By Patti Singer Emily Kelly never needed to be told twice to go outside and play. Growing up near the Adirondack Park and in a family that prized the outdoor life, Kelly was at home in the natural world.
“I grew up harvesting and canning produce from our garden, hunting and fishing with my dad and grandparents, and adventuring with my parents and siblings,” she says. The Adirondacks were her playground as a kid, and she recalls spending hours reading field guides and studying edible plants and fungi. She hiked in the woods and kayaked the Hudson River. “The natural world fascinated me.”
Kelly attended environmental education camps as a teen and earned several degrees from Paul Smiths College. She turned that fascination into a career that lets her share her sense of wonder with the next generation. As park ranger, Kelly will develop programs to teach students about the Great Lakes. The new initiative also will connect the students to the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge to continue learning about the natural world.
“It still makes my head spin,” Kelly says of the opportunity to create what she called an unprecedented program. “It’s incredible to have the resources we have at the refuge. The possibilities are endless.”
Kelly says she will be working with specific schools closer to the fall of 2025 to identify classrooms and implement the curriculum.
“I see myself as that person that is igniting that spark that’s laying within these individuals to explore the natural world around them as many mentors did for me.”
Kelly started her job as park ranger in November 2024, but she had been at the refuge for a couple of years before that as part of the Lower Great Lakes Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office in Basom. In that role, she served as a biological science technician on an Aquatic Invasive Species team covering ground between Ohio, Maine, and West Virginia for monitoring and early detection. She then worked with the Habitat team, which focuses on restoration of native brook trout and Atlantic salmon. Kelly has a background in fisheries — including hatcheries — and wildlife science with a wildlife concentration. Earlier in her career, she focused on fish. Now she will be able to combine that experience with wildlife education. Her new post allows her to become involved in more aspects of the refuge. She marvels at the wildlife and land management work done by staff and volunteers. “It’s just an incredible story that I wanted to be a part of.” She loves watching how the refuge and its inhabitants change with the seasons. The spring brings waterfowl migrations. Summer features greenery and wildflowers. Fall sees the birds again on their way, and winter brings snow for skiing or snow-shoeing. Her favorite trails are Swallow Hollow and Kanyoo. In addition to her degrees in fisheries and wildlife sciences and math and science, Kelly holds a degree in culinary arts. She is part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service team that does the Fish of the Week podcast and is working on a cookbook called Rough Cuts. The cookbook will introduce people to fish that they don’t see in the supermarket. And there will be recipes for edible invasive species. “Their numbers are going up, they’re putting pressure on native species,” she says. “But we can actually remove them and eat them, and they’re quite delicious. We can control these populations and it’s more sustainable than having farms raise fish across the world and then thinking about the fuel and transportation that it takes to get this species here.” Kelly’s hobbies keep her in the natural world. She and her husband create recipes from what they have hunted, harvested for and angled for. She also makes earrings from fishing lures or fly ties. The jewelry is another way to teach people about the environment. “It’s just showing them the natural world and understanding the natural world is where the magic happens.” Patti Singer is a retired reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.