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.

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Deja Vu in Kiwi-Ancient Forests

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On December 14th, 2011
To the untrained eye, New Zealand forests have a tropical feel somewhat out-of-character in a temperate world.
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Temperate Rainforests Down Under Owe Existence to Ancient Ark

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On December 9th, 2011
Some 38-45 million years ago, Australia broke off from its parent super-continent, Gondwana, and began drifting northward.  In its long and arduous journey, the ark rafted ancient species forced to cope with a cooling and drying climate.
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Occupy the Tongass Rainforest?

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On November 7th, 2011
Taking America by storm with actions reminiscent of the 60s, “Occupy Wall Street” has gone viral in an attempt to raise awareness about corporate interests being placed above public needs.
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Historic Temperate Rainforest Agreement Down to the Fine Print

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On August 22nd, 2011
After 30 years of controversy that tore at the social fabric of Tasmania, the federal and Tasmanian governments of Australia finally signed the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement to provide support and funding that will help the timber industry transition out of native-forest logging and will protect the region’s high-conservation-value rainforests. In sum, the government will provide much-needed financial support for workers and contractors to cease logging native forests while it takes legal steps to protect these forests as formal reserves similar to national parks.
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Living In A World of Extremes

By Dominick A. DellaSala / On April 20th, 2011
For over 30 years, I’ve worked in rainforest ecosystems. My senses are finely tuned to the sweet smell of cedar and pine, sap runs through my veins, and I have learned how to read the forest like the pages of a good mystery novel. But each year, I do an annual trek to the desert where rainforests give way to spiny, prickly things with names like pincushion and rainbow cactus, prickly pear cactus, and ocotillo. This year, I arrived in the Sonoran desert just outside Phoenix, Arizona during an early spring bloom where I was greeted by a kaleidoscope of colors and unfamiliar scents.