At the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation meeting on August 30, Dr. Lorin I. Nevling, Chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey and Acting Chief of the Illinois State Water Survey, announced that he will retire as of Dec. 31, 1996. Dr. Nevling has served as Chief of the Natural History Survey since 1987 and as Acting Chief of the State Water Survey since Nov. 3, 1996. He previously served as a Member of the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation from 1979-1986.
Dr. Nevling is known as a scientist, an administrator, a counselor, and a public servant. He has made contributions as a scientist to the systematics of higher plants, especially the family Thymelaeaceae, and has served in many capacities to the national botanical community. He served on the Association of Systematics Collections Board for over a decade and recently was awarded the ASC's Association Award for Service. In his career as a scientific administrator at the Herbaria of Harvard University, the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Illinois Natural History Survey, he has shown strong leadership and has retained a sense of focus on the big picture of research organizations for the future.
He provided guidance to the Surveys during the reorganization of the environmental agencies in state government and has led both the Natural History Survey and the Water Survey under the Department of Natural Resources.
Nationally, Dr. Nevling served as a member of the Committee on the Formation of the National Biological Survey (Service), National Research Council in 1993 and has served on committees of several federal agencies. Dr. Nevling has also been active on the state level, serving on various committees in the Department of Natural Resources, the Interagency Committee on Pesticides, and the Governor's Science Advisory Council. In addition, he has served on various committees at the University of Illinois.
Brent Manning, Chair of the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation (BNRC) and Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR), has appointed a Board search committee consisting of Dr. Richard Alkire (Chair), Dr. Robert Metcalf, Mr. Allan Mickelson, and Dr. John Yopp. An internal Survey search committee will also be formed. The two search committees will work together under the coordination of Director Karen A. Witter, Office of Scientific Research and Analysis, DNR, to recommend a candidate for the position of chief. The appointment will be made by the BNRC. The Natural History Survey and the other Surveys/Center are divisions of the DNR Office of Scientific Research and Analysis.