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Daniel B. Botkin

Solving environmental problems by understanding how nature works

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Newsletter April 15, 2014

April 14, 2014 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Hello Readers,I've started a new Video Newsletter, which I thought you might interest you.  This is an outgrowth of a print-only newsletter I wrote for several years and then took a break.  In these new video issues, I will discuss a wide variety of topics: science, music, poetry, and art as they form a context for life in our time and especially what we believe to be … [Read more...]

Daniel B. Botkin Professional Experience

April 3, 2014 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Adjunct Professor of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, and  Professor (Emeritus), Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara.The New York Times has called him "one of the world's leading environmental researchers," who has "done much to popularize the concept of using yet maintaining the world's natural … [Read more...]

New Speech Topic: The Future of Our National Parks: How Should They Fit into the 21st Century?

February 11, 2014 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

2016 will be the centennial of the National Park Service and it faces many challenges, which I will discuss and make recommendations.  These include: appealing to America’s ever more diverse population; conservation of biodiversity as the environment changes; invasive species; introduction of endangered species; the role of the parks in responses to climate change; the use of … [Read more...]

Is it People Versus Nature or People Within Nature?

January 4, 2014 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Among the many stories that have come out of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition that got stuck in the ice, is this quote: “It's fantastic—I love it when the ice wins and we don't," marine ecologist Tracy Rogers told the BBC journalist onboard, adding: "It reminds you that as humans, we don't control everything and that the natural world—it's the winner here." It’s an … [Read more...]

Thinking about Goals for People and the Environment

January 2, 2014 By Daniel Botkin 4 Comments

Having worked in ecology and dealt with applied environmental problems for 45 years, I think about what are the leading environmental problems that face us today in the 21st century.  Climate change has captured people’s attention, but there are other issues that we need to consider.  Here’s my start of a list, which I discuss in the postscript to my most recent book, The Moon … [Read more...]

My Natural History Travels Following the Life of Henry David Thoreau: Concord, Walden, Maine Woods, and Cape Cod.

December 31, 2013 By Daniel Botkin 4 Comments

I  have followed the travels of Henry David Thoreau as he tried to understand nature, wildness, wilderness, and civilization during his lifetime (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862).  He lived most of his life in Concord, MA, traveling and writing books about: the woods of Maine including his hike up Mt. Katahdin, the state’s tallest mountain; his travels to Cape Cod; and his life at … [Read more...]

My Natural History Travels Following the Trail of Lewis and Clark

December 30, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

I have followed the trail of Lewis and Clark from the beginning near modern St. Louis, Missouri, up the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.  President Thomas Jefferson had instructed them to"record the mineral productions of every kind... Volcanic appearances ... Climate, as characterized by the thermometer, by the … [Read more...]

How Many Grizzly Bears Were There Before European Settlement of the West, and How Many Are There Now?

November 23, 2013 By Daniel Botkin Leave a Comment

Who Visits National Parks?

I tried to estimate how many grizzly bears there were at the beginning of the 19th century and how many there are today.  I wrote about this in my book,   Beyond the Stony Mountains: Nature in the American West from Lewis and Clark to Today (available 2012 as an ebook, New York, Croton River Publishers; Originally published in 2004 by Oxford University Press, N.Y. ) Here is … [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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