Maryland Native Plant Society

Don Outen is a Baltimore native and has worked for 32 years in land use planning and environmental management in Maryland, including employment at the state, regional, and local levels of government and in academia. He earned a B.S. in Geography and Environmental Planning from Towson University and a M.S. in Urban Planning from the Johns Hopkins University. He also worked toward a Ph.D. in Geography at the University of Maryland, College Park, but ran out of ink writing his dissertation! Don has worked on developing environmental programs for the Baltimore County Dept. of Environmental Protection and Resource Management (DEPRM) for the past 18 years. Don’s recent work focuses on reservoir protection, evaluation of land development trends, and development and implementation of a County-wide forest sustainability strategy. Don is a 30+ year member of the Association of American Geographers and is a Charter member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He is a Master Gardener and a Coverts Cooperator and has managed a private reforestation project for 28 years.

Mr. Pais has 20 years experience in the integration of natural habitats with new development and has been responsible for creation of over 100 urban wildlife habitats.  He assisted in the development of the Maryland Forest Conservation Act.  A former instructor of Forest Ecology, Forest Stand Delineation, and Forest Conservation Planning at Johns Hopkins University and community colleges throughout Maryland, he is a published author and pioneer of an integrated approach to the management and restoration of hemlock forests in the eastern United States. He earned his B.S. in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University in 1982, and his M.S. in Forest Science from the University of Kentucky in 1984.

Dr. Pouyat received his Ph.D. in ecology from Rutgers University in 1992 and an M.S. in Forest Soils and B.S. in Forest Biology at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1983 and 1980, respectively. Dr. Pouyat is an ecologist/soil scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. He is currently a co-principal investigator of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a Long Term Ecological Research site funded by the National Science Foundation. He has broad scientific interests and has used his extensive training in ecology, soil science, and biogeochemistry to investigate urban ecosystems and the effect of urban sprawl on natural systems. Although much of his research is "basic" in nature, he has a strong interest in applying research to the solution of contemporary problems in natural resource management and policy issues, and to integrate the ecological and social sciences.