Michael Dombeck

Michael Dombeck

Michael "Mike" P. Dombeck is an American conservationist, educator, scientist, and outdoorsman. He served as Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management from 1994–1997 and was the 14th Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1997 to 2001. Michael also served as UW System Fellow and Professor of Global conservation at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2001 to 2010.

Early Life

Born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and raised in Sawyer County, Dombeck worked as a fishing guide for 11 summers in the Hayward area. he attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and earned a B.S. in biology and general sciences and a master of science in biology and education degrees. He attended the University of Minnesota, earning a M.S. in Zoology and earned a Ph D from Iowa State University in 1984. his reserch included studies on the movement, behavior, reproduction, and early life ecology of the Muskellunge, Wisconsin's state fish. He was Program Chairman of the 1st International Muskellunge Symposium held in 1984.

Family

He married Patricia Rider in 1975 and they have one daughter, Mary.

Early Career

After three years of teaching various sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Michael Dombeck joined the U.S. Forest Service as a fisheries biologist on the Hiawatha National Forest. He held additional Forest Service assignments throughout the Midwest and California, focused on both aquatic research and fisheries management, afterwhich he was promoted to National Fisheries Program Manager for the U.S.F.S. He spent a year in 1989 as a LEGIS Fellow working in the U.S. Senate on agriculture and appropriations issues.

Federal Service

At the beginning of the George H. W. Bush administration, Dombeck was assigned as Special Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and later was named Science Advisor. At the beginning of the Clinton Administration, he was assigned Action Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals Management. In 1994 he was appointed Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management by Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt. Dombeck held that position until 1997 when Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman named him the 14th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

As USFS Chief, his priorities included watershed health and restoration, sustainable forest ecosystem management, and roadless area protection, which became a very controversial issue. Due to the lack of support of roadless area protection by the George W. Bush administration, Dombeck retired from federal service in 2001. He was granted tthe highest award in career federal service, the Presidential Rank-Distinguished Executive Award, in 2001.

Post Federal Service

After retiring from federal service, Dombeck took a position as Professor of Global Conservation at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and was later named UW System Fellow, where he served from 2001 to 2010. He currently serves as Executive Director of the David Smith Post Doctoral Fellowship in conservation Biology (since 2005), as a trustee of the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread (since 2002), Trout Unlimited (since 2010), and the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy (since 2009).

Dombeck has authored, co-authored, and edited over 200 popular and scholarly publications, including the books Watershed Restoration: Principles and Practices and From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy.^[1]

Awards

Ansel Adams Award, 2010

Aldo Leopold Restoration Award, 2009

Fellow. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences. 2008

Honorary Doctorate, Haverford University, 2007

Wisconsin Idea Professor, University of Wisconsin System, 2004

Sustained Achievement Award, Renewable Natural Resources Foundation, 2003

Distinguished Service Award, Society for Conservation Biology, 2003

Audubon Medal, National Audubon Society, 2002

Lady Bird Johnson Conservation Award, 2002

Edgar Wayburn Award, Sierra Club, 2002

Presidential Rank – Distinguished Executive Award, 2001

Chief Emeritus, United States Forest Service, 2001

Honorary Doctor of Public Service, Northland College, Ashland, WI, 2001

Chair's Award, Natural Resources Council of America, 2001

Conservation Hero of the Year, The Wilderness Society, 2001

Conservationist of the Year, National Wildlife Federation, 2001

Man of the Year, American Sportfishing Association, 1999

Outdoor Life Magazine Annual Conservation Award, 1999

Secretary’s Award for Outstanding Federal Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1999

Wetlands Conservationist Award, Ducks Unlimited, 1998

Distinguished Alumnus, University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, 1997

President's Fishery Conservation Award, American Fisheries Society, 1996

References

1. ^ Michael P. Dombeck - Publications

External links

• Michael Dombeck biography (Forest History Society)

Persondata
Name	Dombeck, Michael
Alternative names	Mike
Short description	14th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and Professor of Global Conservation
Date of birth	September 21, 1948
Place of birth	Stevens Point, Wisconsin, USA
Date of death
Place of death