Vicki Watson ( edit )

PhD 1981, MS 1976, Botany (Ecology), University of Wisconsin at Madison

BS 1974, Biology, University of Houston
PhD, 2005, Square Dancing, Lolo Square Dance Center
 

Born on a small family farm in the vanishing Texas blackland prairie, I grew up watching my parents struggle to protect the small creek that ran through the back of our farm from the growing town & industry upstream. That's a battle we still fight to this day, 50 years later. I completed a BS in biology (U. Houston) and a PhD in aquatic ecology (U. Wisconsin). After a brief time as the staff scientist for Citizens for a Better Environment, I was hired as an environmental scientist by the University of Montana in 1983 and have served on that faculty ever since. My research, teaching and service focus on the conservation, preservation and restoration of watersheds.  My grants have included studies of cyanide and heavy metals leaching from abandoned cyanide leach mines and the fate and effects of herbicides applied for roadside weed control. I worked with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to develop a statewide water quality monitoring system and have collaborated with DEQ in characterizing Montana’s streams & lakes for the past 6 years. I was also part of a team that helped EPA develop nutrient criteria guidance documents for the US.   
With my students, I started the UM Watershed Health Clinic which matches UM students with community groups who need technical help in conserving their watersheds. My students & I have conducted many watershed studies, helped write watershed plans & grant proposals, & provided education/training/field trips to community groups and schools. I served as the first chair to UM's Sustainable Campus Committee, created & maintain the Greening UM web site, serve as chair of the UM Recycling Committee,  and organize many annual service events (like Earth Day, Public Land Day, etc.) for the campus & community.

At UM, I teach 5-6 courses a year & have developed over 20 different courses in biology, ecology, environmental science, impact assessment, watershed conservation, and research methods. All my classes emphasize research and service learning and have contributed over 20,000 hours of service to the local community. I have directed over 55 MS theses, served on over 70 other graduate committees, advised hundreds of undergraduates, and directed at least 100 internships. I provide a weekly newsletter for our undergraduate majors, maintain a jobs listserv for our students & alums, an online Community Conservation Calendar, and  help provide numerous opportunities to k-12 students, including the Science Fair, Montana Junior Academy of Sciences, Watershed Education Network, and more.

Current undergraduate courses include:
Environmental Science, Environmental Information Resources, Applied Ecology, Applied Ecology Field & Lab Studies, Restoration Ecology
Current graduate courses include:
Watershed Conservation Ecology, Pollution Ecology, Environmental Impact Assessment

My research, teaching and service focus on the conservation and restoration of watersheds. I’ve researched herbicides, heavy metals, nutrients, nuisance algae, and other water quality issues for EPA, US Geological Survey, Forest Service, NRCS, the state of Montana & local government agencies. I helped the Montana Department of Environmental Quality develop a statewide water quality monitoring system and water quality criteria through studies of streams and lakes throughout Montana. Our work on wadeable streams in the Northern Plains and Western Mountains appears in a recent EPA report. As part of a team of scientists, I helped EPA develop nutrient criteria guidance documents for the US.
Much of my work focuses on western Montana's Clark Fork River Basin which contains wilderness, working lands, and the largest Superfund complex in the country. I helped the state of Montana design and interpret a basin-wide water quality study of this basin, and I continue to assist the Tristate Water Quality Council with monitoring and management of this basin. With a colleague, I developed a watershed information delivery system and have organized and edited a series of Clark Fork Symposia where citizens and scientists discuss the science and conservation of the basin. While serving as PI or Co-PI on well over $1 million in grants over the past 20 years, I also provided countless hours of pro bono assistance to community groups.

1985 to present -- Science advisor, Clark Fork Coalition, (pro bono)

1983 to present - Professor, Environmental Studies,University of Montana
1981 to 1983 - Staff scientist for Citizens for a Better Environment, WI
1976 to 1983 -- Lake Ecology Researcher, University of Wisconsin.

Ecological Society of America
American Water Resources Association
Association of State Floodplain Managers
Montana Academy of Science
Clark Fork Coalition, Science Advisor (pro bono)

Folk singing, dancing, guitar
Grubshed cooking (ie cooking local food)
Cat psychology

Watershed Conservation Ecology, Aquatic Ecology, Pollution Ecology

In October 2004, I traveled to Cuba with a group of water resource professionals from business & nonprofits. The group attended a professional conference on watersheds in Habana (I gave a paper at the conference) & met with watershed researchers & managers in western Cuba interested in collaboration. We toured the Almendares River Restoration project in Habana and interviewed the director of the project as well as several engineers working on improving sewage treatment facilities in Habana. We also toured the upper river’s protected watershed which supplies drinking water to Habana. Watershed professionals in Cuba were generous with their time.
 
A few more highlights of our trip: 
learning about conservation of coral reefs on Cuba’s north coast from an activist marine biologist ( see http://www.medioambiente.cu/scamaguey/home/default.asp ); discussing Cuba’s dam building program with the president of the National Union of Architects & Engineers (who directs that program); touring some internationally financed tourist developments on rivers & the north coast with a long time Cuban environmental activist for wetland conservation; touring the Sierra del Rosario International Biosphere Reserve & some of the sustainable communities inside that reserve; attending the World Water Celebration sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Hydraulicos (where we gave water testing kits to school children). We also interviewed taxi drivers, artists, nursing students, tobacco field workers, farmers, and others citizens we met, asking about Cuba’s water problems and how they were being addressed.
 
We learned that Cuba now supplies potable water to almost all its population, but still only provides sewage treatment to about 20%. Finding the resources for such projects is a struggle. Most sanitation & watershed projects are funded by international aid. Habitat concerns are not really on the radar screen of most Cubans as yet. We were told that ecology is not an occupation in Cuba, so we mainly met with engineers. All the Cuban scientists & engineers we talked with expressed interest in collaboration (especially with ecologists) and asked us to write our congressional delegation and urge them to work for policies that would allow more collaboration. The Bush administration has greatly reduced opportunities for such scientific collaboration.
 
All the Cubans we met were very friendly towards us and expressed a strong wish for normalizing relations between the US and Cuba. They also felt that their government was doing a reasonably good job of meeting human needs, and were willing to criticize specific programs that they felt could be improved. No police followed us around to monitor our interactions with Cubans. It was very interesting to compare our life experiences with people in a society where the basic needs of life are free or very affordable, and there is a fairly narrow range of incomes. The Cubans said ‘we are poor, but we are all poor together.’ But we did note that two Cuban economies are developing – one based on those who interact with tourists & so have access to much more US dollars and another based on those who do not have tourist based jobs.
 
 

At UM, I teach 5-6 courses a year & have developed over 20 different courses in biology, ecology, environmental science, impact assessment, watershed conservation, and research methods. All my classes emphasize research and service learning and have contributed over 20,000 hours of service to the local community. I have directed over 55 MS theses, served on over 70 other graduate committees, advised hundreds of undergraduates, and directed at least 100 internships. I provide a weekly newsletter for our undergraduate majors, maintain a jobs listserv for our students & alums, an online Community Conservation Calendar, and  help provide numerous opportunities to k-12 students, including the Science Fair, Montana Junior Academy of Sciences, Watershed Education Network, and more.
Current undergraduate courses include:
Environmental Science, Environmental Information Resources, Applied Ecology, Applied Ecology Field & Lab Studies, Restoration Ecology
Current graduate courses include:
Watershed Conservation Ecology, Pollution Ecology, Environmental Impact Assessment