Irina Beal joined PALTA in February 2020. Irina creates, improves, and analyzes spatial data to support conservation-related efforts across Pennsylvania. Her many geographic information system-based projects include updating and improving PALTA’s statewide database of privately and publicly conserved lands.
Prior to PALTA, Irina worked on living shorelines and shoreline monitoring projects in NJ and DE where long-term in situ data were collected allowing for trend analysis and calculating volumetric changes. She has her M.S. in Geology with a focus on Geomorphology from Temple University and her B.S. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from the University of Maine, Orono. She is well versed in field work, braving talus and scree slopes, ephemeral spits, and pluff mud.