TNC-LANDFIRE National Team
Jim Smith, Project Manager
1822 Swiss Oaks Street
Jacksonville, FL 32259
(904) 327-0055
jim_smith@tnc.org
Kori Blankenship
Fire Ecologist
115 NW Oregon Ave, Suite 30
Bend, OR 97701
(206) 276-3432
kblankenship@tnc.org
Sarah Hagen
GIS Analyst
1101 West River Parkway, Suite 200
Minneapolis, MN 55415
(612) 331-0733
shagen@tnc.org
Randy Swaty
Ecologist
109 W. Baraga Avenue, Suite B
Marquette, MI 49855
(906) 255-0399 ext 16
rswaty@tnc.org
Meeting & Administrative Support Information Requests
Jeannie Patton
Program Coordinator
2424 Spruce Street
Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 541-0378
jpatton@tnc.org
Page last updated 25 May 2010 |
Jim Smith, Randy Swaty, Sarah Hagen, Kori Blankenship, Jeannie Patton, March 2010
Jim currently leads two externally funded projects in TNC: LANDFIRE and LandCarbon. Jim earned a BS in Timber Management and MS Forest Biometrics from the University of Georgia, and a PhD in Forest Biometrics and Remote Sensing from Virginia Tech. He spent the next 13 years on the Forestry faculty at Virginia Tech. Jim has also worked in the commercial sector, and was the head of Forest Information Systems development for Champion International Paper Company and International Paper Company. He has published in such prestigious journals as Fire Ecology, Forest Science, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, Canadian Journal of Forest Research and the Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. Among his many professional awards are the 2009 John Wesley Powell Award from USGS, Special Achievement in GIS Award from ESRI, John I. Davidson Award for Practical Papers from the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and a University Certificate of Teaching Excellence from Virginia Tech.
Kori has been with TNC since 2005 when she was hired to facilitate the creation of thousands of vegetation dynamic models for ecosystems across the US. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Geography from Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment; graduate research investigated seasonal changes in fire behavior and effects in the dry forests of north central Washington State. Kori worked as a GIS specialist at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab and as a wildland firefighter in Washington and Colorado for the NPS and USFS. Her current focus is on taking the results of the first five years of the LANDFIRE project and applying the processes and products toward addressing conservation challenges on large landscapes and ecosystems.
Sarah has been with TNC in varying capacities since starting as an intern with the Wisconsin chapter in 2005. Sarah's undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin earned her a bachelor's degree in Wildlife Ecology, as well as a certificate in Environmental Studies from the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Her graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems was awarded from the University of Wisconsin. Sarah worked for the stewardship and land protection departments of the Wisconsin Chapter of TNC until September of 2007 when she took a position as the GIS Analyst for the Central Region of TNC. For the last year, she has divided her time between the Illinois Chapter science team and the LANDFIRE team. Her primary focus with LANDFIRE is analyzing LANDFIRE National Datasets within various geographies across the Continental United States.
Randy joined the Michigan Chapter after growing up in Little Rock, AK and receiving his BS/MS at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. His scientific specialties span spatial scales, ranging from community genetics to mycorrhizal ecology and landscape-scale planning. When employed as Michigan’s Forest Ecologist, he worked with a variety of large landowners to promote sustainable management and was the Great Lakes LANDFIRE modeling lead. Additionally, he has worked to improve forest certification standards, participated in Conservation Area Planning, served on TNC's Conservancy's Forest Management SOP team, participated in the Global Fire Assessment and directs workshops and seminars on the use of LANDFIRE data and products. Randy works to develop vegetation models and to apply LANDFIRE products within and outside of the Conservancy.
Jeannie provides administrative support, meeting planning and communications expertise to the team. She earned Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in English from the University of Northern and worked as a writer, journalist, public relations specialist and college English and Literature teacher while volunteering and supporting “citizen ecology” in her native Colorado. She is an award-winning author of more than 150 newspaper and magazine articles ranging from skiing and outdoor sports, to western ecology and social commentary. Her administration and communications position at the University of Colorado Natural Resources Law Center led to an opening at TNC's Global Fire Initiative and the LANDFIRE program in 2004.
|
