GPTWA welcomes new Tribal Climate Resilience Liaison

Kynser Wahwahsuck

Kickapoo Tribe

Kynser Wahwahsuck will be working with tribal resource managers across 32 federally recognized tribes in the north central region to connect them with tools, information, and resources needed to build resilience to climate change while working closely with the North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center.

Ms. Wahwahsuck is a member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas and a descendant of Shoshone and Sac & Fox tribes. She is based in Lawrence, KS where she received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Haskell Indian Nations University and her M.A. degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Kansas (KU) with a focus in biogeochemistry. Kynser’s graduate research focused on land-use effects on nitrogen cycling and denitrification in headwater streams based in the Delaware River Watershed that drains grasslands and agriculture--a dominant land-use type in Kansas. The Delaware River Watershed is in northeast Kansas and drains into the Delaware River which the Kickapoo use as a source of drinking water.

During her time as an undergraduate, Kynser participated in various research opportunities including the Haskell Environmental Research Studies (HERS) Institute, a summer internship program dedicated to prepping tribal college students for graduate school and to help meet the challenges of climate change on tribal lands. This is where she found her passion for working with tribal nations on actionable climate science. During the HERS program her research focused on the benefits of prescribed burns and their history of usage on tribal lands in Kansas. She also worked for the the Haskell 500 Nations Bridge program where she first developed interest in scientific research. Later as a graduate student at KU, she became a mentor for the Bridge program and helped guide Haskell students through their first experiences in scientific research.

She looks forward to working on building climate resilience with tribal nations throughout the north central and particularly with lower Missouri River tribes as well as tribal colleges and universities.

WELCOME KYNSER 🎉