Natural Resource Educator
University of Wisconsin-Extension
About
Maranda is a Natural Resource Educator and works with the Between the Lakes Demonstration Farm Network and the Upper Fox and Wolf Demonstration Farm Networks. She conducts outreach around soil health and water quality to reduce non-point source pollution in the Great Lakes Basin.
Maranda earned her Master’s degree in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She explored the issue of cigarette butt littering on public beaches using conservation psychology and behavior change theory techniques. Her thesis provides a basis for understanding behaviors associated with the environmentally damaging act of cigarette butt littering and recommends holistic strategies to address these behaviors and reduce this issue.
She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Management from the University of Minnesota Crookston. Fieldwork has taken her all over the country. Some of her favorite fieldwork includes surveying and protecting piping plover nesting habitat and hatchling chicks in South Dakota, restoring native riparian habitat in California, studying native prairie plant diversity Minnesota, capturing alligators for GPS and radio transmitter attachments in Georgia, and assisting with sea turtle and other coastal animal husbandry and rehabilitation.
Maranda has a passion for helping people experience, understand, appreciate, and protect the natural world. She worked as a volunteer coordinator at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center and is a Certified Interpretive Guide focused on environmental education. She uses conservation photography to create impactful images that inspire conservation action.