Charlotte C. Corkran has a BA in American Literature from Brown University. Rather than being a biologist (they take the chemistry courses), she is a naturalist (they spend their time out in the woods learning all by themselves). She has always been available to volunteer on interesting wildlife research projects. After many years as a mom/environmentalist/part-time teacher, she became a wildlife consultant. By chance she got interested in amphibians, and with her best friend, Chris Thoms, wrote and took photographs for Amphibians of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia (Lone Pine, 1996). After working on several studies and monitoring projects that used bird houses, she wrote Birds in Nest Boxes: How to Help, Study and Enjoy Birds when Snags Are Scarce (Naturegraph, 2004, with many of the photos by Bev LaBelle). Her husband, Dave, manages their huge, yearround organic vegetable garden, and there are homes in their suburban Portland yard for salamanders, snakes, bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and occasionally a bobcat or fox. Char and Dave's son and family live nearby, so there are now two young naturalists-in-training.

Northwest Ecological Research Institute (NERI) is a small, non-profit organization. From our name, you'd think we're rather formal, but we're not. We are a group of naturalists, teachers, wetland specialists, scientists, and students who like to work on projects related to native wildlife and plants. We've been around since 1985. Our projects have included surveys of amphibians and turtles, research on chickadees and bluebirds, monitoring of wildlife and mitigation plantings. We have conducted numerous workshops that provide training in field survey and wildlife identification techniques. Enjoyment of working out in the field is a characteristic of our associates, as well as a goal of our projects. Care to join us? For more information, write to us at:

Northwest Ecological Research Institute / 130 NW 114 th Avenue / Portland, OR   97229

Animal Estates 5.0: Portland, OR