Professional Experience Summary
I worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 34 years, beginning in 1978. I worked for or with several of the most prominent fisheries biologists in the intermountain West. I've received awards for writing, statistics, computer programming, GIS, data management, and more. Some specifics follow below and on other pages.
Fish Habitat Monitoring and Management - Payette National Forest (1994-2012)
Principal responsibilities included:
Fish Habitat Monitoring and Management - Payette National Forest (1994-2012)
Principal responsibilities included:
- Endangered and Resident Species Biologist:
- Statistical and geospatial analysis and reporting of trout and salmon habitat attributes and distribution.
- Monitoring salmonid habitat.
- Assessment of the potential effects of Forest projects on trout and salmon populations and habitat.
- Development and refinement of methods for measuring trout and salmon habitat condition indicators and determining appropriate values.
- Organization and dissemination of technical information to colleagues and the public.
- Formal and informal consultation with federal regulatory agencies on potential effects of proposed federal actions on ESA-listed fishes.
- Post-fire assessment of potential effects of large wildfire to aquatic resources and specification of mitigation needs.
- Liaising with (and advising) wildlife biologists on the Forest for conservation, environmental, and biological assessments.
- Information Technology Manager
- Specification and procurement of computing and networking hardware and software when unit-wide networking and computer hardware and software had not been standardized.
- Development of local networking and data sharing procedures.
- Development and improvement of habitat monitoring methods.
- Increasing efficiency in public and inter/intra-office communications.
Major accomplishments:
- Chief Forest advisor to USFWS when establishing Designated Critical Habitat under ESA for resident bull trout.
- Created relational data management system for storing fish habitat and population data, analyzing it, and producing summary reports.
- Created on of the first intraweb sites in the USFS for sharing information with other USFS personnel.
- Photographic monitoring of stream/riparian ecosystem recovery of selected streams up to 18 years (and one major science journal cover image for some colleagues' article on fire and fish).
- Approximately 13 technical reports, 26 monitoring reports, 23 Biological Assessments, 9 Burned Area Emergency Response reports, and 14 professional presentations.
- Several performance awards including the national "Rise to the Future Award for Excellence in Fish Management."
Fish Habitat Research - Rocky Mountain Research Station (1978-1994)
Research topics included:
- Endangered and Resident Species Habitat Research:
- Livestock interactions with trout and salmon habitat, including development of measuring and monitoring methods.
- Trout habitat capability modeling, including multivariate and trend analysis and development of measuring and monitoring methods.
- Trout and salmon population variability studies, including analysis of fluctuations, spawning success, competition, etc.
- Effects of sediment accumulation and trends on spawning success of Chinook salmon, including sediment core sampling and survival analysis.
Associated accomplishments included:
- Co-author on 17 peer reviewed publications on fish habitat conditions, habitat assessment technology, and other land management topics related to salmonid fishes.
- One of these (#2) was among the first to apply GIS-based analysis to fish habitat characterization.
- One of these (#11) was the first to propose the concept of a "riparian pasture" strategy for cattle grazing management.
- Development of a dBASE®-language relational database data management and analysis tool for fish and fish habitat data that was in use approximately 20 years.
- Structural design and development of an ethernet LAN including adapter and router specification and installation.
- Internetwork connection of and system administration of DOS/Windows®, UNIX, and MacOS devices.
- Installation of Arc-INFO® GIS systems including workstations, printers/plotters, digitizers, etc.
