Profile

Disciplinary expertise:  Vertebrate paleontology, biostratigraphy, taphonomy, paleoecology, evolutionary theory, curation of natural history specimens, and management of paleontological resources on public lands.

Science liaison capacity:

Co-Convenor (with Dan Chure, DINO) the FIRST CONFERENCE ON FOSSIL RESOURCES, 22-26 September, 1986.  Althought the initial emphasis was on National Park Service lands, this meeting spawned numerous subsequent meetings and was the first such gathering of professional paleontologists and public land managers concerning paleontological resources on public lands.  

Developed unprecedented Cooperative and/or Interagency Agreements between the NPS and U. S. Bureau of Land Management (four districts), U. S. Forest Service (three National Forests in Oregon and Washington), U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon State Parks, The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs,  The Natural Conservancy, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, varied private lands with significant fossil resources.

Science Advisor, Pacific West Region, U. S. National Park Service, ~ten years.  Consulted an many different and challenging science-based resource management issues for 60+ different national parks and monuments, throughout the West Region and Hawaii.  Reported, with other advisors, directly to the Regional Director and, later, Director of the USNPS.

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (Government Laiason Committee), AAAS, Geological Society of America, Paleontological Society, etc. 

NPS Natural History Collections ad hoc committee, Chair, NPS Collections (Paleontology) Significance Group,  past member NPS Museum Management Program Council.  Performed World Heritage Assessment, Ipolytarnoc National Park, Hungary.  Currently a Courtesy Faculty member, University of Oregon, Department of Geological Sciences, Eugene, OR

Strategic resource management approaches:

Relevance of evolutionary paleoecology in conservation of recent biotas; preservation and curation of paleontological resources. 

Recent activities include (Open File reports available):  Paleontological Surveys and Science Advisory Reports for:  Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska,  Lava Beds National Monument, Joshua Tree National Monument, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Tule Springs National Monument (latter report indirectly led to establishment of area as a unit of the NPS), and other sites.  Team member of  Petrified Forest Paleontological Resource Planning, Hagerman Fossil Beds, etc.  COR and Leader, Thomas Condon Paleontology Center design and planning team.