Kari Veblen

S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources

Wildland Resources

Dr. Kari Veblen grew up in Colorado and attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. She then served as an agroforestry Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, West Africa and eventually went on to receive her PhD in ecology from the University of California-Davis and work as a post-doc with the US Geological Survey in Oregon. In 2011 she was hired as a rangeland ecologist in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University. Her research focuses on the ecology and management of shrublands and grasslands, including questions related to restoration, plant community dynamics, livestock grazing, and unraveling livestock vs. wildlife effects on their environment. Her research takes place predominantly on multi-use rangelands that are managed simultaneously for livestock production and wildlife conservation. She works closely with both public and private land managers, as well as interdisciplinary teams of scientists, to find ways to improve restoration and other management practices. She has worked in the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Mojave Desert, California grasslands and East African savannas. Her talented graduate students have been the engine behind her research, and have moved on to jobs in academic, state, federal and private sectors.