Members receive weekly issues of Insider’s Edition and bimonthly issues of Wetland News per year. If you are a member already, you may read the latest issue of Insider’s Edition and Wetland News (NAWM’s membership newsletter) by logging in to your Members' Portal. NAWM membership benefits information.
NAWM is looking for photos of our members working in the field—whether inside or outside, regulation or restoration, monitoring & assessment—or mapping & management of wetland resources. We would like to feature photos of wetland professionals doing a wide range of activities in the field of wetland science, policy and management. Please email these photos to Laura at laura@nawm.org for use on the NAWM website and/or in our membership newsletter, Wetland News.
The NAWM membership includes state, tribal, federal, and local wetland managers, regulators, researchers, field scientists, academics, private consultants, and more. These wetlanders work across the United States in a wide variety of wetlands and related aquatic resources. To celebrate the important work that NAWM members are doing, each month NAWM shines the Member Spotlight on one member to learn more about the good work they are doing to protect and restore our wetland resources, how they came to work in wetlands, and how being a member of the Association benefits their work. If you would like to nominate a member for a future Member Spotlight, please reach out to Portia Osborne, NAWM Assistant Director, at portia@nawm.org. View Member Spotlight Archive.
Peter Ryan – March 2025
Peter Ryan, PWS Emeritus, recently retired from the Oregon Department of State Lands where he worked as the Department’s Wetland Ecology Specialist.
What was your favorite part of your job?
Working with the Department’s Wetland Ecology (WE) staff to respond accurately and quickly to wetland questions and determination requests from the public. The WE staff like helping folks!
What is one of your biggest professional accomplishments?
Serving as the Department’s Wetland Ecology Specialist for 6 years.
What is your favorite wetland, or type of wetland? Why?
This is a hard question in Oregon. We have so many great wetlands in the state. Brackish and freshwater marshes and tidal woodlands along the coast, wetland prairies and vernal pools in our inland valleys, poor fens and bogs in the mountains and coast, and large alkaline wetlands and playas on the east side of the state. But if I had to choose, I suppose it would be the all the wetland types in the Willamette Valley because that is where I grew up and first discovered my love of plants and how fun it is to delineate wetlands.
How did you end up working in wetlands?
As most, my path to wetland work was a winding one. It started by earning an undergraduate degree in Botany, graduate degree in Forest Science, serving as a forester with the Peace Corps, working five wonderful years with the US Forest Service followed by seven years as a natural resource consultant in forestry and wetlands, and ending with twenty years of service with the Oregon Department of State Lands’ Wetlands Program. My 18-year-old self had no idea what was going to come next
What advice do you have for someone interested in getting started in wetlands work?
Do what you love, and the rest will follow.
How long have you been a member of NAWM? How have you participated in NAWM?
The Department has always had staff that are active members in NAWM. The great information NAWM provides through webinars and meetings is routinely shared with all interested staff.
What is your favorite benefit of being a member of NAWM?
Hands down my favorite benefit has been access to NAWM’s excellent Members’ Webinar Series followed closely by NAWM’s “Wetland News” newsletter, both of which are great resources for keeping up with a rapidly developing science.
What is your favorite NAWM memory?
Having the Department’s Deputy Director for Operations, Bill Ryan, serve as a NAWM’s Board Member.
Thank you to Peter for sharing your experiences and being a part of NAWM! And congratulations on your retirement!
If you would like to nominate a member for a future Member Spotlight, please reach out to Portia Osborne, NAWM Assistant Director, at portia@nawm.org.
View Member Spotlight Archive.