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Michael P. Dombeck is an American conservationist, educator, scientist, and
outdoorsman Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...
. He served as acting director of the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
from 1994 to 1997 and was the 14th Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1997 to 2001. Dombeck also served as UW System Fellow and Professor of Global Conservation at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point from 2001 to 2010. He has been the executive director of the David Smith Post-Doctoral Conservation Research Fellowship since 2005.


Early career

Dombeck worked as a fishing guide for 11 summers near Hayward, Wisconsin, which informed the path his career would take. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and earned a B.S. in biology and general sciences and an M.S.T. in biology and education degrees. He attended the University of Minnesota, earning an M.S. in Zoology and later earned a PhD from Iowa State University in 1984. His research included studies on the movement, behavior, reproduction, and early life ecology of the muskellunge, Wisconsin's
state fish This is a list of official and unofficial U.S. state fishes: __TOC__ Table See also * Lists of U.S. state insignia * Lists of U.S. state animals Notes References Netstate.com state fish tables External links {{state insignia .State ...
. His research lead him to become Program Chairman of the 1st International Muskellunge Symposium held in 1984 with proceedings published by the American Fisheries Society. After three years of teaching zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Dombeck joined the United States Forest Service (USFS) as a fisheries
biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual cell, a multicellular organism, or a community of interacting populations. They usually specialize in ...
on the Hiawatha National Forest. He held additional Forest Service assignments throughout the
Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
and California, focused on both aquatic research and fisheries management, after which he was promoted to National Fisheries Program Manager for the USFS where he led the integration of aquatic resources considerations into national forest management and the Rise to the Future Program. He spent a year in 1989 as a LEGIS Fellow working in the U.S. Senate on agriculture and appropriations issues.


Federal Service


Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

At the beginning of the
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
administration, Dombeck was assigned as Special Assistant to the Director of the
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
and later was named Science Advisor. At the beginning of the
Clinton Administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...
, he was assigned Acting 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. Dombeck's time at the BLM was marked by a focus on wildlife protection, riparian and aquatic resources an
InFish
Dombeck worked closely with then Forest Service Chief
Jack Ward Thomas Jack Ward Thomas (September 7, 1934 – May 26, 2016) was the thirteenth chief of the U.S. Forest Service, serving during the Clinton administration years of 1993–1996. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas. His undergraduate education and degr ...
to increase the two agencies' accessibility to public land users, and to promote ecosystem-based management and watershed restoration on public land.


United States Forest Service

In 1997, Dombeck and the Forest Service Leadership team crafted a four-point agenda, known a
The Natural Resources Agenda
It emphasized four major topics; watershed health and restoration, ecologically sustainable forest and grasslands management, recreation and a long-term forest roads policy. Dombeck emphasized the importance of clean water as a forest a product, appointing a task force of scientists and economists to the quantity and value of water flowing from the National Forests. He staunchly defended land conservation and science-based management in speeches delivered to U.S. Congress. Under Dombeck's leadership, the
roadless rule Roadless area conservation is a conservation policy limiting road construction and the resulting environmental impact on designated areas of public land. In the United States, roadless area conservation has centered on U.S. Forest Service area ...
was developed, which protected 58 million acres of the most remote national forest lands. Dombeck out laid his proposal for roadless area management in a speech in 2000. This provided the groundwork for enhancing and increasing Americans’ experiences in the nation's forests by protecting million acres of the remaining wildest places for outdoor recreation and protecting the health and quality of watersheds and ecosystems. His career in public service was recognized with the highest award in career federal service, the Presidential Rank-Distinguished Executive Award by President George W. Bush in 2001. He was the only person to have led the nation's two largest public land management agencies.


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 Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...
(since 2005), as a trustee of the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread (since 2002), and is a former trustee for Trout Unlimited and the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy.


Awards

For his efforts in land conservation, Dombeck was awarded the Ansel Adams Award in 2010,"Dombeck receives Ansel Adams Award for protecting National Forests." http://wilderness.org/content/dombeck-receives-ansel-adams-award-leadership-protecting-national-forests. 2010 the Aldo Leopold Restoration Award in 2009, an honorary doctorate from Haverford University in 2007
Conservationist of the Year
by the National Wildlife Federation in 2001, US-IALE Distinguished Landscape Practitioner in 2019, and numerous other awards.


References


External links


Michael Dombeck biography
( Forest History Society)
Michael Dombeck UW Stevens Point Archival Papers

Michael Dombeck Clinton Library Archival Papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dombeck, Michael Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American biologists American conservationists University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences alumni People from Sawyer County, Wisconsin People from Stevens Point, Wisconsin United States Forest Service officials