Elizabeth Sodja, AICP
Project Manager
Coordinator, GNAR Initiative
Assistant Director of Outreach & Education
Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
Elizabeth Sodja, MNR, MCMP, is the Program Coordinator for the Gateway & Natural Amenity Region (GNAR) Initiative at Utah State University Extension. She has a decade of communications and community outreach experience, and has worked with federal, state, and local government agencies. Before joining GNAR, she worked for USU’s Center for Community Engagement and the National Park Service. She grew up in a small town in Utah where most family vacations were either camping, fishing, or in a National Park. She has a passion for helping small towns around the west preserve what is special about them. When she isn’t working, you can usually find her with her family either climbing a rock, living out of a tent, or driving down a dirt road covered in dog hair.
Jake Powell
project Principal investigator
Co-Director, GNAR Initiative
Associate Professor
Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
(435) 797-4293
jake.powell@usu.edu
Jake Powell, MSLA, is a native of Utah and spent his childhood exploring the backroads of the intermountain west. These experiences formed a deep love for the landscapes, the communities, and people of the west. Jake found landscape architecture as a way to unite people and places, and earned his BLA from Utah State University and MSLA from Penn State University. In his current position as a Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Extension Specialist, Jake works to bring design and planning solutions to Utah’s communities. As the lead for the Gateway and Natural Amenity Initiative, Jake works with an amazing team to bring attention, resources, and new opportunities to the gateway communities of the Intermountain West.
Brad Washa
Project Team Member
Assistant Professor of Wildland Fire Science
Wildland Resources
Brad Washa, is an Assistant Professor of Wildland Fire Science in the Department of Wildland Resources. His interests are the creation of landscape resilient fuels treatments including the implementation of prescribed fire and study of treatment effectiveness, smoke management, risk analysis, strategic planning, and dispelling of wildland fire misinformation.
Dr. Jordan W. Smith
Project Team Member
Co-Director, GNAR Initiative
Director, Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism
Professor, Environment & Society
Jordan W. Smith, Ph.D., serves as Director of the Institute of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism at Utah State University, where he oversees initiatives that bolster Utah’s economy by helping communities and agencies navigate the complex tradeoffs involved in outdoor recreation and tourism development. Under his leadership, the Utah Outdoor Recreation Strategic Plan and the Gateway and Natural Amenity Region Initiative have equipped underserved communities throughout the Intermountain West with critical tools for sustainable economic growth.
Dr. Kelly Kopp
Project Team Member
Professor, Extension Water Conservation and Turfgrass Specialist
Plants, Soils & Climate
Dr. Phil Fernburg
Project Team Member
Research Assistant Professor
Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning