My Story
Though I grew up in Connecticut, I am not from the stereotypical suburbia that one pictures as a part of the East Coast. Instead, my childhood was spent in the rural section of the state: surrounded by dense forests and New England farms, always game for the outdoor adventures waiting for me just outside my front door. While all my previous schooling – elementary school through my bachelor’s degree – was in Connecticut, my family and I traveled the United States each summer, visiting the varied and awe-inspiring landscapes and natural areas throughout our country, eventually making it to 49 out of the 50 states (I’m still waiting on Hawaii). During each summer break of my undergraduate degree, I trekked West to Glacier National Park, Montana, where I worked as a manager of a horseback ride guide outfit, bringing visitors into some of the most remote areas of Glacier. Spending so much time thoroughly submerged in wilderness areas both inside the Park, as well as in the millions of acres of Forest Service land surrounding it, led me to think about our human impacts on such a landscape: both positive as well as negative. This line of thought ultimately came together in my undergraduate thesis, which looked at the impacts of outdoor recreation on the ecosystems in which the activities take place, focused specifically on Flathead County, Montana. This county, home to Glacier National Park, the Flathead National Forest, and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, is one of the few intact ecosystems remaining in the continental United States and is host to a plethora of outdoor activities. Accepting a graduate student position here at UNL studying the attitudes, preferences, and expenditures of catfish anglers in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, was only a natural step towards a better understanding of how recreationists impact – and are impacted by – their natural resources.