I’m Bill Schafer and this is my blog. After a nearly 5 decade career as an environmental scientist, I am now semi-retired. In my career, I focused on mitigating environmental effects from major industrial activities. I do a lot of work with the mining industry. My academic training was in Earth Sciences, starting with a major in geology at Indiana University. I decided Oil and Gas wasn’t for me, so I switched to Biology, briefly. Next, I transferred to the School of Forestry at Colorado State. I realized being a Forest Ranger wasn’t for me, so I switched to Watershed Science (Hydrology) where I finally got a Bachelor’s Degree. Along the way I took a few courses in Soil Science, which I really liked. It combined geology, hydrology, biology and microbiology in unique ways, so I got a Masters Degree at University of California at Davis. After my Masters, I landed a research appointment at Montana State University in Bozeman, where I also earned a Ph.D. in Soil. I ended up staying in Montana for over 40 years. My career moved on from MSU to a private consulting firm that I started in 1985.
In my 50 year journey as a scientist, I found career pursuits cause you to specialize as you carve out a niche for yourself. And even though I considered myself a generalist in that I combined skills in geochemistry, soil science, surface water and groundwater hydrology, I still missed the other realms of science that I studied in my younger years.
Now that my career is winding down, I look forward to re-kindling a broader range of scientific interests. So here goes.
In my teens I discovered a seminal book in the conservation movement, The Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. His series of essays described a land ethic that would guide my education and career choices for the next 50 years. My blog mirrors Leopold’s Wisconsin essays with my version rooted in Whidbey Island, a long winding isle in the middle of Puget Sound. It’s an eclectic mix of topics and images based on my curiosity and interests in the natural world, travel and photography. I hope you enjoy it.
About Bill Schafer
After an environmental science career spanning nearly 5 decades, Bill is devoting more time to his interests in the natural world and photography, and in following where his curiosity takes him.
