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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

  • People & Nature
  • Climate, Energy & Biodiversity
  • Myths, Folklore & Science

The Balance of Nature Belief Is Alive and Vigorous, Even Though it Never Existed

May 30, 2013 By Daniel Botkin 2 Comments

I have written for more than 20 years that we need to move away from the ancient myth of the balance of nature---the idea that nature, undisturbed by people, is constant. This idea has formed the premises for many environmental  laws and policies. Recently, some of the major U.S. Environmental organizations have expressed the need to move away from this ancient myth, a very … [Read more...]

Bridges, Wayfarers, and Risk Assessment

May 24, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Thursday, May 23, 2013, the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon, state of Washington, collapsed. The immediate cause was a truck carrying an oversized load hitting the bridge.  But a federal database had listed the bridge as “functionally obsolete.”  This suggests that the feds knew that the bridge ought to have been repaired or replaced.As someone who … [Read more...]

Novel Ecosystems and the Balance of Nature

May 24, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Two important books suggest major new ways we need to think about nature and our connection to it: Novel Ecosystems: Intervening in the New Ecological World Order by Richard Hobbs, R.J., Eric Higgs, and Carol Hall and Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World by Emma Marris.  Both start with the premise that people have changed the environment in major ways, and … [Read more...]

Is There a Balance of Nature?

May 23, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

NO: THERE IS NO BALANCE OF NATURE, BUT WE KEEP ACTING AS IF THERE WAS.It is common to believe that nature --- our entire environment ---is constant, as long as people stay out of the way.  But as an ecologist with more than 40 years’ experience in research, I have studied every aspect of our environment.  And it is clear that there is no balance of nature.  Everything … [Read more...]

Should We Introduce More Wolves On To Isle Royale National Park?

March 26, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Banana Boat Isle Royale

Wolves and moose have lived on Isle Royale National Park since the 1940s, the wolves feeding mainly on moose, the moose trying to avoid being killed by wolves.  They live in one of America's best wilderness.  Isle Royale in Lake Superior, is 45 miles long and 8 miles wide.  A new report from Michigan Technical University, Houghton, MI, states that the island’s wolf population … [Read more...]

Radio Interview on AM Ocala Live!

February 23, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Moon in the Nautilus Shell

Why is my book called “The Moon in the Nautilus Shell” and why do I write about the “Discordant Harmonies” of nature?In the radio interview I did with Robin MacBlane and Larry Whitler on “AM Ocala Live!” I got a chance to explain these. It led to a discussion about why music and its harmony are a good way to think about what nature around us is really like. And also to tell … [Read more...]

Reconciling Economics and Ecology

February 14, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Forest

It is common to believe that economic and environmental considerations run counter to each other --- that actions taken to help the environment always take away from economic gains, and vice versa. But when experts from these two fields work together, both economics and environment can benefit. The Property and Economics Research Center (PERC) of Bozeman, MT. held a workshop … [Read more...]

Renegade Naturalist Radio #6: Charles Beveridge, Expert on Urban Parks & Frederick Law Olmsted

February 1, 2013 By Daniel Botkin 2 Comments

This episode of Renegade Naturalist Radio features Charles Beveridge, widely considered the foremost authority on the life and work of Frederick Law Olmsted.Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) was the visionary urban planner and landscape architect behind dozens of important U.S. city parks in the late 1900s. Starting in 1857 with the design of Central Park in New York City, … [Read more...]

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From Daniel B. Botkin, Ph.D

Daniel Botkin
I believe we are mostly on the wrong track in the way we try to deal with the environment. Everything I do, study, learn, and advise about the environment is different from the status quo. Throughout my career, I have tried to understand how nature works and use that understanding to figure out how we can solve our most pressing environmental problems.

My process over the past 45 years has been to look carefully at the facts, make simple calculations from them (sometimes simple computer models) and then tell people what I have learned. It’s surprising how rarely people bother to look at the facts. This has surprised me every time I’ve started a new ecology research project or work on an environmental issue.

In the course of my work and studies, I have learned many things and I want to tell you about them. That is the purpose of this website.

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Books by Dan Botkin

The Moon in the Nautilus Shell  Strange Encounters
Powering the Future  No Man's Garden
See all books by Dan Botkin

Jabowa III Forest Model


Jabowa Forest Model
Jabowa Forest Model for Windows 7.
This forest model, used around the world, was developed first in 1970 by Daniel B. Botkin, James F. Janak and James R. Wallis

JABOWA remains the most completely detailed and well validated forest growth model available, accounting for 95% or more of the variation in real forests where it has been tested.

The book Forest Dynamics: An Ecological Model (available as an eBook) provides a complete description of the model and the rationales behind its development.

Order Online

Sea Ice Study

The Bockstoce and Botkin Historical Sea Ice Data Study has a new home at the University of Alaska website. The data include more than 52,000 daily observations in an unbroken 65 year record from 1849 – 1914.

See related papers

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