Ed Kelley's Biography

The Ecologist for the Arroyo Hondo project, Dr. Nathan Ed Kelley, is a native New Mexican, born and raised on a farm in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Other work locations could never hold him for long, and he always returns to New Mexico, where he currently resides with his wife, and near his adult son’s and daughter’s families.

Albuquerque schools, from kindergarten to University of New Mexico degrees, provided Dr. Kelley’s extensive education. Special projects supplemented each university degree, such as research on the impact of human use areas in the Sandia Mountains, funded by the John Muir Society. This Bachelors Degree study initiated his deep and continuing interest in environmental concerns. Expressed through course work in geology, climatology, soil science, and botany. He applied his continuing studies through projects such as mapping the geology and vegetation of the 1800-mile Lake Powell shoreline, and ecological mapping of Bandelier and Chaco Canyon National Monuments. His doctoral research focused on reclamation of uranium mining and milling in New Mexico, but the Arroyo Hondo project was always his favorite. His research and supporting activities are described in the Monograph, but the camaraderie, the unique individuals who worked and lived on the site, as well as the joy of the work itself, provide the best memories of an ecology career.