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ABOUT JOHN EVELAND O f the three big game mammals in Pennsylvania (white-tailed deer, black bear, and elk), John Eveland conducted the first statewide research, wrote the original state management plans, and is in large part responsible for the recovery and success of two of these species – black bears and elk. John Eveland is one of the most experienced wildlife ecologists in Pennsylvania. He has conducted studies on wildlife and ecology for federal and state agencies, university, industry, and private organizations; and is a national specialist on North American ecosystems who has conducted scientific research in over 30 states and provinces of Canada.As a biologist at Penn State, in the late 1960s John's bear study included live-trapping, tagging, and radio-telemetry tracking of bears in order to scientifically determine the status of the statewide bear population. He determined that there were less than 2,000 black bears in the entire state, and that the population was declining. As a result, John wrote the first statewide bear management plan for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and in 1970 the state bear hunting season was closed. He also recommended that the length of the season be reduced from one week to a maximum three-day season, the issuance of bear licenses for hunters, the classification of state bear management zones, and the statewide system of bear check stations during hunting seasons. To accurately age living bears, he developed a microscopic method of annular (tooth-ring) analysis using a premolar tooth that was extracted from anesthetized bears in the field. Gary Alt, who was a later black bear biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said of John in a published article of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review: (I) became interested in bears when (I) was in high school and Eveland came to the area for field studies. "He was the bear man," Alt said of Eveland. "He was a legend, and he was bigger than life as far as I was concerned." In "The History of Pennsylvania Elk Country" by Ralph L. Harrison, the author states: "Eveland had done much of the research on black bears and was largely responsible for developing the program that was to continue for many years." John's first statewide bear management plan remains virtually in effect to this day, and Pennsylvania's bear population has experienced a remarkable recovery from an estimated low of only 1,600 bears in 1969, to today's high of nearly 20,000 bears. Because of his success with bear research, in the early 1970s John was asked to conduct the first scientific investigation of Pennsylvania's elk herd as a member of the Penn State faculty. John's first research in the early 1970s focused on population dynamics, range and movements, and basic ecology of the herd. Although the official Game Commission estimate of the herd's size was about 1,000 elk, John soon determined that only 63 elk existed. Two years later he discovered the nationally significant brainworm disease – explaining why the elk population had not increased or prospered in Pennsylvania for nearly three-quarters of a century. In "The History of Pennsylvania Elk Country", the author (respected retired forester with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources (now DCNR) and Pennsylvania elk historian) Ralph L. Harrison spent 11 pages of the 104-page book in describing John Eveland's first elk research. He begins: "One evening in July a man stopped by my home and introduced himself as John Eveland. He was to do a research project on elk…" The author continues: "John was able to gather much valuable information on the herd, especially their movement during the transition period from late summer to early fall. I think even John was surprised by the abrupt change in elk habits and distribution that occurred from late August until early September.""John and his new assistant, Nick Hunter, worked throughout the winter observing elk and keeping track of their movements and making plans for a census that was new and different. They came up with something that had never been attempted before." "John was notified of the condition of the animal (a mature bull elk) and after investigating found the animal down and scarcely able to get to its feet. It was found to have brain worm, the first confirmed case of brain worm in elk in Pennsylvania, or anywhere else for that matter." In another publication "The Elk of Pennsylvania"(published by The Pennsylvania Forestry Association in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry), Ralph L. Harrison wrote: "After John left, the interest in the herd reached a new low and for a time was almost forgotten. John and Nick Hunter (Penn State graduate student assisting John) were two of the most dedicated wildlifers I had ever known. When they left, it created a void that exists to this day." John's elk research culminated in a presentation to the national elk symposium at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. A reprint of his publication is available upon request. Regarding both bears and elk, Eveland had regular meetings with the PGC's head of research and deputy executive director, and as had been the case with the first bear management plan, John wrote the first state elk management plan for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources and the Pennsylvania Game Commission, with habitat improvement, brainworm mitigation, and herd maintenance techniques that included a hunting lottery when the herd eclipsed 400 animals in size. In 1998, John designed and negotiated Eastern Elk Heritage Park (the original plan for PA Wilds) with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation – gaining approval to construct and operate the project. Today the herd prospers at about 700 elk. John left Penn State to accept a position with Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Pittsburgh as a senior scientist, ecologist, and project manager. During the next six years, John organized, conducted, and directed scientific research on ecology, environmental systems, and energy development throughout North America. Disciplines included wildlife and plant communities, geology, hydrology, aquatic ecology, water quality, endangered species, and fossil fuels and alternative fuels development (including mining and reclamation, generating station siting and construction, resource transportation, power production, and energy transmission). He coordinated teams of natural resource scientists from universities and the private sector and served as liaison with state and federal government agencies in diverse environmental science projects that often related to proposed and existing energy development facilities such as fossil fuel, nuclear, geothermal and solar power generating stations; coal and uranium mines; energy transport systems; and the long-term impacts to natural systems (biological (vegetation and wildlife), air, water, and soil) from fossil fuel emissions. John was a scientist and project manager for the environmental field studies on some of America’s largest energy development projects, such as the world’s largest coal-fired power plant at Four Corners in New Mexico, its proposed 3,000 megawatt equal near the Kaiparowits Plateau in the canyonlands of Utah, the Clinch River Nuclear Breeder Reactor in Tennessee, Bethlehem Mines in Pennsylvania, the vast Sierra Pacific coal mining project in central Wyoming, Tucson Gas and Electric power generating and electric transmission projects in Arizona, site selection and ecological studies for a proposed nuclear power plant in Manitoba, alternative energy studies in Nevada (natural gas, coal gasification, and solar power), and many other power generating stations -- such as Sierra Pacific’s coal-fired power plant in Nevada for which John personally selected the site and even chose the colors of this currently-operating facility. He has conducted studies on energy and the environment in 31 states and provinces, and hence is uniquely qualified as an ecologist with broad national and North American expertise. Regarding wildlife and forest ecology, John served as senior research scientist and project leader throughout North America during most of the above-cited projects. He has conducted forest and plant community research from the hardwood forests of Pennsylvania and New England to the southern pine forests of the Carolinas, Florida, and Louisiana; from the aspen and ponderosa pine forests of the Rocky Mountain states to the sugar pine forests of the Sierras; and from the southwest hot deserts of Arizona and cold deserts of New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah to the boreal spruce-fir forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska. His research has included such big game and large mammals as black bear, elk, and white-tailed deer in the East; plains and desert animals such as pronghorn, desert bighorn sheep, wild horses, coyotes, bison, and falcons and golden eagles; Rocky Mountain species including elk, mule deer, and mountain lions; and north country animals such as wolves, moose, caribou, grizzly bear, dall sheep, and bald eagles. John is a specialist on the ecology of wildlife, wildlife habitat, forests, and communities and ecosystems throughout North America. He has conducted impact studies on endangered species in virtually every major ecosystem throughout North America, and served for years as an ecology and endangered species instructor at Colorado State University for an International School for Environmental Management in the training of environmental managers from throughout the world.
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RESULTS OF AN INVESTIGATION OF 