David Johns earned degrees in law and political science from Columbia University. He currently teaches politics and law in the School of Government at Portland State University. David is a co-founder of The Wildlands Project and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiatives, both NGOs that rely heavily on science in shaping conservation goals. David has written extensively on the role of science in conservation and the politics of the conservation movement. CBI Board member since 1997.
Dan Airola is a Wildlife Biologist with strong experience in corporate management of consulting businesses, natural resource planning, and biological consulting and research. Dan is President of Conservation Research and Planning, a small northern California firm. He recently retired as present of Northwest Hydraulic Consultants Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of NHC Ltd, a $30 MM Canadian firm that specializes in water resource science and engineering. He also served as co-chair of the firm’s Board of Directors.
Previously, Dan ran his own sole-proprietorship biological consulting firm, served as Vice President and Board Chair of Jones & Stokes Associates, a western U.S. Environmental Consulting firm, and worked as a biologist and planner for the Lassen National Forest. Altogether, he has 40 years of experience practicing and managing environmental and engineering consulting firms based in northern California. He also serves as a Director of an environmental consulting firm and hyrology consulting firm in California and several non-profit conservation groups.
Independently Dan conducts long-term research and conservation programs on at-risk bird species and bird-urban habitat relationships. He has conducted long-term studies and published over 60 scientific papers, including works on the population status, ecology, and conservation of the Purple Martin and Tricolored Blackbird, importance of native oaks to migrant and resident birds in urban habitats, Turkey Vulture and Swainson’s Hawk migration, and effects of West Nile Virus on bird populations.