Co-Authors
The Texas Landscape Project: Nature and People relies on data from scores of agencies, non-profits, archives and individual researchers, and its layout, publication and marketing have depended on friends at Texas A&M University Press, backed up by a wide array of foundations and non-profit groups. However, the text, maps, charts and other materials have been prepared by two co-authors, David Todd and Jonathan Ogren. Their background, training, and interests are described below.
David Todd was responsible for the data collection, text, drawings and draft maps used in The Texas Landscape Project: Nature and People. He is the founder and executive director of the Conservation History Association of Texas, a small, Austin-based non-profit dedicated to environmental education. Mr. Todd has an A.B. in architecture and urban planning from Princeton University, an M.S. in environmental science from Rice University, and a J.D. from Emory University. He has worked as an attorney on environmental cases, a donor for conservation causes, a cattle rancher, and as a co-editor of the oral history compilation, The Texas Legacy Project: Stories of Courage and Conservation (Texas A&M University Press 2010).
Jonathan Ogren reviewed and analyzed the geographic and time-series data, and developed the finished maps and charts for the atlas. He has taught in the Community and Regional Planning Department at the University of Texas, and is the founder and principal of Siglo Group, a firm that helps clients integrate natural systems into land planning and design. Mr. Ogren earned a B.A. in biology and a M.A. in environmental science and conservation planning from the University of Texas at Austin. He specializes in environmental assessment, regional analysis, conservation planning, cartography, and land use feasibility studies, and he teaches college courses in geographic information systems and cartography.
The Texas Landscape Project: Nature and People is very fortunate to have a foreword written by Andy Sansom. Dr. Sansom is the Executive Director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, as well as a Research Professor of Geography at the University. He formerly served as both executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and the head of the Nature Conservancy of Texas, and has written widely, with five books and many published periodical articles to his name. As the recipient of the Chevron Conservation Award, the Chuck Yeager Award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Pugsley Medal from the National Park Foundation, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nature Conservancy, he has been widely recognized for his many contributions to conservation.