Staff Spotlight, Catie Welch
Environmental Specialist, Catie Welch
Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park
As the new preserve biologist, Catie wants to welcome you to the largest remaining tract of Florida Dry Prairie! This is a truly unique place, and she hopes you come to experience and enjoy the prairie in all its splendor. From sunrise or sunset drives along the park road looking for many species of birds, deer, snakes, otters, and other wildlife, to star-gazing, satellite-searching and meteor-watching once the sun goes down – you may find Catie enjoying one of her many prairie pastimes. The prairie is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world and Catie is happy to call it home.
Catie grew up in Jupiter, Florida, where her love for the great outdoors was cultivated. After graduating from the Jupiter Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy at Jupiter High School, she pursued a Biology degree at Florida Atlantic University while working part-time at the DuPuis Nature Center as an Environmental Education and Training Assistant.
Upon completion of her B.Sc. in Biology, Catie was hired on at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park as a Florida Grasshopper Sparrow Technician.
During her time as a technician she spent months wandering around this beautiful, wide-open space looking for North America’s most endangered bird. She fell in love with the prairie, and it continued to hold a special place in her heart - even when she moved out of state to complete her M.Sc. in Forest Resources at the University of Georgia.
Her Master’s research temporarily brought her back to Florida, but to chase a different bird: the American White Ibis. She was studying the effects of anthropogenic food provisioning on White Ibis health, pathogen transmission and movement ecology.
In 2016, she graduated with her MSc and began working for UGA and the USDA on the surveillance and epidemiology of Newcastle disease virus in Kenya. She was able to visit Kenya three times to capture and sample wild birds around poultry farms.
As much as she enjoyed living in North Georgia, hiking and camping in the mountains, and working for UGA with all the great, new experiences, she is very happy to be back home at the prairie.