Working Group Biographies

Raptor Corridor Project

Biographies of Working Group Members

Dr. Keith L. Bildstein is Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Kempton, PA. He received his Ph. D. in Zoology from Ohio State University where his graduate studies focused on the behavioral ecology of Red-tailed Hawks, Northern Harriers, and American Kestrels wintering in south-central Ohio farmlands. He now oversees Hawk Mountain’s science and education programs, coordinates the activities of the Sanctuary’s interns, graduate students, and visiting scientists, and manages Hawk Mountain’s growing databases. His research includes analysis of Hawk Mountain’s long-term migration database, phylogeography, ecology, and conservation of the world’s migratory raptors, energy management in migrating raptors, and wintering, breeding, and migration ecology of American Kestrels. E-Mail: bildstein@hawkmountain.org

Mr. Donald S. Heintzelman is a professional ornithologist with 50+ years of field experience studying raptor migrations. In 1956 and 1957, he assisted Hawk Mountain's first Curator Maurice Broun (1906-1979) stopping hawk shooting along the Kittatinny Ridge in Pennsylvania. In 1961, he established the annual Bake Oven Knob Hawk Count and directed it for 37 years. He received an A. B. degree from Muhlenberg College and did graduate studies at Lehigh University. He was a curator at the State Museum of Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Museum, ecotourism ornithologist on the MS Lindblad Explorer, and studied and photographed wildlife in North and South America, the Antarctic, Amazonia, Galapagos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and East Africa. He wrote numerous raptor-related articles, 22 published books (four are landmark volumes in raptor migration science and hawk watching), and produced several 16mm lecture films used on the National Audubon Society’s former wildlife lecture film series. He also taught in-service workshops about raptors and hawk migrations for teachers, and NJ and PA wildlife conservation officers. E-Mail: donsh@enter.net

Mr. Larry Hilaire is a certified wildlife biologist working for the National Park Service at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Milford, PA.  For the past 10 years he has been in charge of the open space and agricultural special use permit program, and the integrated pest management program in the park. Previously Mr. Hilaire worked in natural resource education in Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.  He received his Master of Science degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University and undergraduate degrees from University of Colorado at Denver and Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA. Email: larry_hilaire@nps.gov

Mr. Glenn D. Hoagland has been Executive Director of the Mohonk Preserve since 1993.  He oversees all aspects of the Preserve’s management and institutional advancement, including its $2.3 million operating budget, 45-member staff and 400 volunteers.  For 25 years Glenn has worked to save important landscapes and advocate for their balanced use.  He was previously Land Preservation Director for Scenic Hudson, Executive Director of the Dutchess Land Conservancy, and Director of the Citizen Action Program of the Open Space Institute. Glenn is a member of the Association of Nature Center Administrators and a graduate of its Leadership Institute. He also chairs the Citizen Advisory Committee for the New York State Open Space Conservation Plan, and serves on the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership Steering Committee, the Shawangunk Ridge Coalition, and is ex-officio to the Shawangunk Mountains Scenic Byway Regional Partnership.  He is also a Board member of Pattern for Progress. Glenn received a BA in Geography from SUNY New Paltz in 1982 and was named Alumnus of the Year in 1998. He also has a Masters in Rural Planning from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. E-Mail: ghoagland@mohonkpreserve.org

Mr. David Johnson directs the Global Owl Project for the Center for Biological Diversity. E-Mail: djowl@aol.com

Dr. Stan Kotala has been a lifelong nature enthusiast and conservationist. He began birding at age 12 and has been a member of the National Audubon Society for more than thirty years and the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology for close to two decades. Dr. Kotala has served as president, newsletter editor, conservation chair, education chair, membership chair, and Important Bird Area coordinator for Juniata Valley Audubon, based in Altoona, PA. He was the conservation chair and education chair for Blair County Trout Unlimited during the 1990s. From 1996 till 2004 he was the Western Ridge and Valley Regional Coordinator for the Pennsylvania Herpetological Atlas Project and now serves on the Amphibian and Reptile Technical Committee of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey and on the Reptile and Amphibian Advisory Committee of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. He also is the wildlife and endangered species chair and wetlands chair on the Executive Committee of the Moshannon Group of the Sierra Club. Dr. Kotala earned his medical degree from Temple University in Philadelphia and has practiced medicine in Blair County since 1988. He lives with his wife and daughter in Sinking Valley. E-Mail: ccwiba@keyconn.net

Mr. Dan R. Kunkle is Executive Director of Lehigh Gap Nature Center (LGNC), Slatington, PA. He received his Master of Science in Biology from Kutztown University and taught biological sciences at Freedom High School, Bethlehem, PA for 28 years from 1976-2004, serving as science department chairperson at Freedom for 18 years from 1986-2004. He became volunteer director of the Wildlife Information Center, Inc. in 1998. In 2002, he initiated the Lehigh Gap Restoration Project in which the Center purchased 750 acres on the Kittatinny Ridge near Palmerton, PA. They are creating a community nature and environmental education center as well as restoring the areas that were degraded by pollution from the zinc smelters in Palmerton. In 2004, Dan left his teaching job and became full-time director of the Wildlife Information Center, Inc., now known as the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. Since 1998, he has directed the Bake Oven Knob Autumn Hawk Count. Email: dan@lgnc.org

Ms. Cara Lee has been The Nature Conservancy’s Shawangunk Ridge Program Director since 2001. The Shawangunk Ridge is recognized as one of the most important landscapes for biodiversity conservation in the northeastern United States. She is responsible for management of Sam’s Point Preserve, a 5,000 acre wildland preserve near Ellenville NY, and coordinates the Shawangunk Ridge Biodiversity Partnership–a ten member partnership of agencies and conservation organizations managing protected land along the Shawangunk Ridge. From 1984 to 2001, Ms. Lee was Environmental Director for Scenic Hudson and has worked on a range of environmental issues in the Hudson River corridor. They included development and passage of key environmental legislation, and development of numerous citizen coalitions in support of policy and action initiatives such as the campaign to clean up Hudson River PCBs. Ms. Lee is a graduate of Hamilton/Kirkland College and received her Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Cara Lee lives in New Paltz, NY with her husband and children. Email: clee@tnc.org

Mr. Patrick J. Lynch directs natural resource research at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Email:  patrick_lynch@nps.gov

Mr. Eric M. Olsen is a wildlife biologist with The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey. Email: eolsen@tnc.org