Rodney Bartgis
| Organization | |
|---|---|
| State | West Virginia |
| Title/Position | Director |
| Department | West Virginia Chapter |
| Send e-mail | |
| US Eco Regions | Ozark/Ouachita-Appalachian Forests |
| Wildland Fires |
Rodney Bartgis, a West Virginia native, has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Shepherd University and a Master of Science degree from West Virginia University, where his graduate research was on the plant ecology of Appalachian wetlands. Since then, he has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers on Appalachian and mid-Atlantic ecology and biology.
He worked as a biologist for the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources and West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, with an emphasis on rare species inventory, management, and conservation. He has worked for The Nature Conservancy since 1994, initially with an emphasis on land conservation. He became West Virginia state director in 2003 and oversees the state program’s conservation, fundraising, and government relations functions. He has been extensively involved in the development of the Conservancy’s ecoregional assessments of the Central Appalachians, its Appalachian landscape resiliency and connectivity analysis, and development of its North America forest restoration and energy strategies.
Rodney has served on the boards of the Potomac Valley Audubon Society and Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle and currently serves on the board of the West Virginia Outdoor Heritage Conservation Fund. In 1990 he was recognized by the Governor of Maryland for his work in rare species conservation, in 1998 he received the Conservancy’s One Conservancy Employee Award for exemplary contributions to the Conservancy, and in 2008 was one of 14 people profiled by Blue Ridge Country as the Future of Appalachia for “making a difference in the region.”
