Dr. Dwight Barry

Dr. Dwight Barry is the Director for Environmental Science and Resource Management for Peninsula College’s Center of Excellence, a post he has held since 2004. He is also an Adjunct Professor for Western Washington University (WWU), teaching courses for WWU’s Huxley College of the Environment on the Peninsula. Dwight’s research interests include fire ecology and management, ecological restoration, science education, quantitative methods, land management, and GIS. He incorporated many of these interests into a course he taught for WWU during the fall 2007 quarter, Introduction to Ecosystem Management. The course was developed in response to concerns local emergency management and fire service communities have about the possibility of wildfire on the peninsula. Dwight is currently working on a publication compiled from student work, which will be produced by Peninsula College’s Center of Excellence. The report will be available on the Center of Excellence’s website for community residents to read and download in early 2008.

Other courses Dwight has taught at Peninsula College and WWU include Introduction to Environmental Science, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems,  Applied Geographic Information Science, Field Methods in Ecological Science, Introduction to Elwha Research, Scientific Communication and Research, Biostatistical Analysis, Ecosystem Management, and Basic Kickboxing.

Some of the recent research projects Dwight's students have worked on include:

• Assisting the Dungeness River Management Team with improved Dungeness River streamflow predictions.  

• Geographic Information Science assessment of emergency management planning issues in Clallam County.

• Exploring the functional and genetic diversity of the microbial communities of the periphyton and riparian soils of the Elwha River.

• Describing levels of marine-derived nutrients in riparian forests along the Elwha River.

• Assisting with the fish productivity and habitat studies in the estuarine and nearshore environments of the Elwha River.

• Studying habitat suitability of riparian habitats for mammalian mesocarnivores along the Elwha River.

• Exploring the organizational and policy dimensions of harbor master planning, with a focus on the Part Angeles Harbor area.Before joining Peninsula College, Dwight was a manager for Lewisville Wildlife Management Area in Lewisville, Texas, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas. He has also taught at The College of Santa Fe and was an Environmental Consultant for Armadillo Environmental Consulting, also in Texas.Dwight is the author of 41 peer-reviewed and professional publications.He received his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas in 2000 in Environmental Science, his M.F.S. from Yale University in 1995 in Forest Science, and his B.A. from Texas A&M University in 1993, with majors in Philosophy and Natural Resources, where he graduated Cum Laude and with University Honors. He also has studied at Texas Interagency Wildfire Academy, Arizona Wildfire Academy, Teton Science School, Moscow Institute of Communications (Russia), and Sierra Institute in Central America (UC Santa Cruz).When he’s not doing job-related research, Dwight also likes researching well-aged bourbon, the effects of Newton’s Second Law via kickboxing, and hanging out with his family.