Associate Professor
Contact Info
Institution: Utah State University, Senior Partner
Phone: (435) 797-3970
Address: 5230 Old Main Hill, Logan, Utah 84321, US
Website: http://www.veblenlab.com/
Research Disciplines
Natural Resource Management
Restoration Ecology
Plant Communities
Plant Ecology
Rangeland Ecology
Grazing Management
Livestock and Wildlife interactions
Research Interests
- native plant restoration
- restoration islands
- precision restoration
- sagebrush rangelands
- salt desert
- long-term exclosures
- monitoring
- grazing systems
- post-fire grazing
- brush management
- Criollo cattle
- using herbivores as restoration tools
Projects
- Native grass and forb restoration in salt desert in southern ID, with >60% 2-yr survival of squirreltail and >25% survival of Basin wildrye when planted as seedlings in a high precipitation year
- Perennial grass response to post-fire grazing management in sagebrush sites across the Intermountain West
- Assessment of factors governing success of restoration seedings that were part of the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative
- Pre-emptive restoration of native grasses and forbs from seed vs. seedling in at-risk stands of sagebrush (i.e., before fire)
Biography
I am a long-time resident of the western US, having grown up and attended college in Colorado. I received my PhD in ecology from University of California-Davis where I worked on plant-herbivore interactions in Kenya and grassland restoration in California. I was then a post-doc with the USGS in Corvallis, OR where I primarily investigated monitoring of livestock grazing effects on BLM lands. I joined the faculty at Utah State University in 2011, and a main goal of my research is to find ways to improve management and restoration practices on rangelands that are simultaneously managed for wildlife conservation and livestock production.
Education
- Ph.D., Ecology, University of California at Davis, 2008. Dissertation: Livestock and wildlife effects on the successional development of a savanna landscape mosaic in East Africa. Advisor: Dr. Truman Young
- B.A., Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1998. Summa cum Laude. Thesis: Native plant restoration in stands of Eragrostis chloromelas in southeastern Arizona. Advisor: Dr. Jane Bock