Eloise Kendy Bio | The Nature Conservancy

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Freshwater: Eloise Kendy, Ph.D.

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Freshwater scientist Eloise Kendy models a pair of Mongolian riding boots obtained on a trip to Ulaanbaatar. © Eloise Kendy/TNC

Eloise Kendy, Ph.D.

Director, Environmental Flows Program

Contact Information

E-mail: ekendy@tnc.org

Brief Biography

“When water policies were first developed, no one thought about leaving water for the rivers. Now that we know it’s important, the Conservancy is leading the way in putting the theories—such as how much water rivers need at different times of the year—into practice via science-based policy reform.”

Eloise Kendy provides technical, scientific and policy support to The Nature Conservancy’s freshwater programs. Using sound science, she helps advance water policy at state and national levels to protect environmental flows of rivers, lakes and groundwater ecosystems.

To that end, Eloise works closely with governments, energy producers, water resource managers and other non-governmental organizations to advance water policies that ensure adequate water flows. In addition, she advises conservation teams on designing and conducting adaptive management experiments that improve environmental flow outcomes.

Prior to joining the Conservancy, Eloise conducted water resource assessments and hydrologic modeling, and provided public education and legal and policy support for sound water management—particularly concerning the interactions between ground water and surface water. Eloise has also been an independent consulting hydrogeologist, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, a hydrologist and policy analyst with the International Water Management Institute, and a legislative aid to U.S. Senator Harry Reid.

She holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering from Cornell University, a M.S. in hydrogeology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. in geological sciences from the University of California. Eloise’s research has been published in a number of scientific journals including Water Resources Research, Ground Water, Hydrological Processes, Journal of Hydrology, Agricultural Water Management, Water Policy and Water International.

Among many honors, she was named the Teresa Heinz Scholar for Environmental Research and the American Geological Institute Congressional Science Fellow. In her spare time she and her husband, Tim Byron, garden and hunt on their little patch of Montana and cook up a storm. They also hike, mountain bike, cross-country ski and whitewater raft to burn off the calories.