Professional experience: Historian and Cultural Resources Specialist, National Park Service, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, since June 2000; District Historian, St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 1980-2000 (Chief, District Cultural Resources Staff 1997-2000).

Education: B.A., History and Anthropology, M.A. and Ph.D., History, University of Minnesota.

Member of FMR Board since: 1994

Board committees: Policy and Planning

Profession interests: John is the author of The River We Have Wrought: A History of the Upper Mississippi (University of Minnesota Press, 2005) and an author of River of History: A Historic Resources Study of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (2003).

Interesting book: Systems Thinking: A Primer by Donella Meadows.

Favorite Mississippi River location: Favorite historical place: the Meeker Island Lock and Dam Site. Favorite aesthetic site — Urban: Mounds Park because of the viewshed of Saint Paul and the floodplain. Rural: Pine Bend Scientific and Natural Area.

Favorite animal: “My cat Sweet Pea, a tabby.”

Last memorable vacation: Summer 2009 trip through the Badlands, Black Hills, Big Horns, Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Tetons.

Conservation/Environmental heroes: Will Dilg, the primary author of the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.