Harvesting threesquare bulrush at Blue Lake (Salt Springs Waterfowl Management Area)
In our lab at USU, working with seeds/seedlings in our growth chambers.
In the mountains near Logan.

Dr. Karin Kettenring, Professor

 Karin is head of the Wetland Ecology and Restoration Lab in the Department of Watershed Sciences at Utah State University.

She has a B.A. in biology from Oberlin College. She received her Ph.D. in applied plant sciences from the University of Minnesota where she worked with Dr. Susan Galatowitsch. Her Ph.D. research focused on restoration of sedges in prairie pothole wetlands. She was also a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Dennis Whigham at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland where she studied the invasion of Phragmites australis in Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands. She has been a faculty member at Utah State since 2008. 

​Her current research efforts focus on (1) the ecology, genetics, and management of wetland invaders, (2) seed ecology of native wetlands plants, with implications for wetland revegetation, and (3) restoration genetics for sustainable, functioning wetland restorations.

For more information see her Google Scholar page, ResearchGate page, or follow her on Twitter @KarinKettenring.  Her email is karin.kettenring [at] gmail.com

Sam Kurkowski, Lab Manager

Montana Horchler, M.S. student

Ashlyn Monroe, Research Technician
Sam has been the Lab Manager since May of 2023, when she completed her MS in Ecology at Michigan Technological University studying vernal pools in Great Lakes National Parks. As lab manager, she helps the lab run smoothly and facilitates many different projects. Sam is passionate about wetland ecology and restoration and particularly enjoys the researcher-manager collaboration that WERL cultivates. In addition to her typical duties, she has a project surveying fens in the Uinta Mountains which began in summer of 2024. In her free time she enjoys trail running, canoeing, and sewing.
 Montana joined the WERL as a Masters student in fall 2023. Her research focuses on incorporating drought-tolerant wetland plant species and altering restoration seeding timings to improve restoration efforts at Great Salt Lake wetlands. In her time outside of work she enjoys backpacking, seed saving, and desert springs.
Ashlyn joined our lab in late summer 2023 to assist on our field projects. Ashlyn is excited to be working in a research lab for the first time and is passionate about wetlands. In her free time she enjoys camping, hiking, and birding.

Loren Taylor, M.S. student

Hailey Machnikowski, M.S. student

Mac Cutler​, Research Technician
Loren is a certified wildlife biologist and restoration ecologist with a deep passion for human-wildlife coexistence and wetland conservation. Originally from Kentucky, she earned her B.S. in Wildlife Management from Eastern Kentucky University before dedicating a decade to researching migratory birds across the Eastern United States. As an Avian Biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, she played a key role in monitoring and conserving bird populations and restoring critical habitat.

​In 2020, Loren relocated to southeast Idaho, where she spent two years working on wildlife policy in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In 2023, she joined the Beaver Institute, focusing on human-beaver conflict resolution and policy development across North America. That same year, she became a MS student researcher in the Wetland Ecology and Restoration Lab (WERL), where she integrates human dimensions into restoration ecology and implementation. Her research interests include bridging science and policy, aiming to create sustainable and practical solutions for both wildlife, wetlands, and communities.
Hailey joined the WERL as a master's student in fall 2023. Before joining the lab, Hailey worked as a restoration technician in Illinois prairies before moving to Jackson, WY for a seasonal job doing noxious weed control. Her research focuses on comparing the ecological outcomes and logistical investments of precision vs. risk-mitigation revegetation approaches.
Mac is a junior at USU and joined the lab in Spring 2025. She is studying Management and Restoration of Aquatic Ecosystems with minors in Mathematics and Marine Science. In the past, she has worked as a technician in the Fire Ecology and the Quantitative Fish and Aquatic Ecology labs at USU, where she became interested in native vegetation, climate change, hydrology, and fish habitat. She also worked as an intern for USU's Climate Adaptation Program to create a fact sheet about climate change impacts to wetlands in Utah. She is very interested in wetland science and excited to learn more about wetland ecology and restoration as part of the lab. In her free time, Mac likes to hike, read, and garden.
Sandy Johnston, Research Scientist
Sandy has worked in our lab for a number of years including as an undergraduate researcher in spring 2023. In spring 2024, she completed her Masters of Ecological Restoration and transitioned from a lab technician to a Research Scientist position in our lab, focusing on aquatic plant restoration. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, hiking, drawing, and playing musical instruments.

Emily Santos, ​Ph.D. student

Mckenzie Petrie, Research Technician​
Emily joined the lab in fall 2024 and is co-advised by Dr. Karen Beard in WILD and Dr. Kettenring. Her project in the WERL focuses on seed bank resilience to hydrologic extremes, and her interests expand to many topics within functional trait ecology. Her work will inform future Utah Lake wetland restoration efforts. Emily graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt in 2020 with a MS in Environmental Systems (Geology Focus) where she studied forest hydrology in coastal Ecuador. Emily received her BS in Geology and Geologic Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island (2016) where she also completed a Graduate Certificate in Hydrology (2017). She enjoys communicating science through art and exploring Utah’s beautiful National Parks.
McKenzie is a senior at USU and joined our lab in Spring of 2025. She is majoring in forest ecology and previously worked as a research assistant at the Parley’s Canyon wildlife overpass. She has also spent 3 summers at Bryce Canyon National Park as a Preventative Search and Rescue Ranger as well as a month on a small island off the coast of Australia studying the Great Barrier Reef. In her free time, she loves to backpack, hike, kayak, and read.

Graduates

Undergraduate alumni

  • Sandy Johnston.
  • Sage Chatterton.
  • Bailey Holdaway evaluated different different native seed mix densities and timings (priority effects) for invasion resistance to phragmites.  
  • Audree Provard focused on  alkali bulrush functional trait variation.
  • Rachel Chamberlain focused on threesquare bulrush functional trait variation.
  • Anders Hart researched the effectiveness of seed coatings for enhancing seed germination and seedling performance of bulrush in Great Salt Lake wetland restorations.
  • Gabriela Judd focused on variation in alkali bulrush seed and seedling traits.
  • Casey Trout focused on the effects of cold, moist stratification on alkali bulrush dormancy loss.
  • Bret Mossman evaluated the germination potential of bulrush seeds extracted from waterfowl gizzards.  He graduated in spring 2017 and is now a graduate student at University of Hawaii.​
  • Konnon Smith conducted an undergraduate research project on the carbohydrate dynamics in rhizomes of Phragmites australis in Great Salt Lake wetlands.
  • Delena Williams evaluated techniqes for germinating bulrushes for revegetation in Great Salt Lake wetlands.  She graduated in spring 2017.
  • Evan Pool developed allometric techniques for monitoring invasive Phragmites australis in Great Salt Lake wetlands.
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