Nutrient & Water Management Team

Meet the Soils Team!

Dr. Pease's research would not be possible without the amazing support of the Soils crew! This summer (2023) we have three full-time research technicians who lead a crew of excited and eager undergraduate and high school students. This summer includes a handful of new projects that keep everyone busy and on thier toes!

Dr. Lindsay Pease

Lindsay is an Assistant Professor & Extension Specialist in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota. She is stationed at the Northwest Research & Outreach Center in Crookston, MN where her work focuses on Agricultural Best Management Practices for Nutrient & Water Management in the cold climate of the Red River Valley of the North. Lindsay is an expert in agricultural water management with an emphasis on edge-of-field monitoring of phosphorus in subsurface-drained fields.

Lindsay's projects are numerous and explore a multitude of topics from wood-chip bioreactors and Johnson-Su bioreactors, to fertilizer sources and application methods. Each of these projects approaches nutrient and water management in a unique way. They reflect the challenges that northwestern Minnesota farmers face, and work to produce actionable results to further shape best management practices.

Outside of work, Lindsay enjoys spending time with her husband and their corgi, Herbert, watching wrestling, and creating paintings. Herbert even has a backpack that she can ride in while snowshoeing, hiking, or doing other activities that are made exponentially more difficult by having short legs :)

Researchers

Heidi Reitmeier

Soils Researcher 3

Born and raised in Crookston, MN, one of Heidi's career goals was to remain close to her home and family. She graduated from the University of Minnesota Crookston in 2018 with a B.S. in Horticulture and minor in Environmental Science. She began her Master's program and working in Dr. Pease's lab in 2019. She graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2021 with a Master's in Soil Science. Outside of work Heidi enjoys gardening, trying new foods, and spending time with her husband and daughter.

Cameron Fleisher

Soils Researcher 2

Cameron began working in Dr. Pease's lab in 2021. He works closely with Heidi in the lab and has become an expert on all things SEAL AQ400-related. He will graduate this fall from the University of Minnesota Crookston with a B.S. in Natural Resources Management. His plans after graduation are to stay in Crookston working at the NWROC. In his free time he enjoys playing with his dogs, hunting, and fishing.

Research Assistants

Rory Malone

Originally from northern Vermont, Rory came to Minnesota for a Master's graduate program under Dr. Pease in the Land and Atmospheric Sciences program. Their project focuses on Phosphorus nutrient management in a corn-soybean rotation. When they are not studying or working on their project, Rory enjoys backpacking, reading fiction books, and playing fetch with their cat, Wren. Something they've enjoyed in both Vermont and Minnesota is the winters and spending lots of time Nordic skiing.

Jaden Newquist

This is Jaden's second summer working in Dr. Pease's lab. She works on a variety of projects and moves between tasks effortlessly. She will graduate from high school in the spring of 2024. Her plans after high school are to attend Minnesota State University Moorhead and pursue Music Education. In her free time Jaden likes to stay active and take her dogs for runs, spend time with her family on the lake, and explore her artistic talents like drawing and painting.

Where do we go from here?

Past Students and Researchers

Peyton Loss

Researcher 2

Peyton began working in Dr. Pease's lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2020. A program in western Montana inspired her to pursue a career in agriculture. She graduated from the University of Minnesota Crookston in 2022 with a B.S. in Agricultural Business. She is currently attending the University of Wyoming working on a Master's of Agricultural Economics & Water Resources.

Ayla Morehouse

Researcher 2

Originally from Valley, NE, Ayla moved to the Red River Valley for college at the University of North Dakota. In 2019 she graduated with a B.S in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology, in 2022 she earned her Master's in Biology; her thesis is on landscape genetics. She began working at the NWROC in 2019 for Dr. Ian MacRae in the entomology lab before joining Dr. Lindsay Pease's lab in Summer 2023. Ayla now works for the Deschutes County Soil & Water Conservation District in Oregon.

Aaron Frankl & Kyle Sherbine

M.S. Land and Atmospheric Sciences 2022

Aaron and Kyle both earned their M.S. in LAAS from the UMN Twin Cities in Spring 2022. They were co-advised by Dr. Lindsay Pease and Dr. Anna Cates and will forever be the first students to earn their degrees based on data collected in "Minnesota's Coolest Drainage Plots."

Aaron still lives in the Twin Cities and works as an Environmental Scientist for Houston Engineering in their Water Quality group.

Kyle moved out to the west coast to work as a Biological Science Technician for the USDA-ARS Crops Pathology and Genetics Research Lab in Davis, California.

Linnea French

Linnea worked for two summers in Dr. Pease's lab. She is bold and inquisitive, and helps lead various projects on our team. During the school year she attends Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She plans to graduate with two B.S. degrees in Environmental Science and Chemistry, and two minors in English and Communications.

Grace Finnerty

As a student of Plant Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Grace has been mentored by Heidi through the University of Minnesota's CFANS Mentor Program. Grace came up to Crookston for three weeks in the beginning of the summer to job shadow and learn all about cold-climate agriculture. Diligent and eager to learn, Grace soaked up every new task like a sponge.

Rosie Garza

Rosie is a senior at the University of Missouri studying Environmental Science and Natural Resources. She worked one summer with us and she brought boundless positive energy to our team! Originally from southern Missouri, Crookston is a vastly different geographic experience for Rosie. During her summer in Crookston, she spent every weekend exploring a different part of Minnesota, North Dakota, or Canada.

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