AGNR Professor Joins Astronauts, Explorers and Wildlife Champions in Receiving Prestigious Explorer’s Club Award

AGNR’s Bill Bowerman joined an elite group of innovators and adventurers on October 14 when The Explorer’s Club honored him with the Lowell Thomas Award. Previous recipients include such luminaries as Carl Sagan, Buzz Aldrin, Sylvia Earle, Sir Edmund Hillary, E.O. Wilson, and Louise Leakey, among others. This year’s award was given under the theme innovation, and Bowerman was recognized for his ground-breaking approach and relentless dedication to preserving eagle populations around the world and for his contribution to understanding the impacts of human activity on complex ecological systems.

A professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Bowerman has been instrumental in protecting bald eagles from the effects of environmental pollutants and other stressors in the U.S. He began studying bald eagle ecology and the effects of environmental pollutants in the Great Lakes region in 1984, and has since become a world-renowned champion of raptor conservation through environmental monitoring programs on every continent except Antarctica.

“I’m just so shocked and honored to have won this award,” Bowerman said. “I was just a kid from Munising, Michigan, and I remember being inspired by great explorers like Jacques Cousteau, Thor Heyerdahl, and people on National Geographic. So, to be given this award alongside such amazing people is just surreal.”

The award is given to individuals who have “created or invented specific methods, tools, and techniques that allow us to explore in a responsible and sustainable manner,” according to The Explorers Club website. Recipient’s work “extends beyond their field and focus to meaningfully contribute to knowledge of the world. . . and has impacted and improved our ability to explore and carry out science in the field.”

As a wildlife biologist and toxicologist, Bowerman developed an integrated, holistic approach to understanding the environment through the use of ecosystem monitor species—species whose population size and health can reveal important information about the condition of the ecosystem and toxins in the environment. He did early research on endocrine disrupting chemicals that were leading to continued effects on bald eagles by disrupting their reproduction.

The methods Bowerman developed to study eagle populations were consolidated into a National Park Service peer-reviewed protocol for monitoring environmental contaminants in the bald eagle. Bowerman expanded and adapted his methods to train and initiate monitoring programs for bald eagles in the U.S. and Canada, white-tailed sea eagles in Sweden, African fish eagles in Uganda and South Africa, and Steller’s sea eagles in the Russian Far East. Bowerman and his colleagues have trained over 500 individuals on his monitoring techniques, which blend toxicology sampling methods with biological measures, assessment of disease, habitat requirements, and population ecology.

Bowerman’s lab was responsible for establishing the food chain linkage that connects a unique cyanobacteria living on aquatic nuisance plants to waterfowl and bald eagles. That work formed the basis for long term work by colleagues who identified the neurotoxin responsible for a fatal neurological disease in birds.

In addition to research, Bowerman is passionate about sharing his knowledge and has introduced over 10,000 people to sea eagles. Through banding and monitoring activities, he has helped people from all walks of life learn about eagle ecology and threats to their future. As an active volunteer with Boy Scouts of America and an Eagle Scout himself, Bowerman has spent a lifetime teaching outdoor skills and sharing his enthusiasm for wildlife and ecology. Through the NESA World Explorers Program, he provides 1-2 Eagle Scouts an opportunity to be research assistants on his annual eagle project.

At AGNR, Bowerman initiated the creation of a unique  M.S. and Ph.D. specialization called Ecosystem Health and Natural Resources Management. His integrated approach ensures that professionals from both disciplines learn to work together to identify and solve large environmental problems. The specialization quickly became one of the most popular degree programs for graduate students.

Bowerman received a B.A. in biology from Western Michigan University, an M.A. in biology from Northern Michigan University, and a Ph.D. in fisheries and wildlife-environmental toxicology from Michigan State University. He was on the Faculty of Clemson University from 1999-2011, and has been at UMD since 2011 as a Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Toxicology. He served as the Chair of the Department of Environmental Science and Technology from 2011 until 2023.

Bowerman received his award at The Explorer Club’s weekend-long Lowell Thomas Awards celebration in Oslo Norway from October 13 -15, 2023.