Bradly Potter, Biological Technician (GIS) with the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture Science Center in East Lansing, Michigan. - Photo by Greg Soulliere

The Region 3 Joint Venture Office now has permanent GIS expertise in-house.  Bradly Potter came on board on October 1 as a permanent Biological Technician specializing in the use of GIS in landscape conservation planning. 

He is located at the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes Region Joint Venture Science Office in East Lansing, Michigan, and will work closely with Joint Venture Science Coordinator Greg Soulliere, also located in the East Lansing Field Office.

The Upper Miss./Great Lakes Joint Venture is developing decision tools for partners engaged in migratory bird conservation that have been developed in a landscape context.  In other words, priority bird species and population targets are developed by considering continental bird survey information, and habitat deficits are identified by considering available habitats and ranges used by these species.  The end result of these efforts will be a Joint Venture Implementation Plan with several bird guild conservation strategies useful to all partners.

Bradly Potter completed both his M.S. and B.S. at Central Michigan University.  His graduate research focused on modeling wildlife crossing locations along highways in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.  While completing his undergraduate degree he predicted the distribution of potential wolf habitat in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.  His interests are in landscape ecology and planning, GIS applications in wildlife conservation, and habitat restoration.