The American Wind and Wildlife Institute (AWWI), a national organization committed to facilitating timely and responsible development of wind energy and the protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat, has named Judd Howell director of research and evaluation.
As the director of the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Howell managed a wide-ranging program of biological research, inventory and information management.
The center, home of the National Bird Banding Laboratory, the Breeding Bird Survey, and the Biological Survey Unit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, had over 200 employees, students and volunteers, with a $20 million budget supporting nearly 170 studies.
‘We are thrilled to have a wildlife ecologist of Judd Howell's personal integrity and professional standing to further define and lead AWWI's research initiatives’ says Genevieve Thompson, vice president and executive director of Audubon Dakota and chair of AWWI's board of directors.
Howell has extensive experience with AWWI's core mission of facilitating collaboration between the wind energy industry and wildlife conservationists. He led a comprehensive research program to examine the impacts of wind energy development on birds that led to 17 reports and papers from 1987 to 1997, some of which are recognized as pioneering work in the field.
In addition to his work at AWWI, Howell works as a senior associate wildlife ecologist for H.T. Harvey and Associates, an environmental consulting firm based in Los Gatos, Calif.
SOURCE: American Wind Wildlife Institute
