Jim is a tree dangling, question asking biologist and educator studying arboreal mammals in the most up close and personal way possible – by climbing eighty plus feet off the ground to survey for nests. His excitement about the red tree vole and their persistence on the landscape is palpable. "They are goddam hard to study and goddam interesting," he says. Jim researches with the intention of trying to answer the most constant question for him: why? This wonder and excitement is passed along to his students at Oregon State University and the Forest Service where he teaches others to tree climb, run chainsaws, and value the ecological history and complexity of old growth forests. Deeply connected to his roots in the Olympic Peninsula, Jim finds great value in knowing a landscape intimately and considers knowledge of the land an important tool in both wildlife research and land management.
Jim’s current research focuses on how the red tree vole, an old growth associated species, can persist in landscapes dominated by young forests with stands averaging less than eighty years. Jim finds purpose in working with species associated with the Northwest Forest Plan as it gives research and data collection the capacity to affect land management decisions in meaningful ways.
He has studied a variety of raptor species (northern spotted owls, American goshawks, northern pygmy owls, peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, and northern goshawks) as well as mammalian predators (American martens) and their prey (red tree voles). He assists other researchers as a tree climbing biologist able to collect often difficult to access data. In his free time, Jim enjoys working on working on projects with friends and family, operating chainsaws and power tools, and showing others the ropes.
Jim’s current research focuses on how the red tree vole, an old growth associated species, can persist in landscapes dominated by young forests with stands averaging less than eighty years. Jim finds purpose in working with species associated with the Northwest Forest Plan as it gives research and data collection the capacity to affect land management decisions in meaningful ways.
He has studied a variety of raptor species (northern spotted owls, American goshawks, northern pygmy owls, peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons, and northern goshawks) as well as mammalian predators (American martens) and their prey (red tree voles). He assists other researchers as a tree climbing biologist able to collect often difficult to access data. In his free time, Jim enjoys working on working on projects with friends and family, operating chainsaws and power tools, and showing others the ropes.