NALMS 2017 Election Results

The annual election for officers and directors is an important way for NALMS members to provide input in the management of the Society. Our officers and directors are all volunteers who serve without pay. Thank you to all the candidates for their dedication to NALMS and thank you to all NALMS members who participated in this year’s election!

President-elect – Sara Peel

Sara Peel, CLM is serving her first term as Board Member at Large tasked with coordinating NALMS communication efforts and implementing NALMS’ communication plan. Sara previously served two terms on the NALMS executive committee as the Secretary of NALMS. Sara has over 16 years of water quality and watershed management experience. She received her B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Alma College and her M.S. in Environmental Science from Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She is currently serving her second term as the Past-President for the Indiana Lakes Management Society, is a board member on the Indiana Water Monitoring Council, and on the Purdue University School of Agriculture Dean’s Advisory Council. While serving as the president of ILMS, Sara coordinated board efforts to diversify funding sources, coordinated a return to solid financial footing and focused on building partnerships with traditional lake association and lake management-focused members while expanding student and faculty-based and watershed management-focused membership categories. Sara is the lead scientist and co-owner of Arion Consultants – a regional environmental consulting firm with a focus on lake and watershed management. She is an experienced leader in water quality and watershed management and a dedicated and experienced board member.

Treasurer – Todd Tietjen

Dr. Tietjen joined the Southern Nevada Water Authority in 2008 to work as their limnologist examining water quality management in Lake Mead. Prior to this he was an Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University and a Postdoctoral Researcher with the USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. Todd received his Ph.D. in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Alabama, a M.S. in Aquatic Biology from Southwest Texas State University, and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Alfred University. Todd served on the NALMS Board of Directors until 2016 as the representative from Region 9. He has continued as a member of the Finance and Conference Planning Committees.

Region 4 Director – Erich Marzolf

Erich Marzolf is the Director of the Division of Water and Land Resources with St. Johns River Water Management District in northeast Florida. He manages data collection and restoration activities on lakes, rivers, wetlands, springs and estuaries and the 730,000 acres of land owned by the District. Erich has Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of California Davis where he studied subalpine lake ecology. Erich was a post-doctoral scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he studied stream metabolism and nutrient cycling. Erich served on the Board of the Florida Lake Management Society for eight years.

Region 7 Director – Michelle Balmer

Michelle Balmer is a limnologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) where she works to help administer the State’s Lake Restoration Program. The Lake Restoration Program was created in 2006 and works to improve water quality and recreational opportunities at publicly-owned lakes around Iowa and currently has about 20 active restoration projects. Michelle started at the DNR in 2012 and coordinated the state’s lake monitoring program before joining the Lake Restoration team in 2015. Michelle has an undergraduate degree in Biology and Anthropology as well as a Master of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, both from Iowa State University.

Region 8 Director – Steve Lundt

Steve Lundt’s love for the outdoors and applied science led him to a B.S. degree from Pacific University (Forest Grove, Oregon) and a M.S. degree in Environmental Science from Indiana University. After acquiring the two-year degree in 1999 and becoming a member of NALMS, Steve traveled back to Oregon and worked on Oswego Lake for three years. While working for the Lake Oswego Corporation, Steve became a Certified Lake Manager and learned how to work for a board of directors. Then in 2002, Steve moved to Denver, Colorado to be a Water Quality Scientist for Metro Wastewater Reclamation District. For the past 15 years, Steve has been a member of CLRMA, chaired the NALMS Lakes Appreciation Month Committee, and has looked after Barr Lake.

Region 11 Director – Kris Hadley

Dr. Kristopher Hadley is currently an Aquatic Scientist with Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd., having joined the company as a NSERC Industrial Research and Development Fellow in October of 2013 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. Kris is a knowledgeable scientist whose research and consulting experience since 2001 has been focused on the Canadian Arctic, Alberta and Ontario. Kris has a B.Sc. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Alberta and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Biology from Queen’s University.

Student At-large Director – Sarah Burnet

Sarah Burnet is pursuing her PhD at the University of Idaho, where she completed a MS in the spring of 2016. She received a BS from Western Washington University. Her PhD research is focused on internal loading of phosphorus to reservoirs. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the relationships between sediment type, particle size, the availability of iron, and dissolved oxygen in the release of P. This builds on her MS research which focused on measuring the seasonal internal phosphorus load as part of a mass balance for Willow Creek Reservoir in OR. Sarah’s previous work experience includes sampling and analysis on all five Great Lakes with Cornell University as well as collecting data and samples after the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil spill. Sarah has been a member of NALMS since 2014.

At-Large Director – John Holz

John Holz has been appointed to fill the At-Large Director position currently held by Sara Peel. This appointment will be effective at the Annual Membership Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

Dr. Holz has over 25 years of experience in limnology/water quality management and research. While earning his Ph.D., and then as a professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Holz’s research advanced our understanding of unique water resource issues and developed improved management tools for lakes, streams and watersheds, including assessing the response of water bodies to pollutants and the effectiveness of restoration techniques. Specific areas of expertise include lake restoration and management, watershed management, biological indicators of water quality, phytoplankton ecology, lake sediment chemistry, nutrient inactivation (alum), nutrient criteria development, water quality monitoring, water quality modeling and internal phosphorus loading. Dr. Holz was recognized for these advancements by NALMS when he received their Technical Excellence Award in recognition for Outstanding Research in Lake Restoration, Protection and Management as a faculty member and their Best Student Poster Award as a graduate student. He is a long-time NALMS member, previously served as the Region 7 representative on the NALMS Board of Directors and is an annual co-instructor of the NALMS Phosphorus Inactivation and Interception Workshop.