Michael Nelson

Michael Paul Nelson, Ph.D is an environmental scholar, writer, teacher, speaker, consultant and professor of environmental ethics and philosophy. He currently holds the Ruth H. Spaniol Endowed Chair of Renewable Resources, and serves as the Lead-Principal Investigator for the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long-Term Ecological Research Program at Oregon State University.

He is the philosopher in residence of the Isle Royale Wolf-Moose Project in Lake Superior, the longest continuous study of a predator-prey system in the world. Michael is the co-founder and co-director of the Conservation Ethics Group, an award-winning environmental ethics consultancy group fusing ethics with social and ecological science.

Michael’s research and teaching focus covers the concept of wilderness, philosophy of ecology, hunting ethics, theories of environmental education, conservation biology, questions about science and advocacy and the philosophical work of Aldo Leopold. He is the author of many professional and popular articles, and the author or editor of four books in and around the area of environmental ethics including The Great New Wilderness Debate, The Wilderness Debate Rages On: Continuing the Great New Wilderness Debate, American Indian Environmental Ethics: An Ojibwa Case Study and the award-winning book Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril with Kathleen Dean Moore. Michael is called upon regularly by various government agencies and conservation organizations to assist with understanding the ethical implications of natural resource management decisions. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Lancaster University, England. He lives in Corvallis, Oregon.