J. Michael Scott may be retired, but that doesn't prevent him from showing up at his University of Idaho office. There are still questions to be answered.
Scott, 71, a distinguished professor emeritus in the UI Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences shows no signs of slowing down.
Scott was raised in a small community outside San Diego, a location he calls "sage brush country." It's changed a lot since his years there in the 1950s.
"You could ride your horse 20 miles cross-country," he said. "It's all urban now."
Scott said that was where he really grew his passion with wildlife.
"I was interested in marine biology from the first time I stuck my head underwater," he said.
He was first interested by the colorful naked sea slugs and black abalone off the San Diego coast.
A diver could catch the limit in black abalone in a single-breath dive in 1959, he said. Now scientists believe the population is withering toward extinction.
After high school and undergraduate work in
pre-med, Scott joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Colombia, where he coached swimming, wrestling and volleyball, as well as opening a natural history museum. He said that was when he was drawn to ornithology.
Upon returning to the U.S., he met his future wife, Sharon, at a Fourth of July party. He also earned his bachelor and master's degrees in zoology at San Diego then moved to Oregon State University for his doctorate. As graduation approached, he accepted a job researching and working to save endangered species with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and moved with his wife and their children to the island of Oahu in Hawaii. At that time, 25 percent of the wildlife on the newly formed endangered species list were Hawaiian.
As part of his work, Scott developed a set of questions about wildlife, including location, numbers and habitat. Those questions took seven years to answer, he said.
Through this research, Scott created the basis for the GAP Analysis, a nationwide program used to assess and support conservation of wildlife.
After 10 years on the islands, Scott and his family returned to the continental U.S. in 1984, settling in Ventura, Calif. He began a study on the endangered California condor. The resources in California were far greater than those in Oahu.
Scott said he had 10 times the budget and full-time help, including an administrative assistant.
"I had more biologists than animals," he said.
At the end of the successful condor project, Scott and his family moved to Moscow, where he took a professorship at the UI, while Sharon worked at the Martin Institute on campus until her retirement.
"Why would we want to move anywhere," Scott said. "At the end of the day it's all about relationships."
Scott said his family has a lot of them here.
Only once did they consider moving, when Scott had a job opportunity on the East Coast. After discussing the benefits of the move with his family, his daughter, a Moscow High School student at the time, had only one question, "Dad, you'll write won't you?"
Time has passed and his son and daughter have grown, graduated from the University of Idaho, married and made him and Sharon grandparents of six.
"We spend a lot of time with munchkins," he said.
As far as traditional retirement goes, Scott doesn't anticipate that happening anytime soon.
With the discovery that 85 percent of species on the endangered species list will require continuing management and intervention in order to ensure their survival, he still has a lot of work to do.
Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4632 or by email at briefs@dnews.com.
