Resume
Alan E. R. Wittbecker
8071 Glenbrooke Lane, Sarasota, FL 34243
Tel: 941-758-0970, Net: wittbecker@syngeo.net
Experience | |
Director/Senior Ecologist |
As Director (2004-5), search and apply for funding for wolf research and for an international meeting to coordinate wolf research and education in the Balkans. Work on regional plan for the Balkans. Finish report on wolf presence in Bulgaria for the Deputy Minister of Environment and Water, Sofia, Bulgaria. Write invited articles on wolves. Prepare reports and analyses for funding partners. Advise local residents on property responsibilities. Participate in design, analysis and preparation of regional design projects, including Alaskan North Slope, Palouse Grasslands, Sonoran Desert, and Florida Coastal Plain. As Senior Ecologist, monitor stream and wetland restoration for Woodford Creek at Mountain Grove Forest (an FSC-certified Oregon forest), an Ecoforestry Institute project. Upgrade wildlife plan for Mountain Grove Forest; monitor wildlife seasonally. Participate in oak woodland restoration project. Continue to monitor Altazor forest (Idaho) restoration. Initiate and coordinate projects on individual landscape designs for Florida ownerships; create landscape plans and pilot projects. Participate in Manatee County planning process. Give public and professional talks on forestry, ecological design and wildlife ecology. As Adjunct Professor of Environmental Science at Ringling School of Art and Design (2700 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34234, ringling.edu), give talks on Ecology of Water and wolf biology. Teach courses on Ecology of Culture and Cultural Change; evaluate students and assist them to develop projects. Develop new courses, e.g., Ecology of Art Materials (Fall 2004) and Applied Ecological Design (Fall 2005). Work on a book in progress, Eutopias: Making Good Places Ecologically and Culturally, dealing with ecological design of good places. Maintain correspondence with international and local colleagues. Follow issues in professional societies, such as Ecological Society of America, Society for Conservation Biology and Society for Restoration Ecology. Serve community as volunteer for Manatee County Planning, New College library, Children's Health Clinic, and Nature Conservancy. |
Ecologist | As ecologist for National Park Central Balkan, make plans for research and monitoring of large carnivores in the park. Contribute ideas to first Park Plan. Create and implement plan for wolf studies. Assist in ranger training for tracking carnivores. Assist in applying for and receiving external funding for wolf monitoring. Accompany the rangers on rounds of the Park in all seasons. Set up transects and night-blinds for monitoring. Monitor signs on a weekly basis. Create model for wolf presence in Park. Working with Balkani Wildlife Society and other regional groups.monitor wolves throughout Bulgaria, using informational surveys,tracking for signs, and radio-telemetry. Meet with other groups about wolf presence in scattered communities; talk with shepherds,farmers,and politicians about the place of wolves near human society. Work on wolf plans for national parks and Bulgarian communities.Work on a model for wolf populations. Give talks on wolves and biodiversity.Write and publish articles and information on wolves in Bulgaria. Create community inventory for the city of Apriltsi, Bulgaria. Based on inventory, submit recommendations to mayor and city council. Give talks at public forums, radio and television interviews. Start craftsmens' guild; work with ecotourism; help start a local Telecenter with internet and community informational facilities; work with schools and home for elderly for better recognition and services; work to improve library; secure funding for craftsmen and library. Contribute to web pages and brochures. Translate information from Bulgarian to English. |
Senior Ecologist/Director |
Create forest plans and review forest,watershed, and bioregional plans for clients; determine critical areas of focus for impact assessment and potential mitigation.Review timber harvest plans for protection of habitat. Direct two research projects: The role of arbutus species in the recovery of severely-logged forest ecosystems (1997), and Biomass loss and its effect on regeneration(1998-00). Manage Mountain Grove Forest (1998-00). Coordinate Woodford Creek restoration(1998-99); contribute to characterization,design, and implementation. Teach distance learning courses on ecological forestry and forestry workshops on certification, conservation biology, and old growth ecology. Give professional and public contributed, invited, and keynote lectures on ecological forestry. Develop and teach environmental science class-room courses; develop courses in philosophy, economics, and ecology for City University (1993-4). Give public, university, and professional invited and contributed talks on forestry, wilderness, and coyote ecology. As Director (6/1997-2/2000), secure funding, ranging from $1000 to $125,000, for education, research, and restoration. Coordinate the management of nine forests in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Acquire FSC certification for managed forests. Supervise staff projects. As Editor (1995-1999) of the journal Ecoforestry,solicit,write, and edit articles on alternative and ecological forestry. Design and build web pages for institute and journal. As Community forester for Sandpoint (1995-6), form a tree committee, identify and remove hazardous trees, create a tree policy and community tree program, conduct a street tree survey, plant and prune trees,design brochures and tree ID booklets, teach pruning workshops to highway crews, and identify and apply for funding. |
Research Associate |
Create a habitat assessment of SpitBrook Creek (Nashua, NH).Conduct studies on ladybird beetle predation of alfalfa aphids on barley, coyote predation of sheep, and mountain bluebird feeding patterns along an artificial trail in a prairie-forest ecotone.Study coyote play behavior. Create a wildlife plan for the North Slope of Alaska. Create a Palouse grassland conservation,restoration and preservation plan. Coordinate funding, scheduling,equipment,and quality control. Write articles, papers, and lectures on human and wildlife ecology; organize meetings; give public talks on coyote ecology, grassland conservation, and wilderness preservation. As Managing Editor, Pan Ecology, solicit and edit articles on various aspects of ecology. Train staff on computer use (C,PM,HTML). Teach courses in ecology and computing. Consult with Defenders,Greenpeace, and Humane Society on joint projects and interests. As Director (1985, 1992), manage plans, operations, and budgets;coordinate research activities and public relations. Acquire status as NGO for UNCED in Rio. Visiting Lecturer, Rådet for Natur, University of Oslo,Spring 1987. Give university and departmental lectures; participate in wolf research project. Visiting Scholar, Center for Study of Values, University of Delaware, Summer 1986. Visiting Scholar,Ecophilosophy Studies, Arcosanti (Arizona), August 1983 and May 1992. |
Research Assistant | Participate in studies on growth increase in Ponderosa pine after thinning, grand fir regeneration following release from overstory competition, and vegetative composition of successional communities following varied logging patterns. Compile inventory and evaluation of forest resources;analyze field data; prepare reports and recommendations for project clients. Direct study of dwarf mistletoe control by nonchemical intervention. Manage 70-acre ATFA tree farm, using adaptive matrix management. Edit research reports. Give lectures.As Research Assistant in Biochemistry (1978, University of Idaho),prepare polypeptide inhibitors from potatoes; isolate polypeptide fragments using column chromatography; pool, dialize, and lyophilize fragments.Identify inhibitors; plot data. Conduct on-line literature searches. Act as director by rotation (1977). |
Teaching Fellow | Perform library literature searches for research projects in botany, including coniferous forest epiphytes and coniferous forest canopy subsystems. Participate in operation of Environmental Science Center library. For Science Library(dual appointment), develop search strategies for biological research projects, handle interlibrary loan requests, handle reference desk requests, and search for lost books; train and supervise student shelvers. |
Education | |
Ph.D., Human Ecology | "Ecosystem productivities related to human cultures," International College, Los Angeles,May 1983 (Research Assistant, Physics, Biochemistry 1977-79, Federal Student Loan 1981-1991) |
M.A., Psychology/Philosophy | "Creative language, physics and ecology of being," University of Idaho, Moscow, December 1976 (Teaching Assistant, Philosophy 1973-74) |
B.S. candidate, Biology/Psychology/Anthropology | "Aesthetic and ecological dimensions of place," University of Delaware, Newark, January 1973 (Laboratory Assistant, Psychology, Psychologist 1970-72) |
Postgraduate | Graduate Biology, Forestry, Environmental Science, Seminars, UI(1992-99), including watershed management, adaptive management, forest genetics, forest mensuration/instrumentation, topics in ecology, landscape architecture, environmental science Conservation Biology in Forests, Antioch University (1998) Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Southern Oregon University(1998) Ecoforestry Summer Institute, Mountain Grove Center (1994-6) Ecoforestry Workshops (1994-9), including fire ecology and management, certification, landscape ecology and design, oak woodland restoration, stream restoration, forest cruising New England Environmental Leadership Institute, Tufts (1991,on scholarship) Computing courses at Washington State University (1978-85), including Basic FORTRAN, Pascal, Ada, OCL, HTML, PageMaker, Photoshop, Image Analysis Workshop (VICAR/IBIS). |