MAD Scientist Associates, LLC

September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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Mark Leads Tour of Wilderness Center Wetland for Land Trust Alliance Rally

At MAD, we’re happy to leave our mark on restoration sites, figuratively and literally. In September, Mark met with a group from the Land Trust Alliance Rally to lead a tour of our wetland project at The Wilderness Center. We’re thrilled with how things are coming along, as this is the first full growing season for the site. This project includes 13.5 acres of wetland, riparian, and upland habitat that are being improved. 3+ acres of new wetland were added, as well as several acres of existing wetland enhancement. The site was formerly farmed by the family of a neighboring landowner and now enters a new chapter in which it will play a key role in improving water quality within the Sugar Creek Watershed and […]
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September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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MAD Scientist Associates Interviewed by EECO for Career Chat Series

What an honor it was to be interviewed by the Environmental Education Council of Ohio for their Career Chat series! Mark and Jenny met with EECO intern, Jessica Fling, and Running Wild videographer, Alex Goetz, at Shepherd’s Corner Ecological Center to discuss their career journeys and what it’s like to be a MAD Scientist. Give it a watch if you want to know what it takes to be MAD! Also, there’s SO many good interviews of folks doing good work in the environmental field. They’re classroom and kid friendly.  
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September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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MAD Wins Oak Openings Corridor Project with Metroparks Toledo!

The Oak Openings Region is one of the most biologically diverse and ecologically unique areas in the Great Lakes region. Its plant life reflects a rare intersection of eastern deciduous forests, western prairies, and northern boreal habitats, all shaped by glacial history and sandy, well-drained soils. We’re so excited to contribute to conservation efforts in this globally unique habitat! Approximately 50 acres of fallow field (previously farmed) will be restored to emergent marsh and shrub-carr wet meadow wetlands, and sand prairie habitats. This will be our fifth project in the Oak Openings, totalling nearly 400 acres of restored habitat! We hope you’ll follow along with the restoration progress!
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September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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Classroom to Career EPN Event

On July 21, Mark and Jenny had the absolute pleasure of participating in Ohio State’s Environmental Professional Network’s program titled “From Classroom to Career.” It was great to see friends, colleagues, and new faces at the networking event, learn about local programs and resources, and lead tours of the Spruce Run Nature Center wetland complex! We’re always glad to get eyes on our wetland projects, but it’s especially rewarding to share their beauty and biodiversity with others. This site is in its second full growing season and looking fabulous!
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September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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Ohio Stream Assessment Method Review

This summer MAD, in partnership with Ecosystem Planning & Restoration (EPR), and the Ohio EPA, has been working on surveying reference quality streams across Ohio’s six major ecoregions. The team has been evaluating metrics such as bank erosion, riffle and pool lengths and depths, substrate size, stream slope, floodplain connectivity and riparian vegetation quality to characterize key geomorphological and habitat features of the streams. This data in Ohio is being collected for the purpose of verifying regional curves as well as establishing and verifying reference curves in Ohio and applied to the Ohio Stream Assessment Method (OSAM). OSAM is intended to be used as the states’ updated stream functionality assessment as part of the effort for calculating mitigation credits and debits. Refinement of the OSAM […]
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September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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Restoring a Kettle Wetland with Columbus Audubon

We’re proud of our conservation team for their careful (and hard) work removing invasive cattail from the Columbus Audubon Calamus Swamp near Circleville. Mark was interviewed by WOSU Public Media’s Allie Vugrincic, along with John Shady from Coldwater Consulting, LLC and Columbus Audubon volunteers. This restoration is a team effort and we’re happy to be a part of it! We’re especially appreciative of the Ohio EPA for awarding this project a 319 grant, allowing this important work to take place. Check out the interview to learn what makes Calamus Swamp a unique wetland habitat worth preserving (and the plant diversity threatened by cattail).
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September 30, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on September 30, 2025
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Welcome Ellen!

We’re excited to welcome Ellen Heitkamp to our team! Ellen came to us from Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks, where she was part of their resource management team. She hit the ground running with us, traveling around the state with our conservation crew to manage invasive species and plant restoration sites. She’s hard-working and passionate about ecological work, and we’re lucky to have her on our team! To learn more about Ellen, visit our TEAMS page!
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May 27, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on May 27, 2025
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May the Mayflies Continue Flying

By Jenna Roller-Knapp Time flies when you’re a mayfly! Mayflies are one of oldest groups of insects, estimated to have evolved between 280-300 million years ago! As such, species in the Ephemeroptera family display many unique morphological differences and life stage strategies.  There are around 4,000 mayfly species globally and an estimated 660 mayfly species in North America (although DNA analysis suggest there may be hundreds more). It takes a skilled eye to identify species (adult or larval phase), trained hand to time the collection specimens, and an adept mind to arrange access to sampling sites. These all pose  challenges for tracking species diversity and changes over time. Interestingly, North Carolina may be a hotspot of mayfly diversity.  The mayfly lifecycle consists of an egg […]
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April 8, 2025
Published by MAD Scientist Associates, LLC on April 8, 2025
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Jenny Wins Environmental Education Award through EECO!

Jenny Adkins, our Director of Business Development & Marketing (and education lead), has been instrumental in helping us live our mission of Making A Difference through Science, Service, and Education. She develops and coordinates programs for local schools (public and private), formal educators, and the general public, including Frog Fridays, the Westerville Wetland Workshop, and Wetland Wednesdays! She also spearheads our Women in Science conference, where ecological and environmental professionals throughout the state get to share their career journeys and network with attendees. We are proud to announce that (from among a field of more than 20 nominees), she was recognized by the Environmental Education Council of Ohio (EECO) as the 2025 Outstanding Educator in the field of non-formal education!
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