NAAMLP Scholarship

2022 Scholarship Winners

Graduate Recipient - Matt Deyoe, Montana State University
Matt Deyoe received his B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado-Boulder. During his time at CU Boulder, he volunteered on multiple restoration projects in New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana and continues these efforts today. He has seen the devastation that mine drainage can cause to a river such as the Animas River near Durango, Colorado where he learned how to fly fish.

Matt is very passionate about river restoration and is developing a new river biological assessment and monitoring tool using carbon and nitrogen isotopes of aquatic invertebrates while earning a master’s degree at Montana State University. He is testing this new tool on a mine reclamation superfund site at the headwaters of the Blackfoot River near Lincoln, Montana. He also enjoys being a teaching assistant for Dr. Tony Hartshorn as well as being advised by Dr. William Kleindl. Matt is very honored and thankful to be the graduate recipient of the 2022 NAAMLP Scholarship and looks forward to giving back to his community.

Madeline Roanhorse Memorial Scholarship Recipient (Western) - Calli Veautour, Montana State University
Calli is a rising senior at Montana State University majoring in Environmental Science, with a concentration in Soil and Water Sciences. She’s passionate about both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem restoration, with a focus in correcting/mitigating the impacts of mining on our natural resources. She has worked as an undergraduate research assistant to multiple graduate students over the course of her three years at MSU. This work cultivated and expanded her passion for science, no matter the field. She’s an avid skier, snowboarder, and angler fostered by a love for the outdoors. During her summers she works for a fly fishing outfit in Northeastern Utah, studying the impacts of recreation and angling on one of the country’s most popular rivers--the Green. Through her work, she hopes to instill an appreciation for the importance of preservation, conservation, and restoration of impacted lands.

Eastern Recipient - Matt Berzonsky, Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA
Matt Berzonsky is a rising senior at Saint Francis University in Loretto, PA. He is majoring in environmental engineering with a minor in biology. As an undergraduate student he has worked as an assistant researcher for the Center for Watershed Research and Service at Saint Francis University, where he investigated the potential of mine drainage residuals as a fertilizer amendment. Matt has also worked as an REU student at the Pennsylvania State University where he studied agricultural carbon fluxes and as an intern at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he assisted in the development of algal bioreactors for bioplastic production. Currently, Matt is working as an assistant researcher at the Pennsylvania State University and is studying the impact climate change on water quality. His future research interests include biogeochemistry, ecosystem scale modeling and environmental remediation. He also serves as the President of the fly fishing club at Saint Francis University, which focuses on the conservation of cold-water fisheries and the development of fly fishing skills.

Mid-Continent Recipient - Rebecca Lynn, Iowa State University
Rebecca (Becky) Lynn is going to be a junior at Iowa State University majoring in Forestry with a focus in conservation and restoration. She also is going to graduate with a minor in Insect Science and in Geographic Information Science (GIS). After she graduates she is planning on obtaining her master’s degree in Restoration Ecology, specifically, the restoration of habitat critical to endangered species. Becky has been interning for the USDA where she is leading a research project focusing on River Birch seed viability and assists with native prairie plant seed collections. For her Honors project, she chose to research what mammal, birds, and aquatic insects had returned to a watershed which was restored near Roland, Iowa during the 1990s. Becky grew up on a family farm in Brighton, Iowa where her parents and grandparents stressed the importance of land stewardship and conservation- which is what got her started on the path of land restoration.