Dominick A. DellaSala

Dominick A. DellaSala

Dr. Dominick A. DellaSala is President and Chief Scientist of the Geos Institute in Ashland, Oregon and President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section. Dominick is an internationally renowned author of over 150 technical papers, including the award winning “Temperate and Boreal Rainforests of the World.” Dominick has given plenary and keynote talks ranging from academic conferences to the United Nations (Earth Summit II). He has appeared in National Geographic, Science Digest, Science, Time, Audubon, National Wildlife, High Country News, Terrain Magazine, NY Times, LA Times, USA Today, Jim Lehrer News Hour, CNN, MSNBC, “Living on Earth,” and several PBS wildlife documentaries.
He has testified in congressional hearings in defense of the Endangered Species Act, roadless area conservation, national monument designations, forest protections, and climate change among others. For his efforts to help foster national roadless area conservation and support designation of new national monuments, he received conservation leadership awards from the World Wildlife Fund in 2000 and 2004, the Wilburforce Foundation in 2006, and was twice nominated for conservation awards for his work as a whistleblower while on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service spotted owl recovery team. His rainforest book received an academic excellence award in 2012 from Choicemagazine, one of the nation's premier book review journals. Dominick co-founded the Geos Institute in July 2006. He is motivated by leaving a living planet for his daughter and all those to follow.

default blog post image

Why Biodiversity is Important to Solving Climate Chaos: Top 10 Reasons

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On September 13th, 2013
Having jump-started my career as a conservation biologist riding the 1980s explosion of scientific and public interest in biodiversity, I have progressively witnessed how biophilia has given way to climate change concerns with the public, decision makers, scientists, and philanthropists (who have increasingly moved funding out of biodiversity and into climate change). In the meantime, we have lost sight of why biodiversity is critical to solving climate chaos.
default blog post image

Benefit of thinning forests for spotted owls is not so clear-cut

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On August 16th, 2012
The July 26 editorial "Logging for spotted owls" dismisses decades of scientific research by touting one new study that suggests "heavy thinning" (aka, clear-cut lite) of forests could benefit spotted owls. Based on a single computer simulation, the new study suggests that intensive logging will magically prevent "catastrophic fires" such as the Biscuit that "wiped out" owls and other wildlife.
default blog post image

When Will the Fish & Wildlife Service Give a Hoot for Spotted Owls?

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On July 5th, 2012
Perhaps no other species symbolizes the conflict over logging in the Pacific Northwest more than the northern spotted owl. This medium-sized, forest-dwelling raptor has been credited with shutting down the logging industry in the 1990s and with shouldering the responsibility of conservation for hundreds of species that share its old-growth forest habitat.
default blog post image

Time for British Columbia Provincial Government to Stand Tall on Historic Rainforest Agreements

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On May 15th, 2012
British Columbia is endowed with the 7.4 million hectare Great Bear Rainforest and adjacent offshore archipelago of Haida Gwaii, one of the few remaining large blocks of comparatively unmodified landscapes on earth. The Great Bear includes over a quarter of the Pacific Coastal rainforests of North America and is home to spectacular wildlife and prodigious salmon runs that are increasingly rare around the world.
default blog post image

Earth Day 2012: Is there still time to save spaceship earth?

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On April 20th, 2012
“. . . the planet is quite fragile. It reminded me of a Christmas tree ornament . . . . We’re not the center of the universe; we’re way out in left field on a tiny dust mote, but it is our home and we need to take care of it.”   —Apollo 8 Astronaut William Anders lamenting about his December 1968 “Earthrise” photo – the first image ever taken of Earth from the moon.