About the author
John Bartholow's career as a software developer has followed an unusual
path. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in computer science.
After a brief stint teaching that subject at the University of Denver, he obtained
a master's degree in wildlife biology and natural resource management at Colorado
State University (CSU). As a Colorado Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit graduate
student working under Dr. Jack Gross, he helped verify and validate the mainframe
ONEPOP model by testing it for bison, elk, and longhorn cattle on the Fort
Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska.
Upon graduation, John began work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a
biologist, applying the first generation of geographic information systems to
nationwide wildlife planning. Projects ranged from timber management in Alaska,
to coal and oil shale development in the Rocky Mountain west, to winter navigation
in the Great Lakes, to watershed development in the southeast. John recently became
employed part time with the U.S. Geological Survey where he continues to work as a
physical and biological modeler, and is a faculty affiliate at CSU.
On his days off, John likes to take his dog on hikes in the foothills and beyond,
and occasionally put in a bit of time at his longstanding hobby, Fossil Creek
Software, which is in no way connected to his real job at the USGS. During the
time that personal computers were beginning to make headway into our lives, John
took some time off his regular job and started Fossil Creek Software. POP-II was
the first product off the assembly line, implemented in 1984 for a Tektronix desktop
computer and followed rapidly with versions for the DOS/PC and then Apple computers.
Initially, western state wildlife agencies were the only customers, but as use grew
and word spread, modeling with POP-II radiated east, followed by use in universities
and other settings.
Modeling remains integral to John's profession. He has worked not only on big game
population modeling, but also in salmonid population and production models. He is
adept at modeling physical systems, too. He has studied smokestack plume behavior,
watershed mitigation for low head hydropower development, stream temperature and
reservoir water quality modeling, and linking water quantity, water quality, and
fish production models.
John is fluent in a variety of computer languages and data analysis techniques,
but readily admits to being challenged by Windows programming. He is a peer reviewer
for several refereed journals, including Rivers, New Zealand J. of Marine
and Freshwater Research, Journal of Range Management, and the North
American Journal of Fisheries Management.
In his spare time, John is a member of the Larimer County Environmental
Advisory Board and past vice president of the City of Fort Collins Water
Board. He is a sustaining member of both the Nature Conservancy and Population
Action International. John also maintains an active interest in such things
as physician assisted aid in dying. Travel is big on John's list, being
lucky enough to visit Alaska, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Hawaii, Jamaica, Mexico,
New Zealand, Peru, and Scotland. Only two of our United States remain unexplored
by John: North Dakota and New Jersey.
Publications
What a different place our world would be if
we valued the common as much as the rare.
– John Bartholow
