowners, and facilitated education/outreach efforts. Michelle recieved her BS degree in Horticulture from the College of the Ozarks in 2001. |
| Wildlife Ecologist: David G. Peitz |
| David graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology and from Oklahoma State University with a MS in Wildlife and Fisheries Ecology. David came to the National Park Services in 2000 after spending 6 ½ years as a wildlife research biologist with the University of Arkansas Agriculture Experiment Station. David has had management responsibilities for a range of long-term monitoring projects within Midwestern parks, involving both terrestrial and aquatic organisms and systems. Currently his efforts are focused on terrestrial mammals and birds. |
| Botanist: Craig Young |
| Craig serves as a botanist for the Heartland I&M Network and Prairie Cluster Prototype Monitoring Program at Wilson´s Creek National Battlefield. In this position, Craig oversees the network´s invasive plant and rare plant monitoring projects. Prior to beginning work with the National Park Service in November 2003, Craig worked with Virginia´s Natural Heritage Program as a natural areas manager and with The Nature Conservancy of Georgia as an ecologist. Craig received a B.S. in Biology from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and an M.S. in Environmental Forest Biology with a concentration in Plant Ecology from the State University of New York´s College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. |
| Plant Ecologist: Kevin James |
| Kevin joined the Heartland I&M Network in 2006 as the plant ecologist. He oversees the vegetation monitoring effort of the Network by tracking spatial and temporal changes of plant communities. Previously, he was a botanist for the USDA Pacific Northwest Research Station studying ecosystem level disturbance regimes as part of the Eastside Forest Health Restoration Team at the Wenatchee Forestry Sciences Lab. He graduated from Boise State University with a BS in Biology and from the University of Kansas with an MA in Botany. His professional interests include landscape ecology, the biology of rarity and plant/pollinator interactions. |
| Botanist: Karola Mlekush |
| Karola graduated from MSU in 1993 with a BS degree in wildlife management and conservation, and a MS degree in botany in 1999. Before joining the Park Service, Karola was involved with the Army National Guard, establishing plant community monitoring baselines at 3 National Guard camps in Missouri. Karola joined the Park Service´s I&M team in 1999 with the Prairie Cluster Prototype Monitoring Program. In the past Karola has participated in plant community monitoring, rare plants monitoring, woodland inventories, invasive plant inventories, bird surveys, deer surveys, fish surveys and prairie dog surveys. |
| Biologist: Tyler Cribbs |
| Tyler joined the National Park Service in May 2002. He has an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management and a Masters degree in Natural and Applied Science from Missouri State University. His work involves assisting with research on breeding birds, white-tailed deer, black-tailed prairie dogs, fish communities and stream habitat. |
| Data Manager: Gareth Rowell |
| Gareth joined the Heartland I&M Network in 2003 as biologist / data manager. He develops databases and data analysis tools for the monitoring projects at the Heartland Network. From 1993 to 2002, Gareth served as GIS data manager for the Endangered Resources Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He graduated from Kansas State University with a BS in Agriculture and from University of Kansas with an MA and PhD in Biology. His professional interests include spatial ecology, biological information systems and learning new programming languages. |
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
15610 Vaughn Road
Brecksville, OH 44141
Program phone: 330-650-5071 ext. 3
Wetlands Biologist: Sonia Bingham |
In June 2007, Sonia joined the network as a wetlands biologist to continue developing the network's wetland monitoring protocol for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Sonia will also implement invasive plant monitoring on the park. Sonia has extensive professional field experience assessing, monitoring, and restoring streams and wetlands in Northern Ohio, as well as other locations throughout the Midwestern U.S. In this work, Sonia has conducted wetland delineations, developed restoration plans, and surveyed plant, fish, macroinvertebrate, and freshwater mussel communities. Sonia received a B.A. in Biology from Hiram College, Ohio and will graduate with a M.S. in Environmental Science from The Ohio State University in 2008. |
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site
P.O. Box 607, West Branch, IA 52358
Program phone: (319) 643-7858
Biologist: Sherry Middlemis-Brown |
Sherry works part time with Heartland Network staff, developing communication products that provide explanation of monitoring results to park managers and the public. She executed a similar role for the US Fish and Wildlife Service prior to joining NPS in 1995. Sherry’s educational degrees in natural resources, secondary education, fisheries biology, and statistics allows her to apply a broad understanding of population, community, and habitat monitoring to her work. She has worked with ecological systems from the California-Nevada border to eastern New York State in federal and state agencies, universities, and her own consulting firm. Sherry’s primary interest lies in ecological relationships and human impact on those delicate ties. |
Missouri State University
901 S. National Avenue
Springfield, MO 65804
Program phone: 417-836-4702
Program fax: 417-836-8886
Aquatic Resources Monitor Leader: David E. Bowles - 417-836-4702 |
David is the Aquatic Program Leader for the Network. Prior to his present position, he worked 11 years as an aquatic biologist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He serves as a member of the recovery teams of several endangered species including the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow, Barton Springs Salamander, and the San Marcos/Comal Ecosystem Recovery Team. In addition to his civilian position, David serves in the U.S. Air Force Reserve at the rank of Lt. Colonel, and he presently is the assistant to the Technical Director and Senior Staff Scientist, USAF Institute of Operational Health. He also serves on the adjunct faculties at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, and the Department of Biology, Missouri State University. David has published extensively on a variety of topics including taxonomy and ecology of aquatic insects and crustacea, aquatic hydrophytes, fisheries biology, and medical entomology. His education includes a B.S. in Biology and Natural Resources from Ball State University, an M.S. in Aquatic Biology from Southwest Texas State University, and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. |
| Quantitative Ecologist: Lloyd Morrison - 417-836-3119 |
Lloyd has a B.S. degree in Biology from Baylor University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis. He conducted his dissertation research on the island biogeography and metapopulation dynamics of ants in the Bahamas and South Pacific. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where he conducted research on the effects of invasive ants on native arthropod communities, and biological control by the use of natural enemies. He extended this work as a Research Fellow at the University of Florida at Gainesville/USDA Agricultural Research Service. Throughout his postdoctoral years he has continued to study the long-term metapopulation dynamics of Bahamian ants and plants. He joined the Network in September 2004. |
| Fisheries Biologist: Hope Dodd - 417-836-3163 |
Hope is the fisheries biologist for the Heartland I&M and Prairie Cluster Prototype Programs of the National Park Service. She coordinates long-term monitoring of fish assemblages and physical habitat in prairie streams and Ozark river systems. Her research interests focus on anthropogenic disturbances in lotic systems and assessment of these long-term effects on water quality, habitat, and biota. Previously, Hope worked as a stream ecologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey conducting research on the assessment of restoration practices on stream fish and invertebrate communities and the effects of dam removal on a mid-size river system. She received her M.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University and her B.S. from Ball State University in Aquatic Biology and Fisheries. |
| Aquatic Ecologist: Jan Hinsey - 417-836-3129 |
Jan received her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville that included work in macroinvertebrates, meiofauna, habitat surveys, predator/prey interactions, and fish identification. In October 2005, Jan began working with the Network in aquatic resource monitoring of invertebrates and fish on the Buffalo River. She joined the NPS Buffalo National River in May 2003 and worked with identification and characterization of Bear Creek benthic and drift macroinvertebrates as well as water quality and air quality sampling. As lead technician for the Buffalo River water quality macroinvertebrate assessment project, she continues her work in aquatic invertebrates. She has prior experience in land conservation, cave ecology, and GIS while working with conservation organizations and government agencies in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Previously, Jan worked in software engineering and business applications for over 20 years. Her interest in river conservation and fly fishing drew her to aquatic ecology. |
| GIS Specialist: Jennifer Haack - 417-836-5313 |
| Jennifer has received a BS degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management and a MS degree in Geospatial Sciences from Missouri State University. Besides working for the NPS, she has also been employed by the NRCS NRI from 2000 to 2002 performing image interpretation for land change analysis. Work responsibilities focus on using remote sensing for land use/land cover analysis and GIS/GPS support for various inventory and monitoring projects. |
| Fire Ecologist: Sherry Leis - 417-836-8919 |
| Sherry is the Fire Ecologist for the Heartland I&M Network and Prairie Cluster Prototype Monitoring Program. In this position, Sherry provides expertise in understanding the effects of fire on plant communities. Her interests lie in the investigation of disturbances such as fire, grazing, and off road vehicle use on grassland communities of the Great Plains and Midwest. Previously, Sherry worked as a Plant Ecologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation investigating grassland management questions such as the applicability of patch burn grazing, control of invasive plants, and appropriate grassland restoration techniques. Sherry earned a BS in Anthropology and Environmental Biology from Beloit College, WI and a MS in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Oklahoma State University. |