Colorado State University Wildlife Biology Professor is Recipient of 2000 Aldo Leopold Award

The Aldo Leopold Memorial Award is presented each year to an individual who has provided "distinguished service to wildlife conservation." It is the highest honor bestowed by The Wildlife Society and the ultimate recognition of a wildlife professional.

This year, the Society presented the 51st award to Dr. Gary C. White of Laporte, Colorado for nearly 25 years of unique contributions. Dr White’s work brought the sophisticated tools of mathematical modeling, population estimation and survival analysis to the forefront of wildlife research and management.

Furthermore, he made the tools available to all wildlife biologists by writing computer programs such as "Capture," "Survive," "Release" and "Mark." During the presentation on March 27, the committee noted that Dr. White "is an outstanding candidate for this award for several reasons, namely for his research contributions to wildlife management and ecology, his bridging the gap between statistician and biologists and, finally, his role as an international ambassador for American wildlife biology."

White is the co-author of some 90 refereed scientific papers, 2 books and 40 technical papers. He has served with the Utah Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit at Los Alamos National Laboratory and, since 1984, as an educator/scientist at Colorado State University.

He has traveled extensively throughout Africa to conduct field research and conduct training workshops. He served for 5 years on the recovery team for the Mexican spotted owl and in numerous capacities in the Wildlife Society, the Ecological Society of America, the Biometrics Society, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Fisheries Society and the Society for Conservation Biology.

White was born in Grinnell, Iowa and received his Bachelor of Science from Iowa State University in 1970. He earned his Master of Science from the University of Maine in 1972 and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1976.