Dr. Travis Longcore is Associate Adjunct Professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Science Director of The Urban Wildlands Group, a Los Angeles-based conservation nonprofit, and an independent ecological design and environmental policy consultant.
Longcore earned the first Honors B.A. degree in Geography at the University of Delaware, where he won the Taylor Award, was a Rhodes Scholarship nominee from the state, and won a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, with which he pursued his M.A. and Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA. Longcore previously was Assistant Professor of Architecture, Spatial Sciences, and Biological Sciences at the University of Southern California where he was a core faculty member in the Landscape Architecture graduate program and the undergraduate major in GeoDesign.
Dr. Longcore’s research is focused on nature in cities and makes use of diverse statistical tools, fieldwork, and geographic information systems. His landmark article “Ecological Light Pollution” (Longcore and Rich 2004) and 2006 co-edited book Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting (Island Press) have come to define a new and rapidly growing research area in ecology. His service to the profession includes serving as Associate Editor of PLoS ONE and Urban Ecosystems. He is certified as a Senior Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America and as a GIS Professional (GISP).
Dr. Longcore is an accomplished environmental policy consultant, having provided extensive expert commentary and analysis in dozens of environmental cases for local, regional, and national organizations on issues as diverse as “towerkill” of migratory birds at communications towers, the proposed delisting of the Yellowstone population of grizzly bears, the ecological impacts of pesticides on birds, and numerous residential, recreational, and commercial development projects.
Among his accomplishments in the nonprofit, educational, and consulting sectors, Dr. Longcore co-developed science-based habitat restoration program and native plant nursery for coastal dune habitats and transferred operation to nonprofit training at-risk youth and young adults; directed the growth of a yearlong senior practicum problems course for a B.S. program in environmental science with competitive selection of student group projects for off-campus clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to local nonprofits; and managed a successful captive breeding program for endangered California butterflies, which he continues to oversee.
Contact
longcore [at] urbanwildlands.org
Publications
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1039-2613
