Board of Directors Welcomes Dr. Todd Radenbaugh
Trustees welcomes Todd Radenbaugh to the Board of Directors.
Dr. Todd Radenbaugh, an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at University of Alaska Fairbanks, has recently joined the Board of Directors. He lives in Dillingham where he established an environmental science program for the UAF College of Rural and Community Development and is Lead Coordinator of the Bristol Bay Environmental Science Laboratory.
Todd loves working with students and seeing them engage in hands-on science and learning about local environmental issues. In his classes and programs, he actively promotes citizen science and collaborative community projects. One example of this is his annual field methods course where undergraduate students conduct environmental research in Bristol Bay. During this course, students collect and analyze data such as temperature tolerances and the ecological roles of under-examined invertebrate species.
Todd Radenbaugh celebrating Wild Alaska Salmon Day with his 2016 high school students participating in the summer science camp at Lake Aleknagik.
In particular Todd is passionate about learning more about estuarine habitats in southwestern Alaska that are so important to salmon and other species. Estuaries are the important link between streams and the ocean, and in western Alaska few studies have been conducted, even though most of the human population of the region live in coastal areas.
He has joined Trustees’ Board of Directors because he has a passion for protecting the complex ecological functions of ecosystems. When ecosystems are healthy they provide important economic services for free. In many places at lower latitudes, society has altered and degraded ecosystems to the point they do not provide nature’s free services.
Todd and his wife Michele are avid gardeners and compost and use salmon to enrich their soil. They also sell fresh eggs at the Dillingham farmers’ market from their nine chickens. This is in an effort to have a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.