Justin Dion
ORTWS Board Member (2022 – 2024)
Current position: Assistant Wildlife Biologist for the Game Program, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Biographical Sketch: I am so happy to be serving on the Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society Board (ORTWS) as the Communications Committee Chair. My wildlife career has taken me, quite literally from coast-to-coast. My first wildlife job was in my home state of Massachusetts and now I work for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), with many stops in between over the course of 10 years. My passion for wildlife lies mostly in the study and management of game species. That passion has led me to my current position in the Game Program at ODFW. One of my more recent interests has been focused on wildlife data collection, management and analysis. I get a high degree of satisfaction from bringing order out of the chaos of datasets and helping the data tell its story about the wildlife from which it was collected. Helping to effectively communicate this data story to other biologists as well as the public has become my mission at ODFW. In my opinion, the importance of communicating our science and data to the public we serve and other professionals cannot be overstated. My passion for communicating science has led me into a new adventure as the Communications Committee Chair for ORTWS. This is my first ORTWS Board position in all my years as a member and I am so glad that I have found a way to serve my professional society in a way that also feeds one of my passions.
I look forward to serving the ORTWS Chapter in any way I can. Oregon is an incredible state, filled with people (public, students, and professionals) who are passionate for the outdoors and their natural resources. I cannot think of a state I would be happier to represent and serve.