My broad interests are vegetation community dynamics, arid lands ecology and arid lands conservation.
My current research focuses on applying remote sensing and GIS technology to the study of vegetation communities and dynamics in the southeastern Arizona. Recent and on-going projects include: monitoring vegetation response at watershed restoration sites by combining field data with LiDAR and photogrammetry data; tracking temporal changes in cienegas, desert wetlands, using multispectral satellite imagery; and classifying vegetation communities in Saguaro National Park using satellite imagery and LiDAR data.
I worked on several research and management projects with a variety of federal agencies. Highlights include researching the population and distribution of meso-carnivores in the Sierra Nevada with the U.S. Forest Service, restoring off-highway vehicle incursions in the Mojave Desert with the Bureau of Land Management, and monitoring long term vegetation plots in southern Arizona with the National Park Service.
I began as a student contractor with the Western Geographic Science Center of the USGS in April 2014. In September 2015 I joined the USGS as a Pathways Recent Graduate intern.
Science and Products
Tribal Land Vegetation and Watershed Modeling
Aridland Water Harvesting Study
Science and Products
- Science
Tribal Land Vegetation and Watershed Modeling
San Carlos Apache Reservation covers 1.8 million acres in east-central Arizona, and has diverse ecosystems and vegetation types that support a natural resource-based economy.Aridland Water Harvesting Study
Most of western North America has been severely grazed by cattle, causing grasslands to deteriorate and desert scrub expansion. Climate in arid and semi-arid regions is often typified by short, intense rainfall events which contribute to short-term flooding and erosion. Associated arroyo cutting occurs when ephemeral creek beds are carved into the floodplain when erratic overland flow occurs; this... - Data
- Publications