The Current, Spring/Summer 2025

Wildlife biologist Jessica Joganic

J. Joganic

Wildlife Biologist Position Added to Great Lakes Network

The network has talked for years about creating a wildlife biologist position that could take on at least two monitoring programs being overseen by others and always as a collateral duty: amphibians and bats. Landbirds was also considered in that set, but finding someone with skills in all those areas was a long shot. Even though our amphibian and bat monitoring rely on acoustic recordings, making technological proficiency the more important skill set, there is still a need for understanding the ecology of the wildlife species. There were also questions of cost and whether or not we could or should add a new position to our organizational chart. But when a new job took our long-time assistant data manager to the Fish and Wildlife Service, it was decided to change that box in our organization chart from assistant data manager to wildlife biologist.

In December, Jessica Joganic became the network’s first wildlife biologist. Originally from Phoenix, Jess holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Arizona State University and a PhD in biological anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Bordeaux in Paris, completing various projects on cranial growth and variation in humans and other primates. After deciding to switch fields, Jess earned an Master’s degree in wildlife biology and conservation from Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland, where she studied the impact of stream restoration efforts on floodplain invertebrate communities.

Jess has broad research interests across both terrestrial and aquatic systems, but particularly loves landscape ecology questions and studying birds. She has studied vervets in South Africa, baboons in Zambia, frog camouflage in Costa Rica, birds and forestry on the Olympic Peninsula, and fish with the U.S. Geological Survey at Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio. In other fields of study, she assisted with a study of Eocene mammals in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin and research on the Buddhist diaspora in India and Tibet.

Jess started her career in the NPS as a Scientists-in-Parks (SIP) intern working with native freshwater mussels in the Midwest Region, then moved into a seasonal ecologist position at Buffalo National River in Arkansas planning for early detection of aquatic invasive species.

Moving to Ashland from Missouri in the midst of a more traditional Great Lakes winter, there was some requisite acclimation to the challenges of snow and ice. She handled it all very well and is now settled in and charging ahead. Welcome, Jess!

2025 Field Season Schedule

This schedule was prepared before changes in the federal workforce and specifically among our parks changed some priorities.

Park	Amphibians	Contaminants-Dragonflies	Landbirds	Vegetation	Water Quality
Apostle Islands	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	n/a	n/a
Grand Portage	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	June-Aug	n/a
Indiana Dunes	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	n/a	May, Jul, Sept
Isle Royale	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	n/a	May-Sept (2)
Mississippi River	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	n/a	n/a
Pictured Rocks	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	n/a	June-Sept
St. Croix Riverway	n/a (1)	June-Oct	June	n/a	Apr-Nov (3)
Sleeping Bear Dunes	Mar-Aug	June-Oct	June	n/a	June-Sept
Voyageurs	n/a (1)	June-Oct	June	n/a	June-Sept (4)

Amphibians — Network, park, or tribal staff will visit each site between 1 August and late September to collect SD cards, service the song meters as needed, and prepare them for the following spring.
Contaminants-Dragonflies — Samples will be collected by a contractor at APIS, GRPO, ISRO, and SACN, and by park staff and volunteers at the other parks.
Landbirds — Surveys are conducted by park staff, volunteers, and contractors.
Vegetation — Conducted with a team of two cooperators led by Jessica Kirschbaum.
Water Quality — Conducted by Alex Egan (ISRO), Tony Vitale (PIRO), Rick Damstra (SACN), Chris Otto (SLBE), and James Smith (VOYA).

(1) Monitoring is conducted using a U.S. Geological Survey protocol.
(2) Includes assisting with nearshore water quality monitoring on Lake Superior.
(3) Monthly sampling generally first full week of each month April–November with additional invertebrate sampling July–August.
(4) Includes sampling for mercury in water from a subset of lakes.

NPS photo

Working Together

In May, the network and the Grand Portage Band Trust Lands Agency (Trust Lands) reached an agreement to collaborate on amphibian monitoring at Grand Portage National Monument, which resides entirely within the exterior boundaries of the Grand Portage Reservation. Trust Lands staff will maintain the songmeters at long-term monitoring locations along the old portage trail and send data collected at those sites to GLKN for processing and publication. GLKN will provide troubleshooting assistance and annual resupplies. GLKN will also share results and work with Trust Lands staff to interpret findings.

This is the network’s first cooperative monitoring agreement with a tribal entity.

"Real World Math" shares the every-day math found in 20 different careers, from bakery manager to state trooper and alpaca farmer to bird biologist. Published by Prufrock Press.

Cover photo © Prufrock Press

Five Minutes of Fame

A glimpse into the world of bird biology through the work of network biologist, Ted Gostomski, is part of a new book for elementary and middle schoolers called Real World Math (Prufrock Press, 2025). Written by a former teacher and local author, Marya Washington Tyler, the book “bring[s] math to life with 200 real-world problems encountered in 20 fascinating careers.”

Real World Math shows how people use math every day. Ted’s profile includes a brief summary of how we conduct songbird surveys then poses eight questions for students to solve including “what time do I want to arrive [at the first bird survey point if I have to be there half-hour before sunrise, the sun rises at this time, and it takes this much time to get ready and travel to the site]?” Then, after looking over a table of data from surveys at one park, students are asked to calculate the ratio of frugivore (fruit-eating) bird species to omnivore species.

“It’s the kind of book I wish I had when I was younger,” says Ted. “I have struggled with math my entire life. My parents sent me to summer school when I was in second or third grade to help me improve my math skills, and they were kind of stunned when I changed my college major to biology because science requires math. My mom will be so proud of this.”

New Reports, Publications, and Data Packages

All of these reports and data packages can be found on the Great Lakes Network website: www.nps.gov/im/glkn/reports-publications.htm or by using the DOI (digital object identifier). Great Lakes Network staff are indicated in bold blue text.

Burner, R.C., A.A. Kirschbaum, T. Gostomski, and D.G. Peitz. 2025. US national park units as breeding bird habitat: A comparison of species prevalence and land cover across the midwestern and central United States. Science Report NPS/SR—2025/317. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/231260.

Damstra, R.A., and C.M. Hester. 2025. Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway invertebrate data package by the Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.57830/2313034.

Damstra, R., and D. VanderMeulen. 2025. Great Lakes Network 2006–2024 large rivers water quality monitoring data as of 2025-03-15. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.57830/2309369.

Egan, A., and D. VanderMeulen. 2025. Great Lakes Network 2006–2024 inland lakes water quality monitoring data as of 2025-03-21. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.57830/2309514.

Gostomski, T., and C.M. Hester. 2025. Great Lakes landbird monitoring data package by the Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.57830/2312784.

Sanders, S., and J. Kirschbaum. 2024. Forest vegetation monitoring protocol (version 2.1): Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network. Science Report NPS/SR—2024/166. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2305281.

Stottlemyer, R., S.J. Tassone, and C.M. Hester. 2025. Long-term water quality conditions in sentinel streams at Isle Royale National Park and Grand Portage National Monument. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.57830/2311531.

Network Program Manager
Brenda Larancois

Editor and Web Manager
Ted Gostomski

Thanks to the following contributors
Cyrus Hester
Jessica Joganic
Brenda Lafrancois