Congratulations to the Founder of the Birchleggings Club, John Kotar who was named as the UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources’ Conservation Leader!

 

John Kotar of Eau Claire was named the UW-Stevens Point College of Natural Resources’ Conservation Leader for supporting the college and conservation practices.

Kotar, an emeritus professor of the Department of Forest Ecology and Management at UW-Madison, owns Terra Silva Forest Ecology and Management in Eau Claire.

Kotar has spent much of his career specializing in the classification of forest vegetation into habitat types based on relationships between soils, the environment, and groupings of understory plant species.

This classification system allows natural resource professionals to make management decisions without resorting to complex, long-term studies.

As his process of “habitat typing” is a staple of the college’s Summer Field Experience, Kotar has equipped countless UW-Stevens Point students through the years with this ecologically-based tool used in sustainable management.

This story was published in the Around Town Briefs in the Leader-Telegram newspaper from Eau Claire, Wisconsin on July 31, 2021. The story was by Dan Holtz.