David "Dave" Swanson

Originally from Illinois and Minnesota, David "Dave" Swanson studied geology, soil science, and plant ecology in Colorado, and earned a PhD in soil science from the University of Minnesota. He moved to Alaska in 1989 to work as a soil scientist for the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resource Conservation Service), where he was in charge of all soil mapping investigations in central and northern Alaska. In the early 2000’s, Dave moved to Oregon where he worked as a plant ecologist with the US Forest Service. In 2008, he returned to Alaska for his current job as an ecologist with the National Park Service’s Arctic Inventory & Monitoring Network based in Fairbanks. The network conducts scientific research and environmental monitoring projects in five national parks in northern Alaska: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve, and Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.