Dr. Gary B. Wetterberg is lauded for his vital perspectives on environmental issues in foreign nations.
ROCKWOOD, PA, December 02, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. Gary B. Wetterberg has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Having accrued over 30 years of inimitable experience in his field, Dr. Wetterberg retired in 2003 from his position as the International Forestry Support Program (FSP) Manager, on behalf of the United States Forest Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Throughout the course of his career in both the US Government, as well as internationally, with FAO of the UN, he has advocated tirelessly for the cause of environmental conservation and park management. Dr. Wetterberg was a key influence in the completion of management plans for existing national parks and the creation of programs aimed at generating new areas for conservation, especially in the Amazon rainforest.
Lauded for his vital perspectives on environmental issues in foreign nations, Dr. Wetterberg initially joined the US Peace Corps, in Chile, in the 1960s, with his former wife Mildred Brown Wetterberg. They traveled internationally, particularly throughout South America. During that time, he first garnered an impressive reputation as the developer of Chile's first National Park Management Plan, for Vicente Perez Rosales National Park, after which several other national parks in that country would be modeled. For this service, he was bestowed with a Certificate of Appreciation by the U.S. government in recognition for his deeds on behalf of the people of Chile.
Following this, Dr. Wetterberg recalls with great fondness, mainly hitchhiking throughout the world in the mid-1960s. He hitchhiked north from Chile to Panama, and then spent the next full year continuing on around the world, via New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Russia (Trans-Siberian RR), Scandinavia and Central Europe. He survived on as little as $20 per day as he toured foreign national parks. He attributes his later success in public work to this experience, which did much to prepare him for national park support and management in the United States and abroad. Now, particularly in Pennsylvania, he has served as a volunteer with the Pennsylvania State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Somerset County Conservation District.
In further career related endeavors, Dr. Wetterberg, who is conversationally fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese, has spoken prolifically to myriad conferences, seminars and congresses throughout the world, such as at the XI World Forestry Congress in Turkey in 1997; the International Seminar on Planning and Management of Wild Areas held in Asuncion, Paraguay, in 1982; and the First Seminar on Administration of Natural Areas and Wildlife in Ecuador in Spanish in 1978. In the United States, he successfully completed an inter-departmental seminar on foreign affairs at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C., in 1980. Further contributions to Dr. Wetterberg's credit include written articles for numerous professional publications and organizations, including "Protected Area System Based on Pleistocene Refuges," delivered in Portuguese, to the Brazilian National Congress on Conservation Units in 2003. Considering his voluminous contributions to the field, he has been the recipient of several accolades, including multiple certificates of appreciation and merit throughout the years from myriad government agencies both foreign and domestic, such as from the Brazilian Institute of Forestry Development in 1977, USDI (United States Department of Interior) 1984, USFS (US Forest Service 2001and 1991), USNPS (United States National Park Service) February 01, 1985.
In Brazil, Dr. Wetterberg, while working through the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization (UN FAO), developed a recommended procedure for identifying biologically important specific evolutionary locations for future reserves, in what otherwise appeared to be a continuous monoculture of green vegetation that looked much the same everywhere. Several of his technical papers gave rise to significant steps forward by Brazil in the protection of nature. One of his most important and widely circulated documents (in both Portuguese and English) was entitled "An Analysis of Nature Conservation Priorities in the Amazon" published by the UN FAO in Brasilia in 1976. This was especially advantageous following the immense international scrutiny and condemnation which came about following the rapid development and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. One of his 4 children was born in Manaus, the heart of the Amazon, and two others in Brasilia.
Throughout his career and inexhaustible advocating for the environment, Dr. Wetterberg pursued a formal education, receiving a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Forestry from Colorado State University. He further attained a Master of Forest Resources from the University of Washington in 1974, where he likewise earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry that same year. Dr. Wetterberg's dissertation was entitled: "History and Status of South American National Parks and Evaluation of Selected Management Options."
In order to remain aware of developments in the field, Dr. Wetterberg has maintained his professional affiliation with several organizations and societies pertinent to his interests. To wit, he has been a member of the Omicron Chapter of Xi Sigma Pi, the National Forestry Honor Society; the Casselman River Watershed Association; the Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Council; and the Friends of Penn State Forestry Webinars. Dr. Wetterberg is additionally a Board member at the Somerset County Conservation District, and an Advisory Board Member for both the Pennsylvania Planning Commission and the Area Agency on Aging in Somerset County.
Dr. Wetterberg became involved in his profession due to an active youth spent with his family, often engaged in camping, hunting, and fishing in forests, easily reachable from his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Since his immersion in the "Outdoor Recreation" field, he has been influenced by several other figures, including Dr. Kenton Miller, the former Director General of the National Parks Commission of the "International Union for the Conservation of Nature" (IUCN) in Morgues, Switzerland. Dr. Miller was a contributing member of Wetterberg's Doctorate Dissertation Advisory Committee, and later, the Director General of the World National Parks Commission of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Morgues, Switzerland.
Dr. Wetterberg is now comfortably retired and living with his wife of 29+ years, Page Anderson Manning Wetterberg, in a small cabin in a Pennsylvania forest. The cabin abuts Laurel Hill State Park and is located on Laurel Hill Creek, a popular local PA Trout Stream. Winter snow-skiing slopes, and related installations of Seven Springs Ski Resort are located a short distance from their "Creekside Cottage". Looking forward to the future, Dr. Wetterberg, married to Page Manning Wetterberg in 1990, aspires to continue to be comfortably retired, living in a cabin, in a forest on the banks of a trout stream which abuts Pennsylvania's picturesque Laurel Hill State Park.
About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
# # #