BOZEMAN — William Kleindl, an assistant research professor in Montana State University’s Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agriculture, was recently named president-elect of the Society of Wetland Scientists.

Kleindl assumed the post June 10, the last day of the society’s annual meeting. His yearlong term as president will begin in summer 2022. After his term, he will continue to contribute to the society’s leadership the following year as past president.

Bill Kleindl Receives NEON Grant
William Kleindl, assistant research professor of systems ecology.
(MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez)
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“The Society of Wetland Scientists is the preeminent society for promoting the understanding, management and restoration of wetlands, and it is an honor for Dr. Kleindl to be selected as a part of its leadership team,” said Tracy Sterling, head of the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences. “With his decades of experience in ecological analysis and his dedication to education and outreach, I have every confidence that he will make an enormous positive impact as SWS president-elect and president in the coming years.”

Kleindl researches systems ecology and wetland restoration with an emphasis on real-life management techniques to maintain riparian areas, the ecologically sensitive zones that separate land from bodies of water such as rivers and lakes. Kleindl began his career as a high school biology teacher; he then earned a master’s degree in disturbance ecology and a doctorate in systems ecology. He now teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in remote sensing, water resources and wetland management at MSU.

“SWS is excited to continue our efforts to increase diversity within the wetland scientific and consulting community,” said Kleindl. “Also, under my tenure as the Montana representative in the leadership, I will work to increase the representation of riparian areas in the society. Riparian areas as an ecological unit have no real home in most of the aquatic science societies.”

The Society of Wetland Scientists was founded in 1980 by Richard Macomber, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers biologist. The society publishes the journal Wetlands and has more than 3,000 members around the world.

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