While Ethan writes on many subjects, his primary specialties—informed by his academic background and his ongoing work as an independent naturalist—are outdoor recreation, science (mainly earth science, natural resources, biology, and ecology), and travel, including adventure travel and ecotourism.
Ethan is deeply interested in natural systems and landscapes: everything from geomorphology and meteorology to plant communities and wildlife movement. He spends much of his time out in the backcountry as an avid hiker, backpacker, mountaineer, and paddler. He’s also a great music fan (though only a passable drummer and guitarist).
Ethan was proud to earn a degree in Wildlife Ecology/Natural Resources through the UW-Madison department established by visionary ecologist and conservationist Aldo Leopold. As part of this degree program, he got as much experience in writing up scientific reports as he did in fieldwork techniques such as wildlife and habitat surveys.
In this one-year program, Ethan learned the basics of the powerful technology called Geographic Information Systems. This allowed him to indulge a burgeoning interest in landscape ecology and physical geography, as well as explore the science and art of cartography and the robust software used to generate overlay maps and conduct spatial analysis.
Much of Ethan's writing focus covers travel--specifically adventure and nature-oriented travel/ecotourism. He's provided work in this regard for a variety of private clients as well as to USA Today's "Travel Tips", NationalGeographic.com's "Green Living," and a number of other Demand Media-associated outlets. He's also in the process of writing a field guide aimed at landscape interpretation for the outdoor (and armchair) traveler.
One of Ethan's major writing focuses, along with natural history/ecology, is outdoor recreation. He's written on the subject for a number of outlets, including Backpacker Magazine, RootsRated, the Bureau of Land Management, the "Observer" newspaper (La Grande, Ore.), Examiner (as the Portland Outdoor Adventure Examiner), Trails, LIVESTRONG, and USA Today's "Travel Tips." He's also written on recreation topics for a number of private clients.
Ethan specializes in interpretive writing on natural history, ecology, physical geography, geology, wildlife, and botany, informed by his academic background in ecology and geography and his lifelong passion for the natural world. He's written hundreds of pieces on these subjects for numerous online outlets (Demand Media) as well as for private clients and newspapers. His own writing projects, including the development of a field guide, center on landscape interpretation and ecology. He wrote portions for several academic papers based on professional wildlife and biology research work he was a part of.
Ethan has written on green-living topics on a number of projects. He wrote several pieces on eco-friendly travel and lifestyle for the National Geographic/Demand Media partnership "Green Living," published on NationalGeographic.com. He's also completed green-living titles for private clients, focusing mainly on ecologically sustainable travel.
From newspaper features to online ecology primers, much of Ethan's work has taken article form. He's skilled at translating complicated concepts into an engaging form accessible to the general reader.