The Peru Gazette

WILMINGTON — The Ausable River Association (AsRA) announces the hire of Leanna Thalmann as their water quality associate. Working closely with AsRA’s scientific team and under the direction of Executive Director, Kelley Tucker, Thalmann will lead water quality monitoring, assessment, and stewardship of lakes and streams in the Ausable watershed and beyond.

A recent masters graduate of the University of Vermont, Thalmann studied water quality management with a focus on nutrient runoff from agricultural fields in the Ausable Watershed.  She received the Flanagan Scholarship at the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute where she worked for the past two years developing skills in water quality monitoring, soil assessment, project management and technical writing. In 2019, she placed first for her presentation at the tri-society (Soil, Crop, Agronomy) meeting in the Soil & Water Conservation and Management Section in San Antonio, Texas.

Before attending the University of Vermont, Thalmann worked as a subsistence fisheries intern for the U.S. Forest Service in Sitka, Alaska. She operated a remote fish weir and enumerated adult sockeye salmon escapement. She also collected limnological field data (temperature, dissolved oxygen, light penetration profiles) and collected water samples for nutrient analysis.

Thalmann double majored in Environmental Science and Geology from SUNY Plattsburgh. She received the outstanding graduating senior in Environmental Science award and an undergraduate research award. She was the president of the Botanical Society of America student chapter. Thalmann has interned with Brookhaven National Laboratory and Suffolk County Parks and is proud to have contributed to their missions in conservation.

“I am excited to continue working in the Adirondacks and in the Ausable watershed,” Thalmann said. “The watershed is a great laboratory for clean water projects where we can identify challenges and test solutions.”

Leanna’s work revolves around clean water: she will continue monitoring AsRA’s 30+ sites on the East Branch, West Branch, and Main Stem Ausable River, monitor Ausable watershed lakes, and maintain AsRA’s extensive temperature monitoring network. She’ll also collaborate with AsRA’s partners on the Mirror Lake salt use reduction initiative, work with municipalities to track salt usage, oversee AsRA’s weather station, provide stewardship of the lake, and outreach to residents, businesses, and visitors.

Since 1998, the Ausable River Association has helped communities protect the region’s streams and lakes, their water quality, and the many forms of life that depend on them. More information about AsRA’s stream restoration efforts may be found online at www.ausableriver.org.