News Release
News Release Date: August 6, 2020
Contact: Tina Boehle, 208-387-5875
Abby Childs and Katie Hansen are two new GIS specialists for the National Park Service (NPS) Information Management and Technology Branch under the Division of Fire and Aviation Management (DFAM) in Boise, Idaho.
Abby came to the Division of Fire and Aviation from Yosemite National Park where she worked as a GIS Coordinator/Data Manager for the Vegetation and Ecological Restoration Branch of the Resources Management and Sciences Division. In this position, she transitioned field data collection programs from Trimble to Collector/Survey123 by creating workflows that simplified data collection for field crews and automated data processing and data QAQC. While at Yosemite National Park, Abby worked on the Ferguson Fire, Empire Fire, and Ferguson BAER Team as a GIS Specialist (T) and Resource Advisor.
Prior to working for the NPS, Abby participated in NASA’s DEVELOP program, using remote sensing and GIS to quantify environmental issues such as eutrophication and deforestation. Abby previously had a career in international development, focusing on agriculture and resource scarcity in conflict and post-conflict countries. She has worked in Sierra Leone where she assisted in recovery efforts after the 2015 Ebola outbreak; Egypt where she was living during the Arab Spring; Pakistan, and South Sudan.
Abby earned a Master of Professional Studies – GIS from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2018. She also has a Master of International Affairs with a focus on economic and political development from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Abby holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bates College where she studied political science. In her free time, Abby enjoys roasting coffee, baking sourdough bread, going on long hikes, and taking short walks with her dog. For her new position, Abby will continue to be based at Yosemite National Park while working for the national office.
After taking a hiatus from federal employment, Katie Hansen is thrilled to return to the NPS. Katie will serve in her new position after having worked under two interagency contracts as a NIFC ArcGIS Online Administrator over the past four years. She is excited to continue work on this important and innovative project.
Katie began her NPS career in 2001 at Devils Tower National Monument as a volunteer and then a seasonal in vegetation management, soon finding a home in fire ecology. After three seasons working as a fire effects monitor in the Northern Great Plains NPS units, she moved to Zion National Park in 2006 and grew from seasonal to permanent lead fire effects monitor and then became a fire ecologist. In 2012, she decided to take a break from Zion's heat and from fire management and entered the realm of resource management. She managed natural and physical science programs as a natural resource specialist at Bryce Canyon and vegetation ecologist at Lassen Volcanic National Park.
In 2016, she began working under an interagency contract to collect NPS wildland fire risk assessment data at several NPS units within the Pacific West Region and started on the NIFC ArcGIS Online project. Through the NIFC ArcGIS Online project, she provided support to new users in the field collecting wildland fire features and to GIS specialists (GISSs) and situation unit leaders (SITLs) using these features to provide for firefighter situational awareness.
Katie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth Science from Montana State University and a Master of Science degree in Forestry from Northern Arizona University and enjoys learning something new each day, whether it is identifying a new-to-her Sierra plant species or different mobile data collection technology. She and her husband David live in Kings Canyon National Park, where she works remotely in her home office while herding two large cats and hiking everyday with their dog Murphy.
Last updated: August 9, 2020