Jennifer Cornell
Email: cornjenn@isu.edu
Phone: 208-282-2139
Hometown:
Queensbury, New York
BA: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, New York
Jennifer is currently working towards a Masters degree in Stream Ecology with Dr. Colden Baxter at the Stream Ecology Center at Idaho State University. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Before starting her M.S. degree she worked in the Stream Ecology Center as a laboratory technician where she gained a strong interest in stream ecosystems and how they are impacted by human activity. Her study site is the City Creek Recreational Management Area located on the west side of the city of Pocatello, Idaho, which comprises the drainage basin of City Creek, a tributary of the Portneuf River. Jennifer’s project aims to quantify the impact of high levels of sediment currently observed in the stream and the high intensity of recreational land use occurring within the City Creek watershed. Based on this scientific assessment, Jennifer will be working closely with the City of Pocatello and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to create an adaptive management experiment and monitoring program to address the issue of sediment being exported from City Creek. She plans to apply her background in landscape architecture to redesign areas of the City Creek trail system that may be point sources for the sediment. More broadly, this project aims to demonstrate the importance of scientific understanding for creating more effective management plans while designing for the continued use of natural environments in the face of persistent population growth.