She was chair of the department from 1989 to 1992. She has done research in the area of environmental and natural resource planning and was vice-chair of the Water Quality 2000 steering committee. She has written numerous articles and is co-editor of the book Public Involvement and Social Impact Assessment. She majored in botany at the University of California, Berkeley, until 1960, received a B.S. in biology from the University of New Mexico in 1961, an M.S. in botany from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; in 1966, and a Ph.D. in watershed management from the University of Arizona in 1980.