Ashley is an Associate Professor of Nature-Based Recreation Management in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University. She has a B.S. in Biology from Penn State, and earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Dimensions of Ecosystem Science and Management from Utah State University. Ashley is a recreation ecologist focusing on understanding outdoor recreation-related disturbance in natural environments. 

Her research uses interdisciplinary and spatial approaches to understand visitor behaviors and use patterns and related disturbances across spatial scales. She has a broad expertise in visitor use management topics, including visitor use estimation, monitoring, and planning. Ashley’s work is very applied and helps park and protected area managers understand how to mitigate and manage disturbances to meet both visitor use and conservation goals. Past projects have focused on visitor use management topics in national parks across the West, including Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Capitol Reef, and Rocky Mountain National Parks. 

Ashley has also worked in urban-proximate protected areas in Park City, UT, Orange County, CA, and the San Francisco Bay Area. At Oregon State University, Ashley teaches undergraduate courses in parks and protected area management, outdoor recreation management, and planning for sustainable recreation. Her hope is that managers and practitioners can use her research to continue to protect natural resources while continuing to provide quality, sustainable outdoor recreation experiences to all visitors in parks and other protected areas. 

“My work looks at both how people recreating outdoors impact environments, but also how environmental factors, such as air quality, impact what people think, feel, and do when spending time outside.”

-Ashley D’Antonio