Chicago Park District Appoints Natural Areas Manager
Release Date: 03/02/07
Chicago Park District Superintendent Timothy J. Mitchell recently announced the appointment of Zhanna Yermakov as Natural Areas Manager, responsible for management of the District’s nature areas, including lagoons, prairies, and wetlands.
Yermakov, a former research assistant with Argonne National Laboratory, brings extensive knowledge and experience in ecological research on soil processes in prairie, forest and agricultural environments.
An essential goal of Yermakov is to educate the greater Chicagocommunity about the wide-range of services a natural habitat provides. “My goal is to give the community a better understanding of the ecosystem services that Chicago’s natural areas provide,” she said. “They not only provide a home for wildlife and fauna, but they also clean air and water, combat erosion, provide shade and space for recreational opportunities.”
Yermakov adds to the Park District her depth of knowledge and eagerness to educate the community about the environment. “I look forward to supporting the Park District’s continued commitment to improve the quality of natural areas, because higher quality natural areas yield higher quality ecosystem services” said Yermakov.
Yermakov previously worked as a research assistant for Argonne National Laboratory’s terrestrial ecology group, investigating the effects of changes in climate and landscape, on below-ground processes. She was also part of a mountaineering and research expedition that investigated glacier movement and crevasse formation while living on a sheet of ice for two months in Alaska.
Growing up in a northwest suburb of Chicago, Yermakov attended the Universityof Illinoisat Chicagowhere she had a dual major in Environmental Earth Science and Biological Sciences. She went on to receive her Master of Science from MichiganStateUniversitywith dual majors in Forestry and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior.
- Contact Phone: 312 742 7529
- Publication Date: 03/02/07