Heartland Inventory and Monitoring
NPS
Wetland Biologist
Cuyahoga Valley NP, 330-342-0764 ext.7
Sonia Bingham is a duty stationed employee at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where she manages the Wetland Monitoring Program and Invasive Plant Monitoring at CUVA. Prior to joining the network in 2007, Sonia was an environmental consultant, where she gained extensive professional field experience assessing and monitoring wetlands and streams in Northern Ohio and other locations throughout the Midwestern U.S. In this work, she conducted wetland delineations, developed restoration plans, and surveyed plant, fish, macroinvertebrate, and freshwater mussel communities. Sonia received a B.A. in Biology from Hiram College, Ohio and an M.S. in Environmental Science from The Ohio State University. Her research focused on root habitat for aquatic macroinvertebrates created by common forest trees at the stream bank.
Cameron Cheri
Aquatics Ecologist
Missouri State University
Cameron joined the Heartland I&M Network's aquatics program as an ecologist in 2024. He primarily assists with data analysis, report writing, field surveys, sample identifications, and maintaining reference collections for the network's fish, aquatic invertebrate, and aquatic plant monitoring projects. Cameron graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville with a B.S. in Biology in 2015 where he described a new species of freshwater mite endemic to the Ouachita Mountains, Torrenticola larvata. In 2017, he started an SCA internship at Buffalo National River assisting park ecologists with various monitoring and outreach programs. The following year, Cameron started graduate school at Missouri State University where he studied the effects of riparian vegetation structure on dragonfly and damselfly communities inhabiting Ozark spring streams. He received his M.S. in Biology in 2020 before joining the Heartland I&M Network as a research specialist. Cameron is a naturalist with a keen interest in how aquatic invertebrate and plant communities are responding to environmental changes.
Jennifer Haack-Gaynor
GIS Specialist
Wilson's Creek NB, 417-732-2662
Jennifer has received a BS degree in Wildlife Conservation and Management and a MS degree in Geospatial Sciences from Missouri State University. Besides working for the NPS, she has also been employed by the NRCS NRI from 2000 to 2002 performing image interpretation for land change analysis. Work responsibilities focus on using remote sensing for land use/land cover analysis and GIS/GPS support for various inventory and monitoring projects.
NPS
Research Associate
Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, 520-404-9991
Tani is a Research Associate with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and the Heartland I&M Network. She works with network scientists on a avariety of science, writing, and webmaster tasks. Tani has an M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona. She also works with other NPS I&M networks and on the NPS Natural Resource Publication Series. Tani has more than 25 years of experience in science writing, editing, publishing, ecological research, and teaching.
NPS
Sherry Leis
Plant Ecologist
Wilson's Creek NB, 417-732-2662
Sherry is the Plant Ecologist for the Heartland I&M Network and Prairie Cluster Prototype Monitoring Program at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. In this position, Sherry provides expertise in understanding plant communities in light of management history. Her interests lie in the investigation of disturbances such as fire, grazing, and off road vehicle use on grassland communities of the Great Plains and Midwest. Sherry’s expertise is in grassland ecology and the role of disturbances. Sherry earned Bachelor Degrees in Anthropology and Environmental Biology from Beloit College, WI and a MS in Rangeland Ecology and Management from Oklahoma State University.
NPS
Doug Marcum
Biological Science Technician
Cuyahoga Valley NP, 330-342-0764 ext. 3Doug has been working as a seasonal biotech under Sonia Bingham since 2011. While initially hired to assist with the wetlands monitoring program, he has been fortunate enough to contribute in other ways as well. Doug leads a breeding bird study at Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CUVA), while occasionally assisting with other wildlife studies. His BS in Conservation Biology and MS in Ecology both come from Kent State University. Doug’s master’s research (at CUVA) examined the effects of habitat and succession on mammal communities at two spatial scales.
NPS
Gareth Rowell
Data Manager
Wilson's Creek NB, 417-732-2662
Gareth joined the Heartland I&M Network in 2003 as biologist / data manager. He develops databases and provides database support for the monitoring projects at the Heartland Network. From 1982 through 1993, he conducted graduate and postdoctoral research on insect (mostly honey bee) mating systems and migration models at the University of Kansas, Brock University, Ontario, Canada and Texas A&M University. From 1993 to 2002, Gareth served as GIS data manager for the Endangered Resources Program at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. From 1995 to 2002, he also served as Texas Section 6 Federal Aid Coordinator in partnership with USFWS Ecological Services.
Eva Sload
Research Specialist
Missouri State University
Eva is a research specialist for Missouri State University’s Biology department in partnership with the NPS Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network. As a botanist for the Heartland Network her duties include vegetation data collection on various projects, as well as data processing and data entry. After graduating from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2019, Eva worked as a horticultural intern at the Houston Botanic Gardens. She then worked for American Conservation Experience and the US Forest Service for about two years before joining the Heartland Network in 2024.
Alexis VandenBerg
Research Specialist
Missouri State University
Alexis is a research specialist for Missouri State University's Biology department and is partnered with the National Park Service's Heartland I&M Network aquatics program. Her duties with the network include assisting with field data collection, laboratory sample processing, and data entry for fish and macroinvertebrate community data as well as water quality data collected from Heartland Network parks. She received a B.S. in Environmental Biology and a M.S. in Biology with an emphasis of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from Eastern Illinois University. She joined the Heartland Network in 2023 and has an interest in fish taxonomy and stream communities.
Heartland Invasive Plant Management
Jordan Bell
Invasive Plant Management Team Program Leader
Wilson's Creek NB, 417-732-2662
Jordan serves as the Invasive Plant Management Team Program Leader. He is responsible for planning and project management for invasive plant control projects in 15 parks. Jordan began his work with the Heartland I&M Network as a Student Conservation Association intern following graduation from College of the Ozarks with a B.S. in Biology. Jordan has also completed a graduate certificate in restoration ecology through the University of Idaho.
Last updated: April 24, 2025