Where Are They Now?
WRRC Alum Pursues Hydrology Career with USFS
Kelly Mott Lacroix first joined the WRRC as a graduate research associate in 2011. She received her PhD in Arid Lands Resource Sciences from the U of A in 2015 and continued her work at the WRRC as a research analyst until 2016, when she joined the US Forest Service (USFS) as a hydrologist in Washington, DC.
In 2018, Mott Lacroix returned to Arizona, where she currently serves as Forest Hydrologist and Watershed Program Manager for Tonto National Forest. She is the specialist for water rights and all surface water and groundwater hydrology matters, leads the forest’s Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program, and coordinates the creation and implementation of the forest’s watershed restoration plans. During her tenure at Tonto NF, she has completed assignments as the National Riparian Ecologist, Regional Hydrologist for Oregon and Washington, and Tonto NF Ecosystem Staff Officer. Over the past decade and a half, Mott Lacroix has served as the BAER hydrologist for more than 25 incidents across the southwest; provided more than 75 presentations and lectures on water policy, watershed management, and post-fire watershed assessments; authored 18 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, and book chapters; and received multiple awards for her work.
We reached out to Mott Lacroix to see what she’s been up to lately, and she responded with highlights from her recent work:
- acquired expertise in post-fire flood modeling and participated in modeling many of the large fires in the southwest over the past eight years as the lead Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) hydrologist. She developed a method using the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) hydrologic modeling system, HEC-HMS, to quickly and more accurately assess the potential impact of these fires and has trained almost a dozen other hydrologists across the Forest Service to use this method.
- participated in completing the first stage 0 restoration in the southwest on one of only two historic fens in the state of Arizona. A four-page overview on the project is linked here.
- served on a national advisory board to rework the Watershed Condition Framework for USFS and was one of the primary authors to rewrite the USFS technical guide for assessment of watershed conditions; was lead consultant on riparian and water quality indicators.
- until 2025, was a frequent participant in the USFS program for international trade and provided technical assistance in watershed health assessments to partners in the Republic of Georgia and Algeria. She also assisted with a workshop in Costa Rica for women cooperatives doing reforestation and restoration. She was the keynote speaker for an annual Watershed Management Seminar that brought practitioners from all over the world to show them how USFS and their partners improve watershed conditions through management.
It is always encouraging to see former WRRC associates going on to work with water in Arizona and beyond. We look forward to following Kelly Mott Lacroix’s impactful accomplishments.