USGS scientist Dr. William Halvorson will receive the National Park Service's 1998 Director's Award for Natural Resource Research Sept. 23, at the national convention of the Society for Ecological Restoration at Presidio National Park in San Francisco. This prestigious award is given each year by the Director of the National Park Service (NPS) to one outstanding scientist among thousands working in America's national parks. Halvorson is being honored for influencing the direction and soundness of research in national park areas of southern Arizona, and for his efforts in supporting the application of scientific understanding in park resource management programs.

Director Robert Stanton of the National Park Service praised Halvorson as a strong positive force for broad-based NPS science. "Dr. Halvorson continues to be liked and respected by park managers and resource staffs for his ongoing efforts to apply his broad knowledge and understanding for the betterment of park resources and park resource management programs."

From his early days in the National Natural Landmarks Program, to his work with the Channel Islands National Park Inventory and Monitoring Program and lately his research and technical support as a scientist of the USGS, Halvorson has consistently provided NPS managers sound science.

Halvorson is a founding member of the Southern Arizona Parks resource management group. This group provides a forum for discussion and evaluation of NPS natural and cultural resource programs. He also is a founding member of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument's Ecosystem Monitoring Program Advisory Committee.

Halvorson's perspective is broad, addressing resource management issues at the ecosystem level, yet he also brings focus to an individual species or a small park when appropriate. He has identified the need for and use of inventories and long-term monitoring in national parks of southern Arizona.

"We are proud of the scientific contributions that Dr. Halvorson has provided to park managers and other USGS partners throughout the Sonoran ecoregion," said Deborah Maxwell, Director of USGS's Western Ecological Research Center, the office that oversees Halvorson's work at the Sonoran Desert Field Station. "Not only has he done and continues to do outstanding research, he does an excellent job of making sure the information is utilized for science-based management. We are very happy that his hard work has been recognized by this prestigious award."

Besides developing long-term monitoring programs for national parks, Halvorson is actively engaged in research related to society's changing relationship to nature, the restoration and rehabilitation of natural ecosystems, rare and alien species biology, arid and semiarid plant community ecology and understanding the management of natural areas. Halvorson works tirelessly to foster interagency cooperation in developing and sharing scientific information. He is serving as chair of an interagency conference on Sonoran Desert Research and Resource Management (to be held in May 2000). He is also working cooperatively with the University of Arizona to create a web-based information archiving and sharing system that can be used by anyone who needs information on Arizona natural resources. This natural resource database already has over 1,000 geographic data layers that range from park-sized geographic areas to the entire state.

A plant ecologist, Halvorson was on the faculty of the University of Rhode Island 8 years, followed by 13 years as a research biologist with NPS in Washington, D.C., and at Channel Islands National Park. In 1992, he moved back into a university setting as leader of the Cooperative National Park Resources Studies Unit (now the Sonoran Desert Field Station) and as a member of the faculty in the Wildlife and Fisheries Science program at the University of Arizona's School of Renewable Natural Resources.

As the nation's largest water, earth and biological science and civilian mapping agency, the USGS works in cooperation with more than 2,000 organizations across the country to provide reliable, impartial, scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers. This information is gathered in every state by USGS scientists to minimize the loss of life and property from natural disasters, contribute to the sound conservation, economic and physical development of the nation's natural resources, and enhance the quality of life by monitoring water, biological, energy and mineral resources.

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