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Pennsylvania
Biodiversity Partnership
2004 Conference:
Speakers & Facilitators |
Economic
Prosperity and Biodiversity Conservation:
Planning for Pennsylvania's Future
Harrisburg,
PA
November 9-10, 2004
Charles
Bier, Director/Zoologist - Natural Heritage Program
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pittsburgh, PA
Charles obtained a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin,
Madison, with an emphasis on plant and animal ecology. He was first
employed as a teacher/naturalist with the Audubon Society of Western
Pennsylvania. Since 1981 he has worked for the Western Pennsylvania
Conservancy in a number of roles involving science and stewardship,
and in 1996 he was appointed Director of the Natural Heritage Program,
with a staff of 15. The Natural Heritage Program works in partnership
with The Nature Conservancy and Pennsylvania Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources to support the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
(PNHP). PNHP collects and manages biodiversity information for use in
conservation decision-making in Pennsylvania and in North America as
a member of NatureServe.
Charles is a Research Associate at the Section of Invertebrate Zoology,
Carnegie Museum of Natural History. He serves on several state and regional
committees, including Chair of the Arachnid Technical Committee of the
Pennsylvania Biological Survey and Chair of the Pennsylvania Biodiversity
Partnership’s Science Task Force. His areas of interest are broad
and include a wide range of fauna and flora, and their conservation.
Jacquelyn
Bonomo, Vice President
Western Pennsyvania Conservancy, Pittsburgh, PA
Jacqui Bonomo is vice president for Natural Resource Conservation at
the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC). Since joining the staff
in March 1999, the Resource Conservation department has tripled in size
and budget and added major program areas in Watershed Assistance and
Forestland Protection.
Before joining WPC, Jacqui worked at National Wildlife Federation (NWF)
for 13 years. Her last position there was as western vice president.
She had oversight for offices in Portland, OR, and Anchorage, AK, and
focused on public lands management, endangered species, and wetland
protection issues. She laid the groundwork for the opening of a sustainable
communities office in southern California. Jacqui directed the Portland
office for five years during the height of the spotted-owl controversies
and fight to protect remaining ancient forests. Her career at NWF began
in 1985 when she worked out of the Washington, DC office as a regional
representative to grassroot groups and agencies in the mid-Atlantic
states, the Virginias, Carolinas, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Jacqui began her conservation career as a volunteer with the Sierra
Club and worked to organize a large coalition to stop the construction
of a dam to flood Nescopeck Creek in northeastern Pennsylvania. Before
working in conservation, she held various positions with non-profit
organizations and has experience in financial development, membership,
public relations, and communications.
Jacqui currently sits on several boards and advisory committees for
the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, Penn State School of Forest
Resources, Sustainable Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellons’ Three Rivers
Second Nature Project, the Department of Environmental Protection’s
Water Resources Program, and Pennsylvania Biodiversity Partnership,
for which she chairs the Funding Task Force.
She is a graduate of Penn State and a certified paralegal. She has many
passions and pastimes, most related to the natural world.
Randall
Cooley, CEO
Westsylvania Heritage Corporation, Hollidaysburg, PA
Randall Cooley is CEO of Westsylvania Heritage Corporation (WHC), which
serves as a resource center for heritage conservation efforts in the
central Appalachians. WHC also manages the Path of Progress National
Heritage Tour Route that serves to guide visitors to stories and sites
of Westsylvania, interpreting the cultural and natural heritage of this
region.
Randy worked for the Department of Interior for 32 years in the roles
of National Park Ranger and Superintendent, and as the executive director
of a federal commission focusing on the heritage of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
He is a member of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas, past chair
of the Citizen’s Advisory Council of Pennsylvania’s Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources, and serves as a member and/or
officer on the board of directors of several corporations. Over the
years he has received numerous awards for outstanding performance including
the Honor Award for Superior Service from the Department of the Interior.
Randy enjoys reading, woodworking, and music. He and his wife spend
much of their leisure time traveling to visit their children and grandchildren.
During these jaunts they take time to visit national parks and heritage
areas.
James M.
Drager, CEO The Drager Group, Inc., Morgantown, PA
Jim's background includes over 20 years of hands-on experience in the
areas of executive management, consulting, manufacturing operations
management, sales and marketing, quality assurance and project management
with a variety of organizations including environmental, NGO, NFP, manufacturing
and health and human service organizations.
Since forming The Drager Group, Jim has worked with many local and national
organizations in the successful development and implementation of strategic
plans, focus groups, customized research, sales and marketing programs
and team building processes. Additionally, Jim has been active as a
speaker on the benefits of strategic planning, strategic marketing and
market research, having lead seminars sponsored by various industry
associations and local chambers of commerce.
Jim serves as President of the board of the Ned Smith Center for Nature
and Art, Millersburg, Pennsylvania, and has been involved with several
volunteer organizations including Chairman of the Berks County Chamber
of Commerce's Quality Partnership. He is also a member of the American
Marketing Association.
Calvin Ernst,
Founder and General Partner
Ernst Conservation Seeds, Meadville, PA
Calvin Ernst is a Penn State graduate, having earned a B.S. in Agronomy.
He founded Ernst Crownvetch Farm in 1962. His interest developed further
to include native grasses, wildflowers, and native wetland plants, later
becoming Ernst Conservation Seeds. Calvin has been a consultant to state
highway departments in the northeast, as well as landfills, various
arboreta and institutions, several national parks, and a selection of
government agencies.
Ernst Conservation Seeds produces native seeds and plants on 2,100 acres
in northwest Pennsylvania, as well as many eastern ecotypes of native
flowers and grasses particularly adapted to wetland restoration, meadow
establishment, and bioretention. Calvin is a consultant and supplier
of live stakes, wattles, and brush layering materials for bioengineering.
He is the general partner of Ernst Conservation Seeds, which includes
his business partners: his wife, Marcia, and their three children, Andy,
Michael, and Robin.
David Hackenberg,
Proprietor
Hackenberg Apiaries, Lewisburg, PA
David Hackenberg owns and operates Hackenberg Apiaries. David along
with his son, David Richard, manage 2,500 colonies of honeybees for
pollination of apples, blueberries, cherries, citrus, pumpkins, and
vegetables in Florida, Pennsylvania, Maine, Virginia and New York doing
about 6,400 pollination rentals yearly. Besides pollination of crops,
David’s operation also produces a variety of different floral
sources of honey, as well as production of honeybees for sale.
David has been a migrating beekeeper, moving bees back and forth between
the north and Florida for 39 years. Prior to 1994 David also ran a sizable
honey processing and packaging operation. In January 1994 this was destroyed
by a fire and with new change and developments in the food businesses,
he decided to concentrate on beekeeping. Since then he continues to
be a honey buyer for a large packer in the U.S. as well as a broker
for bee hauling in eastern U.S.
David and his wife, Linda, have four children: two
sons, David R. who works and owns 1/5 of the bees, and Kevin who is
involved in Film & Video Production, and two daughters: Jeanne who
is continuing her education to receive her masters degree, and Betsy
who graduated from college and is between jobs helping in the office,
as well as a daughter-in-law, Beth (David R.’s wife) and two grandsons,
Joseph and Justin.
David is Past President of the American Beekeeping Federation and current
member of the National Honey Board.
Jack Hubley, Outdoors Communicator
Lititz, PA
Jack Hubley has been involved with outdoors communications
for over 25 years, including 18 years as the outdoors editor for the
Lancaster Sunday News. He’s been producing and hosting nature
programming for the last 17 years, including Call of the Outdoors,
Call of the Outdoors for Kids, and Wild Moments, a
nationally syndicated nature show which aired in more than 140 markets
nationwide. Jack is currently the producer and host of A Wild Moment,
which airs during WGAL’s (the Lancaster-based NBC affiliate) Friday
newscast at 5:30 pm.
Jack is a lifelong resident of Lititz, where he lives with his wife
Tina, two daughters, two English setters, and a wide variety of critters
of the eight-, six-, four-, two- and no-legged varieties. Jack is a
licensed master falconer and one of two dozen eagle falconers nationwide
who are licensed to hunt with golden eagles. He is a graduate of Lebanon
Valley College.
Ken Klemow,
Professor
Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA
Dr. Ken Klemow serves as the Chair of the Pennsylvania
Biodiversity Partnership’s Biodiversity Informatics Task Force.
He is a Professor of Biology and GeoEnvironmental Science at Wilkes
University, Wilkes-Barre, where he teaches courses in Ecology, Field
Botany, Plant Diversity, and Medical Botany. He serves as the Curator
of Wilkes’s Rosenthal Herbarium, and Director of its Wetland and
Restoration Ecology Laboratory. In his twenty-three years at Wilkes,
Ken has involved over 50 undergraduate students in a variety of biodiversity-related
projects, including wetland ecology and mapping; creating online taxonomic
keys for vascular plants; restoring lands and waterways impacted by
anthracite mining; and inventorying street trees in the Wyoming Valley.
Ken organized the Ecological Society of America’s Education Section,
currently serves on the ESA’s Education and Human Resources Committee,
and spearheads its digital library for ecology education effort (EcoEd.net).
Ken is a Certified Senior Ecologist and is listed in the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection Registry of Wetland Consultants
and Professional Botanists. He is an active practitioner of science,
being the owner of a private consulting company that conducts wetland
delineations and botanical assessments.
Ken received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Miami and his
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Ecology from the State University of
New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.
Scott R.
Klinger, Director
Bureau of Land Management, Pennsylvania Game Commission
Scott received his B.S. in Forest Biology from The
Pennsylvania State University and his M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from
Kansas State University. Scott spent nine years as a Wildlife Biologist
and Forest Administrator with the Department of the Army in Kansas and
Georgia. In 1991, he transferred to the Southern Region of the US Forest
Service and served as the Neotropical Migratory Bird Coordinator and
Wildlife Planner for the Southern Region of the US Forest Service and
as the Forest Wildlife Biologist on the George Washington National Forest
in Virginia and West Virginia. After transferring to the Pennsylvania
Game Commission, he served as the Private Lands Biologist and Farm Bill
Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. In January 2004, he
was promoted to Director, Bureau of Land Management and currently directs
the management of over 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands.
Scott serves on numerous International Association of Fish and Wildlife
Agencies Committees. In 2002, he received the Wildlife Management Institutes
highest conservation award, the International Touchstone Award, for
his farsighted creativity and tireless efforts to help frame, expand,
and implement Pennsylvania’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program (CREP), improving land, water, and wildlife conservation on
265,000 acres of private lands in 59 Pennsylvania counties. He is a
member of the Society of American Foresters and is currently serving
as President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Wildlife Society and
as the Chair of the Pennsylvania Biodiversity Partnership’s Stewardship
Task Force. Scott is a native Pennsylvanian and grew up on a farm in
eastern Snyder County. He and his wife Jan reside outside Kreamer, Pennsylvania.
Paul Lyskava,
Executive Director
Pennsylvania Forest Products Association, Hershey, PA
Paul Lyskava has been the Executive Director the Pennsylvania Forest
Products Association (PFPA) since 2002. PFPA is the state’s largest
trade association for the forest products industry, representing approximately
220 companies and organizations engaged in or serving the various sectors
of the forest products industry. PFPA educates public officials and
the general public on forest management issues and the impact of the
industry on the state’s economy. It also keeps the industry on
the forefront concerning responsible forest management and government
rules.
Prior to joining PFPA, Paul served as the Executive Director of the
Hardwoods Development Council (HDC), a bureau of the Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture, for nearly four years. His previous professional experience
also includes working in various economic development and governmental
affairs positions for the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association, a
Harrisburg-based trade association. Paul serves as Chair of the Pennsylvania
Biodiversity Partnership’s Policy Task Force
Paul is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and earned a Masters
Degree in Public Administration from Penn State. Paul, his wife Kathleen,
and son Sean, reside in Camp Hill.
Eric Martin,
Co-Owner
Wilderness Voyageurs, Ohiopyle, PA
Eric is an avid outdoor athlete, spending as much
time as possible in a kayak, on a mountain bike, or prospecting for
trout. He competed in whitewater slalom kayaking, spending ten years
on the U.S. National Team. Eric graduated from the University of Maryland
with a B.S. in International Recreation Marketing. Presently he is the
co-owner of the family business, Wilderness Voyageurs, based in Ohiopyle,
Pennsylvania. Wilderness Voyageurs is the oldest whitewater outfitter
east of the Mississippi River, celebrating more than 40 years in business.
Under Eric’s leadership, the company has greatly expanded its
offerings, among them, interpretive trips for senior citizens and curriculum-based
school field trips. Eric has been very active in the tourism industry
both on the state and national level.
Eric has served on numerous committees, including the Ohiopyle Boro
Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee; Allegheny Trail Alliance, Interpretive
Concept Plan Steering Committee; facilitator of the “Summit on
Tourism,” sponsored by Senator Kukovich; Pennsylvania Tourism
Strategic Plan recreation representative; Conservation and Natural Resource
Advisory Council; and the Board of Directors of America Outdoors.
Andrew McElwaine,
President & CEO
Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Harrisburg, PA
Andrew McElwaine is the President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental
Council (PEC). For thirty years PEC has served as Pennsylvania’s
leading environmental education and advocacy organization, emphasizing
sustainable use of land and resources, conservation of essential watersheds
and innovation.
Prior to joining PEC, Andrew was Director of Environment Programs at
the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Endowments, where he helped to create their
environment programs and served as their first environment program director.
In addition, he served as an Alternate Commissioner on Governor Ridge’s
Commission on the 21st Century Environment, and is a Board member of
the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Environmental Resources Trust, Sustainable
Energy Fund of Central Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Biodiversity
Partnership. In 1998, he co-founded Enterprising Environmental Solutions,
Inc. (EESI), a non-profit corporation devoted to the use of market forces
to improve environmental quality.
Andrew is an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University and
the University of Pittsburgh. He served as a staff member of President
George H. Bush’s Commission on Environmental Quality, and as a
legislative assistant and subcommittee staff director for the late U.S.
Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania. He was also Director of Congressional
Affairs for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. He holds a
M.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University, a M.A. degree from George
Mason University, and a B.A. degree from Duke University.
Ben Moyer,
Outdoor Writer and Conservation Consultant
Farmington, PA
Ben Moyer is a native western Pennsylvania author,
editor, columnist, and conservation consultant whose writing on natural
resource issues and the outdoor experience has appeared in numerous
local, state and national publications. He is outdoor columnist and
feature writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and from 1992
until January 2002 he worked as Editor of Pennsylvania Sportsman
magazine.
Ben’s writing has garnered numerous awards from the Pennsylvania
Outdoor Writers Association and the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers Association.
He was honored as Conservation Communicator of the Year for 2001 by
the Pennsylvania Audubon Society in recognition of a series of articles
on the impacts of white-tailed deer on biodiversity in Pennsylvania.
He is a Past President and Board Chairman of the Pennsylvania Outdoor
Writers Association, and a member of the Mason-Dixon Outdoor Writers
Association and the Outdoor Writers Association of America. He has served
as a member of the Governor’s Sportsmen’s Advisory Council
and the Pennsylvania Deer Management Working Group.
Edward F.
Schroth, Adjunct Professor
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
Edward F. Schroth serves as an adjunct professor in the Biology, Education,
and Environmental Science departments at Duquesne University. He has
been director for four years of a summer camp for middle school students
entitled Solving Environmental Mysteries Using Science (SEMUS). At Carnegie
Mellon University, he designed and conducted teacher workshops on biodiversity,
acid deposition, and comparative biology.
He formerly taught at the Quaker Valley School District for 36 years.
During his tenure at Quaker Valley, he initiated programs in independent
student research, environmental science curriculum for elementary and
secondary programs, and sponsored "Up the Creek," a stream
biology club that conducted field research on local streams in western
Pennsylvania. He has organized and conducted four different student
delegations to China for academic field biology exchanges with Chinese
students and faculty both at Quaker Valley (1994, 1997 & 1999) and
Duquesne University (August 2004). Ed is co-chair of the Pennsylvania
Biodiversity Partnership’s Education Task Force.
Blaine Puller,
Forest Manager
Kane Hardwood, a Collins Company, Kane, PA
Blaine Puller is the forest manager at Kane Hardwood, a Collins Company
in Kane, Pennsylvania. His responsibilities include supplying the sawmill
with logs and the management of the 126,000-acre Collins Pennsylvania
Forest. Oversight of the nine-person forestry department involves sales
and marketing, forest management, public relations, Forest Stewardship
Council certification, and oil and gas activity.
Blaine received a B.S. degree in Forest Science from the Pennsylvania
State University in 1972 and has worked at Collins for 29 years in various
forestry positions. Prior to working for Collins, he was employed as
a logger and worked in timber procurement and other forest management
positions.
His interests include all outdoor activities and motorcycle riding.
A native of McKean County, he is a member of the Norwich Volunteer Fire
Department and is active in the local community.
John Rawlins,
Associate Curator
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA
Raised on a sheep ranch in eastern Oregon, Dr. John Rawlins studied
vertebrate zoology, cell biology, and statistics as an undergraduate
at Oregon State University, then insect systematics at Cornell University.
After receiving a doctorate at Cornell, he became an Assistant Professor
of Zoology at the University of Texas, Austin, for several years before
moving to Carnegie Museum of Natural History as the curator in charge
of the Section of Invertebrate Zoology.
John’s research interests emphasize the morphology and phylogeny
of Lepidoptera with a special focus on the immature stages of moths
and a globally active interest in biotic inventory and the use of insects
(especially moths) as indicator systems for habitat conservation and
resource management.
Some current projects include a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded
biotic inventory of invertebrates and plants on Hispaniola, assisting
an NSF-sponsored inventory of butterflies in Ghana, molecular and morphological
studies on phylogeny of world cutworm moths and their relatives, federally
funded State Wildlife Project for Invertebrate Species of Special Concern
in Pennsylvania, and collaborative work on Neotropical ghost moths and
Pennsylvania fireflies.
John administers the Section of Invertebrate Zoology at Carnegie Museum
of Natural History and curates its rapidly growing Lepidoptera collection
with global strength in every lineage of moths and butterflies, especially
tropical Africa, the Caribbean, and the New World tropics.
Sue Thompson, President
Pennsylvania Biodiversity Partnership, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. Sue A. Thompson is the President and CEO of the Pennsylvania Biodiversity
Partnership, a public-private partnership to conserve biodiversity statewide.
A botanist by training and specialist in the Jack-in-the-pulpit plant
family (Araceae), Sue counts among her special research interests ethnobotany
and pollination biology, as well as biodiversity. She has an undergraduate
degree in anthropology from Harvard University; a master's in botany
from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in plant biology
from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Her extensive field
research experience covers Africa, South America, Central America, the
Caribbean, and North America - including Pennsylvania.
Sue has authored over 70 scientific papers, reports, and popular publications,
including "Status of vascular plants in Pennsylvania" and
treatments of Araceae (Jack-in-the-pulpit family) and Acoraceae (sweet
flag family) for the Flora of North America. Sue has been active for
over 20 years in biodiversity and conservation in Pennsylvania, including
appointments to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Advisory Council, the Wild Resource Conservation Fund Advisory Committee,
and the Vascular Plant Technical Committee of the Pennsylvania Biological
Survey.
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