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SECN Highlights February 2017

Collage of fieldwork photos behind Southeast Coast Inventory and Monitoring Network
Jake wearing a shirt and tie standing with arms open.
Jacob McDonald wraps up his dissertation defense, completing the requirements for a PhD in Geography from the University of Georgia.

NPS photo / SECN staff

Newsworthy Stuff

Jake McDonald successfully defended his dissertation in December, earning a PhD in Geography. Jake will begin a two-year post-doctoral assignment with the network on February 1. Congratulations Dr. McDonald!

Lisa Baron organized a successful CPR and Wilderness First Aid training which was attended by SECN staff, along with Candice Wyatt from Fort Pulaski National Monument and Joseph Jarquin from Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area.

Lisa Baron presented a poster at the Timucuan Science Symposium in partnership with the GTMNERR. The poster, Salt Marsh Monitoring at Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve and Beyond Through Partnership, is available here.

Jason Gardner will be filling a detail/temporary promotion as a biotech for the SECN terrestrial program from February to May. He will be assisting with Briana Smrekar’s duties, as Briana has accepted a job with the USDA forest service in West Virginia. Briana’s last day was January 18.

Lisa Baron conducted an initial meeting with new Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff member, Konrad Losch, to discuss SECN work in the park and the shoreline monitoring project and methods.
Palm trees in the foreground, marsh in the background.
Guests of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve’s Science and History Symposium were treated to engaging and interesting speakers, beautiful weather, and a gorgeous view of the Fort George River at the Ribault Club near Kingsley Plantation on January 27, 2017. The Southeast Coast Network was represented by Brian Gregory, Wendy Wright, Eric Starkey, and Lisa Baron.

NPS photo / Wendy Wright

A laughing gull and ring-billed gull sitting on posts.
A laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla), left, and a ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis), right, watch over the Cumberland Island National Seashore’s visitor center in Saint Marys, Georgia.

NPS photos / Wendy Wright.

Outside of Cumberland Island National Seashore’s visitor center in Saint Marys, Georgia.
The Cumberland Island National Seashore’s visitor center in Saint Marys, Georgia.

NPS photo / Wendy Wright

Close up of Brian Gregory
Brian Gregory, SECN Program Manager

From the Program Manager

All of us at the Southeast Coast Network are ready to get to work as the holidays fade away and the new year gets started. We’re excited to be starting our river and stream monitoring work in our inland parks this year, in addition to our currently implemented monitoring efforts. You will be seeing some new faces in the parks, as Jake McDonald, our fluvial geomorphologist, and Eric Starkey, aquatic ecologist, ramp up the river and stream monitoring. Additionally, we will be detailing, and then hopefully hiring, a new wildlife biologist to replace Briana Smrekar, who has moved on to a new, exciting opportunity with the Forest Service in West Virginia. All of our primary monitoring protocols are now in review, so we can spend less time writing and editing, and more time in the parks and working on data. We made great progress in 2016, and look forward to building on that and making 2017 even better. Hope to see you in your park soon!

Left, a man wraps the leg of a woman sitting on the ground. Right, a man with his arm in sling laughs at the camera.
A Wilderness First Aid Training Session was recently held at the SECN office in Athens, Georgia. Left, Jake McDonald (SECN) bandages the leg of Fort Pulaski National Monument’s Candice Wyatt. Network aquatic ecologist Eric Starkey shows off his arm in a sling. The training will increase safety awareness in the field.

NPS photos / Wendy Wright

For More About the SECN: https://www.nps.gov/im/secn/index.htm

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Last updated: November 24, 2025