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Kathy Tonnessen
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Adjunct Assistant Professor,
Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences
NPS Liason to RM-Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit
Dr. Kathy Tonnessen began her foundation in ecology and environmental policy at Cornell University while double majoring in Biology and Political Science. Originally interested in becoming a doctor, lawyer, or an ecologist, she took the entrance exams for all three disciplines. However, an honors Biology class sparked her interest in ecological issues while on a field trip to the Everglades in Florida, and so Ecology won out. Specializing in natural resource management of air quality and surface waters in National Parks throughout west, Kathy came to The University of Montana (UM) in 2000 and is the National Park Service (NPS) Research Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Cluster of Parks and an Adjunct Professor in the College of Forestry and Conservation.
Attending graduate school at The University of North Carolina under an NSF pre-doctoral fellowship, Kathy soon realized that this program was too traditional so she took a year off to work at the interface of ecology and energy policy. She headed to Livermore , California where she worked as a consultant in the Earth Sciences Division of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The oil shocks in the 1970's sparked a great interest in interdisciplinary research in energy and resources, and Kathy got involved at the Department of Energy lab working on the assessment of the ecological effects of energy development projects, including alternative energy sources such as coal gasification and geothermal electric generation. Encouraged to enter the Energy Resources Group at UC/Berkley, Kathy earned her Ph.D. with a dissertation that explored air pollution effects on high elevation lakes in the Sierra Nevada . The California Air Resources Board soon caught on to Kathy's research and created a position for her to continue research and monitoring of ecosystems in the Sierra Nevada . This regulatory agency needed scientifically defensible information on the levels of acid rain, snow, fog and dry fall, and the effects in high elevation watersheds. She was project manager for a productive ten years, coordinating studies of water quality, hydrology, aquatic biota, vegetation, soils, deposition, and air quality in the Sierra Nevada , with a base of operations in Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks.
In 1991, Dr. Tonnessen joined the National Park Service and has worked with the Air Resources Division in Colorado and is currently with the Intermountain Region of the NPS. In 2000 She took a newly-created position as research coordinator with the Rocky Mountains Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (RM-CESU), stationed at UM. In her NPS job she coordinates research and technical assistance for the Rocky Mountain parks, while providing a bridge between managers and scientists to improve the scientific base for managing ecosystems. Instead of just focusing on air quality and ecosystem effects, she now gets to coordinate research that spans the disciplines of natural, cultural, and social science. The RM-CESU includes partners at numerous western universities, tribal colleges, and other Federal agencies. Working with this group has allowed the NPS managers to participate in interagency and inter-university education and outreach activities, research projects, and regional workshops.
Dr. Tonnessen works with scientists, managers, tribal affiliates, faculty members, and graduate students on variety of projects that include historic structure documentation, inventory and monitoring of natural resources in parks, and climate change, to name a few. She has served as the secretary for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program and is a member of the International Air Quality Advisory Board of the International Joint Commission. For Kathy, the most rewarding aspects of her job are "Working in beautiful and fun locations to protect and preserve these areas. The fact is, the average person cares about our National Parks and wants these resources protected, and so public support is tremendous. The National Park Service has established credibility with the public and that makes it easier to work towards resource protection." Future concerns that Kathy and the Rocky Mountain Cluster of Parks are facing include wildlife and plant diseases, predator-prey interactions, climate change, de-glaciation in Grand Teton and Glacier National Parks , and fire effects on water quality and ecosystem health.
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