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David has been an ecologist and science manager working for the National Park Service for more than 30 years. He presently serves as the Chief Scientist for the Pacific West Region of NPS, which includes the 6 western-most states south of Alaska. He has long been based at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, in the Sierra Nevada of California. During much of his career, David was a field research biologist with NPS as well as USGS, studying species-habitat relationships and exploring the use of extensive field inventories combined with GIS for improved environmental analyses. In more recent years, his efforts have been concentrated on better informing park and reserve conservation and management, as well as the management of broader mixed-use landscapes, through science. This has included the management of plant and animal populations, wilderness stewardship, biotic inventories, and environmental monitoring. Over the years, David has served on a variety of Congressional, agency, and NGO advisory panels, including the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project; Giant Sequoia National Monument Science Advisory Committee; National Wilderness Steering Committee; Sierra Nevada Forest Plan Amendment Science Panel; Trust for Public Land Science Advisory Panel. He also serves on several endangered species recovery teams. He was awarded the U.S. Department of Interior Meritorious Service medal in 2000. David graduated from the University of California with a B.A, in Political Science (1970). After several years of work and adventure, he returned to Berkeley's College of Natural Resources to obtain an M.S. (1976) and then Ph.D. (1981) in Wildland Resources Science. His graduate dissertation was Ecology and management of black bears in Yosemite National Park.