Dale joined Audubon as Conservation Manager in 2021 and transitioned to Director of Conservation for Minnesota Iowa Missouri and the Upper Mississippi River Initiative in 2022. Before joining Audubon Dale was a professor at the University of Northwestern –Saint Paul where he studied the reuse of natural and woodpecker cavities and the role of woodpeckers as biological control for the invasive emerald ash borer. He also chaired the department of biology and taught courses in ecology, conservation, and ornithology. Before moving to Minnesota Dale was field science faculty at the graduate program of the Teton Science Schools in Grand Teton National Park. He supervised research, taught graduate courses in conservation, community,and winter ecology and partnered with the National Park Service and National Forest service on land management in Jackson Hole. Dale has a B.S. in Zoology from Idaho State University, a M.S. in Biology from the University of South Dakota, and a Ph.D. in Atmosphere, Environment and Water Resources from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. His graduate work compared the breeding biology of cup nesting songbirds in natural river corridors and anthropogenic woodlots (M.S.) and the keystone species concept in cavity nesting communities in old burns in the Black Hills in South Dakota (Ph.D.). Dale works with religious communities on the integration of science and faith and he is an avid cyclist and Nordic skier. He also loves to watch birds, cook, garden, and spend time in the woods with his family. 

Dale’s favorite bird: Red-headed Woodpecker