Wes is a climate change program associate at the United States Forest Service Pacific Northwest Regional Office where he assists on several projects: 

--A Fact Sheet series highlighting climate change topics relevant to regional managers

--On-going integration of climate change issues into the region's program of work

--Supporting the region's climate change vulnerability assessment process

Wes also works with researchers at the United States Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station where he provides GIS support on several projects. He assisted on the Portland Moss and Air Quality project that recently received wide attention for uncovering heavy metal air pollution from local stained-glass manufacturers. Wes was named as part of the team that received a 2016 Chief's Award from the Forest Service for these efforts. 

Wes spent his undergraduate years at Ohio University where he majored in Wildlife Biology. After several years working as a field technician for various agencies, he moved to Portland where he received his M.S. in Geography in 2013 from Portland State University. During this time there, he was a research team member of the Spatial Ecosystems Services Analysis, Modeling, & Evaluation (SESAME) project. He used spatial modeling techniques to assess potential changes to water related ecosystem services from the combination of future climate and land cover change.

Wes is interested in using GIS and spatial analysis techniques to investigate a variety of environmental/natural resource issues, most notably climate change impacts on ecosystems.