Wayne Spencer, Ph.D.
Conservation Biologist, Conservation Planner
Email: wdspencer@consbio.org See CV [PDF]
Wayne Spencer is a conservation biologist and conservation planner who specializes in the practical design and study of nature reserves and the recovery of endangered species. He grew up rambling the north woods of Wisconsin, learning woodsman's ways from his father (who still makes maple syrup and alder whistles at the family cabin, Highbanks). Those experiences provoked an enduring interest in nature and wildlife and led Wayne to the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where he earned a B.S. in Wildlife Management and Biology, sharpened a keen interest in the ways of forest mammals, and developed an appreciation for research.
He moved west to study at Berkeley, where he earned his M.S. studying pine martens in the Sierra Nevada-working on skis and learning to snow camp. He stayed on another year in the Forestry Department at Berkeley under grants from the U.S. Forest Service, which supported his continued field studies and publications on martens, home range analysis, and old growth forests. Wayne then went on for a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. There he broadened his research interests, studying the community ecology of desert rodents, animal space-use behavior, and the evolution of animal cognition and the brain.
Since then Dr. Spencer has resided in San Diego, California, where he uses his educational and research experience, and a pragmatic understanding of land-use planning, to help design and analyze large-scale, multi-species habitat conservation plans in this hotspot of biodiversity and species endangerment. Among his current projects, Dr. Spencer serves as principal biologist for the Multiple Habitat Conservation Program in San Diego County, which covers seven cities and scores of protected species. He also oversees several other conservation plans under California's Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) program. He serves as principal investigator for recovery research on the critically endangered Pacific little pocket mouse (the smallest and rarest of the little pocket mice), and he recently designed a habitat management plan for a newfound population of the endangered Stephens' kangaroo rat.
Dr. Spencer has taught biology courses at the University of Arizona and has presented numerous lectures to both lay and academic audiences on ecology, wildlife conservation, animal behavior, and resources management. He lives with his biologist wife and two sons and enjoys (too rarely) fly fishing, camping, and gardening.
