Welcome Sera Janson Zegre, our new RMS Journal Editor

RMS is thrilled to introduce you to the newest member of our team, Sera Janson Zegre, who just published her first issue of the RMS Journal. We are eager for you all to get to know and work with her and hope you'll join us in giving her the warmest welcome! Read about Sera and celebrate the many contributions of her predecessor, Caroline Kurz, in the Fall 2024 issue of the RMS Journal, linked above. Sera has invited feedback on the Journal, which may be submitted here.

Sera's story

I left my high school graduation with a kayak stuffed in a van, bound to spend my summer as a BLM river ranger in Westwater Canyon, Utah. Although I attended college in Washington, DC, I spent summers as a BLM River Ranger in the Gunnison Gorge and commercial river guide in Grand Canyon. After college, I worked as a river and wilderness ranger for BLM in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah, spending winters in Washington DC, working for Gary Marsh setting up the BLM Rivers Database. I met Caroline working with RMS drafting assistance agreements, updating websites, and editing educational outreach materials (e.g., river hangtag, Landowner’s Guide to WSR). As I wrote for the RMS News and participated in conferences, my admiration for her grew and my love for RMS solidified.

I left BLM for graduate school at Oregon State where I was a teaching assistant for longtime RMS contributor, Bo Shelby. It was there I met my partner and now father of our two kids. We moved to West Virginia University after graduate school where he is now a hydrology professor. Once living in Morgantown and working as a professor and researcher, I contemplated how to get back to RMS and river-related work. Previous consulting work led me to collaborate with Risa and I also kept encouraging my spouse to consider the River Studies and Leadership Certificate, of which he is now a new advisor.

A serendipitous connection with Risa over squirt boating has led me to this wonderful opportunity to serve as the new editor of the RMS Journal, following the paddle strokes of women I admired for half my life (Caroline...and Risa). The river of life has offered me countless opportunities for growth since I first met Caroline and RMS. I am thrilled to apply my skills as a river professional, consultant, educator and scientist, being surrounded by relevant river topics and coordinating with beloved river colleagues in a shared purpose of rivers.

Say hello by emailing sera[at]river-management.org.