Coowe has led the development of the watershed research program at KBNERR since the Reserve’s designation in 2001, and she became Reserve Manager in March 2018. Her projects focus on understanding ecosystem processes that support watershed productivity, and in particular, juvenile salmon habitats.

Ryan and his lab are working to understand how altering the availability of the essential building blocks of life–phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon–may cause detrimental and even irreversible damage to the ecosystems on which we rely for water, food, and recreation.

Mark Rains is a Professor of Geology and the Director of the School of Geosciences at the University of South Florida and the Associate Editor for Wetland and Watershed Hydrology for the Journal of the American Water Resources Association. Dr. Rains’ research is focused on hydrological connectivity and the role that hydrological connectivity plays in governing ecosystem structure and function.

Charles (“Si”) Simenstad – Research Professor Emeritus in the University of Washington–is an estuarine and coastal marine ecologist who has studied the organization and function of estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems, communities, seascapes, and restoration potential throughout Puget Sound, Washington, Oregon and California coasts, and Alaska for over forty years.

Dennis Whigham is a Senior Botanist and Founding Director of the North American Orchid Conservation Center. He is an Associate Editor for Estuaries and Coasts, AoB Plants, Plant Species Biology, and Restoration Ecology. Dr. Whigham’s research is focused on plant ecology, especially orchid-fungal interactions, and wetland ecology.