I am a wildlife biologist with a passion for Herpetology, particularly salamanders. I grew up in North Carolina where I developed a passion for wildlife in a manner that brings into question the sanity of my supportive parents and grandparents. In high school I made a fateful decision to join the Junior Curator Program at the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. As a junior curator I met my best friend David Cooper and his parents Martha and John Cooper. Among many other things John Cooper was a herpetologist, and Martha Cooper a biologist both with an amazing breadth of knowledge, curiosity, patience, and above all a willingness to schlep two kids all over the place looking at wildlife (mostly herps). I went sliding down that terrible all consuming path of Herpetology with the support of David Cooper, Martha Cooper, John Cooper (Curator of Crustaceans), Jeff Beane (Herpetology Collections Manager), Alvin Braswell (then Curator of Herpetology), and Bill Palmer (Curator Emeritus of Herpetology). There are too many other people that are also to blame to list (Dave Stephan, Wilson Laney, Dave Woodward, Dan Lockwood, Anne Somers…), but I thank all of you for your support and patience over the years. I also believe that the North Carolina Herpetological Society has played a very large role in developing an excellent community for nurturing young herpetologists over the years and excellent programs for fostering conservation in NC.
I spent most of my years in high school herping throughout the southeastern US with my friends. Upon buying my first car the world opened up and we endlessly spent our time looking for new NC county species records and range extensions with the encouragement and support of the museum curators and staff. In 1998 I had a wonderful time attending the fourth Plethodontid Conference in Highlands, NC and witnessed a passionate and opinionated debate over “What is a species?” between Richard Highton, David Wake, and Stephen Tilley; that had to be adjourned to some other period such as dinner or the social. My world expanded dramatically when I attended the 1999 SSAR meeting in Boone, NC where I met people from all over the world interested in Herpetology and there was no doubt what I wanted to do in college. Over those years in high school I had spent long periods indulging my passion for salamanders and other herps finding new records, reconfirming old ones, and learning to identify adults, juveniles, eggs, and their larvae.
In college at NC State University I enrolled in the Zoology undergraduate program and was allowed to take the graduate Herpetology course under Dr. Harold Heatwole and Alvin Braswell (then NCSMN Curator of Herpetology). I enjoyed this course immensely and received an A in the course. Ironically in this course I met Bryan Stuart who is the current NCMNS Curator of Herpetology. I also had the opportunity during this period to spend a few weeks during two monsoon seasons in Arizona and they were definitely the trips of a lifetime.
I attended graduate school at Appalachian State University from 1999-2001. Where I formulated my thesis and project design for “Effects of salamander abundance on leaf litter decomposition and soil arthroprod communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northwestern North Carolina”.
In 2002 I made my way to California where the job outlook was much better for a wildlife biologist and have lived there ever since. I have worked with many wildlife species throughout CA and other states over the years as can be seen by my resume, and still maintain my passion for Herpetology. My primary work over the years has been environmental consulting interspersed with various wildlife research oriented projects that allowed me to gain experience with a variety of special status species.
Feel free to contact me with any questions or GIS and wildlife related opportunities, and resume can be downloaded from here.