J. Michael Scott (born September 21, 1941 in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

) is an American scientist, professor,

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Early life and education

Scott is the eldest son of

Eileen Rose Busby Eileen Rose Busby (August 15, 1922 – April 6, 2005) was an American author and antiques expert who was featured on HGTV's ''Appraise It!'' show. Early life Busby was born Eileen May Rose in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Her parents, Frank and E ...

, an author and

antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

expert, and

Jim Scott Jim or Jimmy Scott may refer to: Music * Jimmy Scott (1925–2014), American jazz vocalist * Jim Scott (producer), music engineer and producer * Jim Scott (musician), acoustic guitar player and songwriter * Jimmy Scott (songwriter), British-born mu ...

, a

Senior Olympics The National Senior Games (Senior Olympics) are a sports competition for senior citizens in the United States. It is conducted by the National Senior Games Association (NSGA) once every two years. Akin to the Summer Olympics, it is a multi-sport ...

winner who helped pioneer and develop the game of

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

. He is the grandson of California

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

Esther Rose Esther Elvina Rose (April 1, 1901 – July 16, 1990) was an American painter who worked in oils, collage, silkscreen and watercolors. She was best known for her impressionist renditions of California coastal images. Early life Esther Elvina ...

, the nephew of the late Russian Orthodox Hieromonk

Seraphim Rose Seraphim Rose (born Eugene Dennis Rose; August 13, 1934 – September 2, 1982), also known as Seraphim of Platina, was an American hieromonk of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia who co-founded the Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery in Pl ...

, brother of true crime author

Cathy Scott Cathleen "Cathy" Scott (born c. 1950) is a ''Los Angeles Times'' bestselling American true crime writer and investigative journalist who penned the biographies and true crime books ''The Killing of Tupac Shakur'' and ''The Murder of Biggie Small ...

and volunteer

Cordelia Mendoza The Ocean Beach Antique District is a specialty shopping district located in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is a few miles northwest of Downtown San Diego. Description Located on the community's main street, Newport Av ...

. A graduate of

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

Helix High School Helix High School, in La Mesa, California, is a charter high school built in 1952. It received its charter in 1998. Part of the Grossmont Union High School District, it serves a mid-level socioeconomic community and has a student body of approx ...

, Scott attended the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

for one year before earning his

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

and

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

s in

marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies s ...

from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

and a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

from

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

Career

He is a senior scientist with the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

, a leader with the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research and a professor of Fish and Wildlife Resources at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

. In 1963, Scott joined the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

and served a two-year stint in Cartago,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, where he founded a natural history museum, started a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

swimming program, and coached a number of sports. From 1974 to 1984, Scott served as a research

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

for the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with oth ...

Mauna Loa Mauna Loa ( or ; Hawaiian: ; en, Long Mountain) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The largest subaerial volcano (as opposed to subaqueous volcanoes) in both mass and ...

Field Station in

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. It was his first assignment with the

U.S. Department of Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the man ...

. From 1984 to 1986, he served as project leader of the

California Condor The California condor (''Gymnogyps californianus'') is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to nor ...

Research Center in Ventura. In 1986 he was appointed to his current position as leader of the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit in Moscow, Idaho. In addition, he is a professor in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources at the

, where he pioneered the Gap Analysis Program and served as program leader from 1989 to 1997. Scott is an elected fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and the

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

. Also, he is a past president of both The Cooper Ornithological Society and the Pacific Seabird Group,Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) Website:
/ref> and has served on the boards of a number of professional societies and the science advisory boards of several non-profit conservation organizations.

Awards

In April 2011, Scott was awarded the rank of Distinguished Emeritus Professor from the University of Idaho. The distinguished professor rank, which was given to two other professors in addition to Scott, was done to recognize "sustained excellence, as judged by peers, in scholarly, creative, and artistic achievement; breadth and depth of teaching in their discipline; and university service as well as service involving the application of scholarship, creative, or artistic activities that address the needs of one or more external publics," according to a news release. He received the American Ornithologist's Union 2006 Conservation Award, an International award presented for extraordinary scientific contributions by an individual to the conservation, restoration, or preservation of birds and their habitats. Scott is a past president of both The Cooper Ornithological Society and the

Pacific Seabird Group The Pacific Seabird Group (PSG) is an international professional ornithological society based in the US, dedicated to the study and conservation of Pacific seabirds and their environment. The objectives of the Pacific Seabird Group are exclusively ...

, and has served on the boards of a number of professional societies and the science advisory boards of several non-profit conservation organizations. In 2010, he was honored by the nonprofit

Defenders of Wildlife Defenders of Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization based in the United States. It works to protect all native animals and plants throughout North America in their natural communities. Background Defenders of Wildlife is a n ...

with its Spirit of Defenders Award for Public Service. In 2006, Scott received the U.S. Department of Interior's Distinguished Service Award, the highest award given to a career employee for a lifetime of service. Also, his professional accomplishments have been recognized by the

Society for Conservation Biology The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is an 501(c)(3) non-profit international professional organization that is dedicated to conserving biodiversity. There are over 4,000 members worldwide, including students and those in related non-academ ...

with both the Distinguished Achievement Award and the Edward T. La Roe III Memorial Award. He received a Twentieth Century Environmental Achiever Award at the Ninth Lukac's Symposium.

Books

Forest bird communities of the Hawaiian Islands, 1986

Estimating number of terrestrial birds 1986, with C.J. Ralph, repint 2003)

Evolution, ecology, conservation and management of Hawaiian birds: A vanishing avifauna (2001, with S. Conant and C. Van Ripper III)

Predicting species occurrences: Issues of accuracy and scale (2002, with Pat Hegland and others)

The Endangered Species Act at 30, Vol. I: Renewing the conservation promise (2005, with D. Goble and F.W. Davis)

The Endangered Species Act at Thirty, Vol. II: Conserving biodiversity in human dominated landscapes (2006, with D. Goble and F.W. Davis)

References

External links