Bob Gale, Ecologist and Public Lands Director
Bob is the Ecologist and Public Lands Director for MountainTrue, where he has worked since 1998 providing scientific input on issues related to environmental protection of Southern Appalachian mountain forest communities. Bob’s work involves national forests and national parks, air and water quality, and rural lands protection. He heads MountainTrue’s non-native invasive species program.
Bob was educated at the University of South Carolina, where he received a B.S. in Geology and Biology. His special interest is botany, and he has spent his life working in fields related to this subject. He spent many years in the landscaping industry and as a certified arborist working in urban forestry. He also spent three years as Director of Field Operations in Wetlands Science for Ballantine Environmental Resources, Inc. in Hilton Head Island, SC, where he lived for 17 years. While on the coast, Bob studied Maritime Forest and Salt Marsh ecosystems and gave numerous hikes and presentations about these communities
Bob combined his love of nature and photography throughout the 80’s and 90’s as a freelance nature writer and photographer, and was published in local and national magazines. Upon moving to Asheville in 1996, he was one of four contributing authors of the Highroad Guide to the North Carolina Mountains (Longstreet Press), writing the natural history portions of the book. Bob has volunteered in environmental protection since 1976 and has chaired or founded three local Sierra Club groups in Columbia, SC, Hilton Head Island, and Asheville. He also served at the South Carolina Sierra Chapter and Sierra’s Appalachian Regional Conservation Council levels.
Current Related Activities: Asheville Tree Commission Volunteer; Buncombe County Land Conservation Advisory Board Member; Forest Restoration Alliance Board Member; Chair, Non-native Invasive Plant Committee of the Southern Appalachian Bog Learning Network; and North Carolina Forest Legacy Applications Review Committee.
