Dr. Scott has devoted a lifetime to the study and conservation of the world’s rarest species. He is a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, leader of the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and a Professor of Fish and Wildlife Resources at the University of Idaho. He has published more than 200 journal articles and written or edited nine books. His work has been recognized with multiple national and international awards from public agencies, nonprofit groups and professional societies. Techniques he helped develop to estimate population sizes of birds and identify conservation status of species and ecosystems are being used worldwide to inform natural resource management and policy decisions. His current research focuses on recovery of endangered species. In doing so he and his colleagues have documented that 84 % of currently listed species will require continuing management activities even after recovery goals have been achieved. This finding suggests that our relationship with nature has fundamentally changed. The work of Dr. Scott his students, colleagues public land management agencies and ranchers is documenting the elements of America’s landscape needed to save species while they are still common and improve effectiveness of recovery actions for imperiled species.
Selected Publications
- Scott, J.M. , P. Heglund et al. (editors). Predicting species occurrence: Issues of accuracy and scale. Island Press, Covelo, CA
- Scott,J.M., F. Davis, B. Csuti, R. Noss, B. Butterfield, C. Groves, H. Anderson, S. Caicco, F. D’Erchia, T.C. Edwards, Jr., J. Ulliman, and R.G. Wright. 1993. Gap Analysis: A geographic approach to protection of biological diversity. Wildlife Monograph, No. 123:1-41.
- Tear, T.H., J.M. Scott, P.H. Hayward, and B. Griffith. 1993. Status and prospects for success of the Endangered Species Act: A look at recovery plans. Science 262:976-977.
- Scott, J.M., S. Mountainspring, F.L. Ramsey, and C.B. Kepler. 1986. Forest bird communities of the Hawaiian Islands: Their dynamics, ecology and conservation. Studies in Avian Biology 9, 431 pp
- Scott, J.M. D.D. Goble, A. Haines and J.A. Wiens M. Neel In Press Conservation reliant species: Our new relationship with nature. Conservation Letters
Outreach Projects
Past member The Nature Conservancy Senior Science Advisory Board , currently Member Lava Lake Institute for Science and Conservation and Doris Duke Charitable Association science advisory Boards ,Member Board of Directors Society for Conservation Biology, Member Editorial Board BioScience magazine , member several committees of professional societies
Awards and Honors
- George B. Fell Award Natural Areas Association for leadership in science and conservation in the Western Hemisphere especially in the fields of ornithology, conservation biology and management of endangered species. Fall 2009
- American Ornithologists Union Conservation Award Summer 2006: International award presented for extraordinary scientific contributions to the conservation, restoration or preservation of birds and their habitats by an individual Distinguished Service Award US Department of Interior 2006: Highest Award given to career employee by Department of Interior Star Award 2004 U.S. Geological Survey for research on Endangered Species Act Honorary Member Cooper Ornithological Society, 2001 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science for pioneering use of Landsat in predicting species occurrences, 1999
- Twentieth Century Distinguished Service Award, from the Ninth Lukacs Symposium, for outstanding contribution to the development and direction of cross-disciplinary research and a combination of practicality and scholarship for statistics, ecology, environment, and society, in the form of risk assessment and management symposium was sponsored by the Ecological Society of America International Statistical Institute, American Statistical Association and the Society for Risk Analysis, 1999
- Edward T. La Roe III Award from the Society for Conservation Biology for outstanding application of research results to management actions and policy initiatives; work on Hawaiian Forest Bird Survey, Gap Analysis, and recovery of endangered species were singled out for special attention, 1998
*see CV for a complete list of awards, publications and projects.