Founder of the Western Native Tree Society

My career started in as a pre-Forestry community college student working for the BLM as a Forestry Aid (GS-3) with BLM in Eastern Oregon, and with a few exceptions (as material coordinator/pipefitter supervisor with Fluor Engineers and Constructors, in Saudi Arabia) I stayed the course with federal land management agencies through retirement last year as a GS-12 program manager, with the National Park Service, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ. 

My education started early on pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Resources Management, which I completed at Humboldt State University in 1983.  After nearly a decade with the USFS, I was encouraged to pursue my Master of Science degree in Forestry with University of Massachusetts, at Amherst, where I specialized in Remote Sensing of Old-growth Forests, and successfully defending thesis in 1993. 

Returning to the West (Arizona/Alaska), I developed skills in GIS that eventually led to Fire Area Growth Simulation, to model wildfire growth. With additional studies at Northern Arizona in Ecological Restoration, I obtained NEPA compliance for, and completed Wildfire Hazard Reduction Research project at Grand Canyon National Park. At my retirement from Grand Canyon, I was Vegetation Program Manager (Developed Area). Since retiring in 2007, I’ve continued participation with ENTS/WNTS, the Cook Inlet Chapter of SAF, and am Alaska’s Big Tree Coordinator.  In my spare time, I’m an apprentice Beer Judge, and actively pursue excellence in Anchorage’s world-class brewing venues.

Don Bertolettes Early Days in Forestry  June 2008

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Southwestern Oregon

Forester, high school independent research mentor, manager of long-term large scale research project on forest productivity, husband (forester), son (Criminal Justice student), daughter (paleontologist), fascinated by trees, lived most of my life in Oregon and Idaho, worked for university, private industry, US government, bridge between research and management, bachelor's degree in forest science, master's degree in tree physiology, abd doctorate in wood anatomy and forest ecology.

Trees have fascinated me for a very long time. I have been practicing forestry for more than 30 years for the federal government, a private timber company, and a university. I enjoy working at the interface of research and management, and I have probably spent about half of my career in research and half in management. I live in the Pacific Northwest near the northern-most naturally occurring redwoods, and I grew up in Missouri, Wyoming, and Idaho. Botany, plant ecology and plant geography are my passions, and after I retire in a few years I would like to teach at the college level. I also work with high school students on independent research projects and I have a nonprofit that I have set up to facilitate that. I have a wonderful husband who tolerates my many quirks (he is a retired forester), and two grown children who never cease to amaze me (and who also are amused by my many quirks). 

Medford, OR, January 19, 2007 – Forest Service employee Robyn Darbyshire is a recipient of the National distinguished John R. McGuire Award for her continuing work coaching and encouraging science students to learn to do genuine natural resource research. Darbyshire is a certified silviculturist assigned to Chetco Ranger District of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest who works for the agency’s PNW Research Station to manage Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity Integrated Research Sites in Oregon and Washington. She resides with her family in Brookings, Oregon.

I am currently a research Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle where I am engaged in canopy research in Douglas Fir and Coast Redwood forests. I give occasional lectures and lead field trips for the University, and teach several field classes on Pacific Northwest old-growth forests and Northwest canopy ecology.

I received my MS in 1991 and PhD in 1995 from the University of Washington. My main research interests are old-growth ecology, canopy structure and its control of the understory environment, spatial patterns in old-growth forests, and tree plant geography.

This life takes me to many of the great forests of the Pacific Northwest and California. I recently completed some fascinating canopy work in the world’s tallest hardwood forest in Australia. I spend much of my private life measuring trees – I maintain a database of tree measurements from all over the world. I take extensive measurements, sketches and photos on some of the most remarkable of these trees for tree portraits.

An avid hiker, photographer, woodworker, and big tree hunter, I am continually on the lookout for new and exciting trees.

 http://www.forestgiants.com/

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Beaverton , Oregon

Certified Landscape Technician and Certified Arborist, is responsible for the landscape and tree care services. License & Certification: LCB 7114 / ISA PN5584A

http://www.mdvaden.com/ 

http://www.mdvaden.com/grove_of_titans.shtml 

Frank Blau

www.frankblauphotography.com/owls_062609

http://www.frankblauphotography.com/

Laura Stransky

Colorado

I have worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 30 years, in various capacities, but the most exciting has been as Co-Coordinator of the San Juan National Forest Old Growth Inventory (since 1990). Co-worker Laurie Swisher and I have spent years “hunting” for old growth across the 2 million-acre San Juan NF, and have seen much of the biggest and the best of the un-logged ponderosa pine, spruce-fir, and Doug fir.

I am the chief arborist for the City of Dallas. I have a Bachelors Degree in Forestry from Stephen F Austin State University (1995) and have served the city for 10 years. I work with a crew of four professional arborists who serve in multiple districts across the city. Our mission is primarily geared toward development and ordinance issues more than urban forest education. I operate a personal blog called Dallas Trees http://dallastrees.blogspot.com  for educating and entertaining local folk on current trends in the forest. 

Edward Frank

Webmaster of the Eastern Native Tree Society

I am by training a geologist with a BS degree from Western Kentucky University, and MS in Geology from Mississippi State University. Thesis title: Aspects of Karst development and Speleogenesis Isla de Mona, Puerto Rico: An Analogue for Pleistocene Speleogenesis in The Bahamas. I was a PhD candidate in Geology at the University of Minnesota. I have peer reviewed published papers in fields ranging from spelean history, geology, archaeology, vertebrate paleontology, karst processes and speleogenesis. Some examples:  Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, Vol. 60(2), August 1998.

I am a member of the National Speleological Society and have been involved in cave exploration ad mapping across the United states from New Mexico, to Kentucky and Tennessee, to Pennsylvania, west Virginia, and Virginia. I organized and lead a speleological expedition to the Dominican Republic in December 1986, and have participated in and organized field work in the Bahamas and Puerto Rico.

I worked for the BLM at the Pecos River Projects Office in New Mexico on the Brantley Dam Feasibility Project. I was a geologist for engineering firms preparing surface mine permits for the Pa. Bureau of Mining. I was research Faculty at the University of Central Florida's Sinkhole Research Institute with duties including the investigation of new sinkhole openings in the State of Florida, and maintenance of the Florida Sinkhole database. I was a Teaching Assistant at the University of Minnesota and at Mississippi State University.

I have been an active member of the Eastern Native Tree Society since 2003 and have served as the group's webmaster since that summer.

I am an avid writer, photographer, and videographer. I am suave, sophisticated, intelligent, witty, charming, sexy, devilishly handsome, and above all modest.

riends of Mohawk Trail State Forest: Cofounder (1993), President, and principal old growth forest ecologist for this federally recognized non-profit environmental organization and an officially recognized Friends organization to the state forests and parks of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

 Eastern Native Tree Society (ENTS): Cofounder, executive director, and principal mathematician of ENTS – a forest and tree advocacy organization with 380 members devoted to scientific research, tree modeling and measurement, education, and general enjoyment of forests and trees. Membership consists of academics, government scientists, professional foresters, arborists, research scientists in environmental organizations, and ordinary citizens. The core of ENTS is an advanced tree measuring group, which develops methods for measuring trees to a high level of accuracy.  

 Ancient Eastern Forest Conference Series:  Principal architect, and presenter. Conferences held on eastern old growth forest sites bring together academics, resource managers, and environmental activists to share information on eastern old growth and present technical papers. Conferences held at University of North Carolina; Williams College, MA:  University of Arkansas(2 events): Clarion University of Pennsylvania: University of Minnesota, Harvard University-Harvard Forest, Sweet Briar College, VA, and the University of New Hampshire, Eastern Kentucky University.

 Forest Summit Lecture Series:  Cofounder with Professor Gary Beluzo Sponsored annually by Holyoke Community College, Holyoke, Massachusetts as a public service. Six conferences held to date. Conferences present updated information of old growth forests in the East. Leverett is the primary presenter on Massachusetts old growth sites.

 Eastern Old Growth Forest Clearing House - Georgetown, KY: Advisor and consultant  to this organization dedicated to accumulating and archiving information on eastern old growth forests

Books

 ‘Eastern Old Growth Forests-Prospects for Rediscovery and Recovery’ A co-conceptualizer of the book with Dr. Mary Byrd Davis. An assistant editor and a coauthor of this widely received book on eastern old growth forests. A publication of Island Press (1996).

‘Stalking the Forest Monarchs-A Guide to Measuring Champion Trees’  Coauthor of. self-published book with Will Blozan on how to measure champion trees (1997). Included new measurement techniques.

‘Old Growth In The East, A Survey’ Wrote forward and lead essay for Dr. Mary Davis's publication seminal publication on the old growth sites in the East, 1993. Provided the data for southern New England and selected sites in northern New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and the southern Appalachians. Assisted Mary Davis with the 1996 update.

‘Re-Wilding the Northeast - A New Wilderness Paradigm’  A coauthor of the book. Wrote lead chapter on eastern old growth. Published by University Press of New England

‘Sierra Club Guide Book to Ancient Forests of the Northeast’  Coauthor with Bruce Kershner of this 2004 book on old growth sites in the Northeast.

‘American Indian Places – A Historical Guidebook’  Contributor to this book organized by Frances Kennedy. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2008

John Daviis, Conservation Director of the Adirondack Council, commented on Bob and his role as an "Evangelist for Old Growth":  "It was your contagious and charismatic enthusiasm for big and old trees in part, Bob, but also your commitment and dedication to wild forests, your powers of articulation in describing them, your sleuth-like ability to find them, and your moving sermons on their behalf!  In short, with respect to great trees and wild forests, you speak with authority.  You've a clear vision of how the East should be broadly and wildly forested, again some distant day."

A more detailed profile can be found here.