Mark A Ray

Joined: Feb 26, 2017 Last Active: Mar 24, 2024 iNaturalist

I have always been fascinated with living things. I begged my parents to take me to the zoo when just a toddler. Later I wanted to be a zookeeper. By the third grade, I had decided I would be a paleontologist (like so many other third graders!). Most everyone wanted to be a Marine Biologist in the age when Jacques Cousteau was on TV, but I had a friend who seemed to be able to find any herp that was out there so they have always fascinated me. I lived in a paper town so I considered forestry for awhile and then a wildlife officer. Ecology was just forming as a discipline in the wake of the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental legislation. I took several High School Module classes in Ecology and Genetics so those have been abiding interests over the years as well. When I went off to college for Biology and Environmental Science degrees, I began to get more interested in Applied Plant Ecology as well. I was fortunate enough to get a job as an Environmental Scientist and Habitat Restorationist. It has taken me all over the United States, but most of my time is spent in the Eastern U.S. My greatest specialties are birds and botany, but I enjoy the amazing aquatic diversity in the Southeast as well as all terrestrial taxa. I have my own consulting company http://www.rayeallc.com/

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