Who We Are

Heartland Inventory and Monitoring

Sherry Leis

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.

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.

Hannah Holmquist

NPS

Hannah Holmquist
Ecologist
Wilson's Creek NB

Hannah joined the Heartland I&M Network's aquatics program as an ecologist in 2025. She primarily assists with the long-term monitoring of aquatic macroinvertebrates and fish communities in rivers, wadable streams, and springs within 11 national parks. She also analyzes data, writes reports, assists with field surveys and sample identifications, and maintains reference collections. Hannah graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in Animal Ecology and Wildlife in 2019. In 2022, she received her M.S. in Zoology from Southern Illinois University (SIU) where she studied how water level fluctuations influence fish assemblage structure habitat associations in a bottomland cypress swamp. During her graduate program she also rediscovered the Taillight Shiner, which was thought to be extirpated for nearly 30 years in Illinois. She has previous experience as a lab manager for two professors at SIU where she did her own independent research as well as managed 15 students and employees. She has a passion for fish community ecology and strives to make a difference with the data she collects.

Tani Hubbard

NPS

Tani Hubbard

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 four other NPS I&M networks. Tani has 35 years of experience in science writing, editing, publishing, ecological research, and teaching.

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.

Heartland Invasive Plant Management

Jordan Bell
Invasive Plant Management Team Program Leader and Acting Heartland Network Program Manager
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.