Our team

John Donahue became the President and Executive Directors of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation (PIC) in January 2023. He was an environmental consultant and President of Three Rivers Environmental Consulting from 2018 to 2023. In recent years, he worked on the Mountain Valley Pipeline project helping to establish a 20-million-dollar fund for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC). He was the Delaware River Watershed Coordinator for ATC from 2018 until 2020. He helped establish the Climate Conservation Corps at the New Jersey Youth Corps Phillipsburg. 

Prior to that he was a National Park Service employee for 38 years and a Park Superintendent for 24 years of those years. He spent the last 14 years with the NPS as Superintendent of Delaware Water Gap NRA and was instrumental in establishing the 66-million-dollar Middle Delaware Fund for the park, resulting from the Susquehanna to Roseland powerline project. He has overseen hundreds of millions of dollars in construction, wetland and historic restoration, and road projects for the agency as well as representing the NPS on pipeline and powerline projects. He has written policy, legislation, and regulations on issues as diverse as NEPA, solid waste, agriculture, and integrated pest management. 

He graduated from the Senior Executive Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a graduate of the Public Leadership Program at the Brookings Institute. He is a trustee of the NJ Highlands Coalition, a former board of the Pinchot Institute, the NPCA Northeast Advisory Council. In the past, he served on the boards of the Greater Pike Community Fund, NRPA State and National Park board, and the George Wright Society (GWS). He was the Treasurer of the GWS and the Vice President. He has been officially commended for his work by the House and the Senate of Pennsylvania and commended on the floor of the United States House of Representatives and the Congressional Record for his contributions. 

He is committed to the greatest good for the greatest number of people for the longest time as Gifford Pinchot envisioned. The Pinchot Institute for Conservation will continue to lead in policy and implementation of new solutions for the environment under his leadership in this new era.

Alex joined the Pinchot Institute in 2011 after completing a Master of Public Policy degree at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He was a 2010 Secretary of the Interior Fellow. Before returning to school he worked at the International Conservation Caucus Foundation in Washington, DC, managing their communications.  As an Eagle Scout he worked for three summers in the Conservation Department at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.  He received an A.B. in English with a minor in economics from Georgetown University. 

As a research fellow at the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community  Service at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Dr. Patrick Bixler examines the human dimensions, policy, and governance of sustainability. Prior to joining the institute, Bixler was a faculty  research associate at the University of Oregon and a post-doctoral research fellow at the Pinchot Institute for Conservation in Washington, DC. He completed his Master of Arts at the University of Montana (2008) and completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Sociology at Colorado State  University (2014). His dissertation research was conducted with  collaborative conservation groups in the Crown of the Continent, an 18  million acre area around Glacier National Park in Montana, British  Columbia, and Alberta, where he still works closely with practitioners in the region on conservation policy and strategy. Bixler is also a research fellow for the Earth System Governance project.  

Dale Bosworth was raised in northern California, the son of a Forest  Service employee. He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1966 with  a degree in Forestry and immediately joined the U. S. Forest Service. He served in a variety of positions in Idaho, Montana and eastern  Washington. In 1986 he became Forest Supervisor of the Wasatch-Cache  National Forest in Utah. He later served in Washington DC and California  and in 1994 became Regional Forester of the Intermountain Region of the Forest Service headquartered in Ogden, Utah. In 1997 Bosworth became  Regional Forester for the Northern Region in Missoula. He was named  Chief of the Forest Service in 2001 where he served until he retired in  2007 after 41 years with the agency. He resides in Missoula, Montana with his wife Carma.  

Ed Brannon developed cutting-edge leadership programs for field  professionals in the US Forest Service during his tenure as director of Grey Towers in Milford, Pennsylvania. He utilizes his extensive  knowledge of the history of forestry and conservation in America to provide programs that help professionals understand and use history to  develop leadership skills and tackle complex natural resource issues. Ed  has received numerous awards and recognitions including being named a  senior fellow of the Forest History Society in 2007, the distinguished  Pinchot Medallion in 2004, the George H. Cook Distinguished Alumni  Award, Cook College, Rutgers University, for outstanding achievement in professional and civic endeavors, and the Crystal Owl Award from the National Park Service Historic Preservation Training Center for his work in developing and promoting historic preservation. He has his bachelor of science in landscape architecture from Cook College, Rutgers University, a master’s of science in geography from Rutgers University, a master’s in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of  Government, Harvard University, and an advanced study in managerial leadership and natural resources from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. 

Tony provides experience and expertise in integrating forest  conservation with sustainable community development and livelihoods. His work involves examining the impact of different forest policy approaches on achieving conservation and community goals. Tony’s work is close to the ground – designing and evaluating collaborative approaches to forest land management, working with communities to develop mechanisms that increase access to forest land while maintaining accountability, and examining economic opportunities to utilize materials from forest restoration activities. The Mountain West is Tony’s primary geographic area, but he has done work across the U.S. in  community-based forestry. Tony is an associate professor in the  Department of Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Stewardship and the  director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute, Colorado State  University (CSU). Prior to joining the faculty at CSU, he received his Ph.D. in forest resource policy from Oregon State University and a MS in forest resource policy at University of Minnesota, and served as a policy research fellow at the Forest Policy Center of American Forests,  1993-1994.  

Bob has more than 41 years of experience in the USDA Forest Service, on the National Forests and Grasslands of Montana, Idaho, and North and South Dakota, with assignments to Alaska and Washington, DC. Specializing in land conservation and access programs, Bob has acquired and protected more than 50 permanent public access routes, served as expert witness in several litigation cases that protect historic roads and trails, served as project manager in negotiating and completing numerous land purchases and donations conserving 80,000+ acres of critical private lands, and served as a project manager in negotiating and completing more than 20 land exchanges, including three Congressional exchanges, enabling consolidation of more than 100,000 acres of land. Bob earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics and statistics from the University of Wisconsin Stout as well as a bachelor's degree in forest management and a master's degree in forest economics from the University of Minnesota. He was awarded the Forest Service Chief's "Bob Marshall Wilderness Award" for Wilderness Stewardship. 

Patrice Harou is Sr. Adviser at the European Forest Institute’s Observatory of European Forests in Nancy, France, and Adjunct Professor at AgroParisTech in Paris, France. He earned a degree in agricultural engineering at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and his Ph.D. in natural resources economics at the University of Minnesota. Harou previously served as a visiting professor in forest economics at L'École Nationale du Genie Rural des Eaux et des Foret (National Institute for Rural Engineering, Water, and Forests) in Nancy, France. He has worked for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Honduras and Brazil, and as a faculty member and director of the forestry program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has researched the forestry incentives systems in E.U. countries at Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg, Germany, and consulted for international organizations, banks, and firms. In 1990, Harou joined the World Bank, where he synthesized research and trained professionals and practitioners of client countries in environmental economics and policy, and conducted assessments for the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group. He has published more than a hundred articles on natural and forestry resources and environmental economics and co-authored or contributed to several books on these subjects. 

Dr. LeMaster served on the Board of Directors of the Pinchot Institute for eight years (1994-02), and has been the Institute's treasurer (1996-98), vice-chair (1998-00), and chair (2000-02). Dennis received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from Washington State University. He received a Ph.D. in economics in 1974 and has since been assistant professor of forest economics and policy at Washington State University (1972-74 and 1979-1980), director of resource policy for the Society of American Foresters (1974-77), staff consultant on forestry for the Subcommittee on Forests, U.S. House of Representatives (1977-78), professor and chair of the Department of Forestry and Range Management, Washington State University (1980-88) and professor and head of the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University (1988-2004). Additionally, Dennis has authored or co-authored over 100 scholarly publications. He is a fellow in the Society of American Foresters. 

Dr. Catherine Mater holds a BS in Political Science and a MS in Civil Engineering both from Oregon State University, and a doctorate degree from Western University of Health Sciences. She has been inducted into the Oregon State University Engineering Hall of Fame for her national and global achievements in sustainable natural resource management, forest-related climate change issues, and connecting human health with forest health in US policy development. She has served on and briefed numerous White House committees, Congressional committees, Governors’ panels, federal agencies, institutes, and commissions on forest conservation and sustainability, innovative wood products development, and the importance of forests in climate change solutions.  Additionally, she is a recognized expert in forestry and forest products development in the US Federal Court Systems, in that capacity testifying in major antitrust, manufacturing, and site clean-up cases throughout the US during the past few years.  Expanding her expertise into global markets, she has presented at the United Nations in Geneva on sustainable forestry and human health and was appointed Oregon’s official envoy to Iraq for establishing sustainable science and engineering curriculums in 17 universities throughout the country.

Dr Mater currently as a member of the Board of Trustees for Western University of Health Sciences with special focus on expanding forest carbon storage payments from public and private forestlands in the US to offset medical school tuition payments for those committed to becoming primary care physicians especially focused on rural medical care needs.

 Will has been at the Pinchot Institute since 1999, working on public  policy and market-based solutions that improve forest management and  advance conservation. His studies on forest certification have included  projects with state and federal agencies, companies, universities, and  First Nations. In recent years he has also worked with agencies and  landowners on ways to sequester carbon through forest conservation.  Prior to the Pinchot Institute he consulted with the National Fish and  Wildlife Foundation; and worked as a research technician with NASA, and  with the Forest Service PNW Research Station in Corvallis, OR. Will  graduated from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies  with a Master of Forest Science degree, and holds a Bachelor's of  Science from University of Notre Dame, where he studied ecology.   

Char contributes wit and wisdom as one of the nation's foremost scholars on the Progressive-era Conservation Movement and its key leaders, among them Gifford Pinchot. Having received his Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University in 1981, Miller currently is the W. M. Keck Professor and Director of the Environmental Analysis Program at Pomona College, Claremont, CA. Author of more than 850 publications on history and conservation, his books include: Public Lands/Public Debates: A Century of Controversy (Oregon State University Press, 2012); Ground Work: Conservation in American Culture (Forest History Society, 2007), Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism (Island Press, 2001, 2004), Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas (Trinity University Press, 2004), and The Greatest Good: 100 Years of Forestry in America (SAF, 2005). Among others, he is editor of Cities and Nature in the American West, Water and the 21st-Century West, and River Basins of the American West. With photographer Tim Palmer and writer Scott Tilden, Miller is working on a cultural history of the National Forest and Grasslands. He also writes a weekly column for KCET.org (Los Angeles), on environmental issues in California and the west.  

Daniel Ontiveros comes to the Pinchot Institute from the Department of  the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, where he served in various  positions ranging from Cadastral Surveyor to Fiduciary Trust Manager for  Indian Country over the course of more than thirty years.  His career  with the Bureau has taken him through Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oklahoma  and the District of Columbia. Daniel brings his extensive knowledge and  specialized experience in federal boundary surveying, riparian issues,  the delivery of survey-related services, and the management of  national-scale mapping and records projects. He is an alumni of the  University of Southern Colorado (Pueblo) where he earned a Bachelor of  Science degree in Civil Engineering Technology. Daniel is also a proud  veteran of the U.S. Navy. He currently lives on a small farm in Northern  Virginia.   

Peter is the Director of the Institute's Ecomadera Project in Ecuador and President of Ecomadera Forest Conservation LLC, representing the non-profit and social venture sides of creating an economic alternative to rapid deforestation in Ecuador’s northern coastal plain. He received his Masters in Environmental Studies at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Previously, Peter has been an organic dairy farmer in upstate New York, a partner in a ghetto rehabilitation social venture in Brooklyn, NY, founder of the Pocono Streams Project, and for the past 10 years, the Director of the Milford Experimental Forest, engaged in research on white tailed deer management, American chestnut restoration, and community forestry.

In Ecuador, Peter is directing the Pinchot Institute’s program focused on developing a sustainable silviculture and conservation strategy for the native forests of the Choco ecoregion. This program includes studies in forest taxonomy, forest regeneration, more efficient timber harvesting, biodiversity conservation planning, and entering FSC certification. At the same time, Peter is an entrepreneur coordinating the expansion of the Ecomadera business enterprise by building a large community forest landholding, by launching production of engineered flooring and balsa laminates (used in wind turbines), and by establishing a sales network in the US northeast to sell flooring directly to green contractors. Through this process Ecomadera has become a hybrid business venture that combines community leadership, professional business and technical management, private investment, and NGO oversight to create a sustainable local economy based on forest conservation.

Steve brings extensive background in real property policy, management and law, following nearly 33 years with the USDA Forest Service. His background includes technical and managerial experience in South Dakota, Arizona, Idaho, Colorado and Washington D.C. He retired in 2015 as the Assistant Director of Lands and Realty Management. His experience includes real estate transactions, title issues, land uses, easements, and lands-related legislation and litigation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry from Iowa State University. Throughout his career, he also satisfied his interest in wildfire management, and continues to, by serving as an Operations Section Chief with national incident management teams. He resides in Littleton, Colorado.

V. Alaric (Al) Sample served as President of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation in Washington, DC from 1995-2015. He is a Fellow of the Society of American Foresters, and a Research Affiliate on the faculty at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He is author of numerous research papers, articles and books on topics in national and international forest policy. His most recent book is Common Goals for Sustainable Forest Management: Divergence and Reconvergence of American and European Forestry, with Steven Anderson (Forest History Society 2008). Sample earned his doctorate in resource policy and economics from Yale University. He holds two masters degrees, an MBA and a Master of Forestry both from Yale, and a Bachelor of Science in forest resource management from the University of Montana. His professional experience is in both the public and private sector and includes assignments with the U.S. Forest Service, Champion International, The Wilderness Society, and the Prince of Thurn und Taxis in Bavaria, Germany. He specialized in resource economics and forest policy as a Senior Fellow at the Conservation Foundation in Washington, DC, and later as Vice President for Research at the American Forestry Association. Sample has served on numerous national task forces and commissions, including the President's Commission on Environmental Quality task force on biodiversity on private lands, and the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry.

After 35 years of service, Jeff retired from the USDA Forest Service in April 1994. While with the Forest Service Jeff worked on three National Forests, in five Regional Offices and served two separate terms in the Washington Office. His most recent assignments were Regional Forester and Deputy Regional Forester in the Intermountain Region, R4 (1974-82), Regional Forester, Pacific Northwest Region, R6 (1982-85), Deputy Chief Programs and Legislation (1985-92), and Deputy Chief, International Forestry (1992-94). While serving in these positions, Jeff was often engaged in the key policy, administrative, and legal natural resources issues of the last two decades. As the first Deputy Chief for International forestry, Jeff led the effort to define this new mission and positioned the Forest Service to be a key player in the development of international forest policy during the preparations for the Earth Summit (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. Jeff was a member of the U.S. delegation to UNCED. He also led the U.S. delegation to the 10th World Forestry Congress in Paris in 1991. Following retirement Jeff was invited to become a Senior Fellow where he designed and conducted numerous workshops on leadership ideas for public land managers facing problems and issues without easy answers. 

A lawyer with extensive experience in natural resources and public land law, Jim brings to the Institute a variety of legal experience and expertise in natural resources management. He retired in 2011 from the Department of Agriculture, Office of the General Counsel, where he was USDA’s chief attorney in Washington handling real property matters, primarily for the Forest Service. Over his career spanning 36 years, Jim had extensive legislative experience with Congress in public policy formulation, and he was the principal author of many laws affecting the National Forest System. He also has extensive transactional experience involving federal lands including acquisitions, dispositions, title claims, research, and cooperative forestry. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Jim received his A.B in 1971 and J.D. in 1974. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia. 

Pete brings to the Pinchot Institute a wealth of experience and scholarship in both history and forestry. Early in his career, he worked in both forest management and forestry research with the USDA Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1969, Pete joined the Forest History Society, serving as its President from 1978-1997. From 1984-1997, he also served as adjunct professor at Duke University in history and at the Nicholas School of the Environment. His research and writing have focused on the history of public lands and the agencies that manage them. Most recently he has begun to investigate the irrigation history of the Rio Grande, which includes State Department involvement that dealt with Mexico's claims to a portion of the water. Steen's major publications include: The U.S. Forest Service: A History (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1976); Origins of the National Forests (Durham, NC: Forest History Society, 1992), and Forest Service Research: Finding Answers to Conservation's Questions (Durham, NC: Forest History Society, 1998), The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot (Forest History Society/Pinchot Institute for Conservation, 2001), Jack Ward Thomas: The Journals of a Forest Service Chief (Forest History Society/University of Washington Press, 2004), and The Chiefs Remember: The Forest Service: 1952-2001 (Forest History Society, 2004).

Mike joined the Pinchot Institute in 2017 after a 35 year career with  the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  During his time  with NRCS, Mike was a field conservationist in multiple field offices  across North Carolina where he worked directly with private landowners  to address natural resource issues on their land. Later he served as an  Assistant State Conservationist supervising NRCS operations in the  Piedmont region of NC and then eventually supervising operations  throughout NC. Mike served as the program manager for the NRCS Farmland  Protection Program in NC where he partnered with nonprofit organizations  to purchase development rights to protect farmland. He also served as  the program manager for the Resource Conservation and Development  program where he and his staff partnered with 10 RC&D nonprofit  organizations across NC to implement natural resource projects. For the  last few years of his NRCS career, Mike worked on the national  headquarters staff providing leadership and coordination, with the NRCS  easement and financial assistance programs divisions, to develop  requirements for new software applications to streamline national  implementation of these programs. Mike earned a B.S. degree in Soil  Science from North Carolina State University.