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Dave Sutherland
Dave and Jennifer Sutherland live in the People's Republic of Boulder, Colorado.
Dave and Jen met in the Peace Corps in Honduras back in 1984, and got married in a beautiful meadow in Montana in 1987. We worked in the Galápagos Islands as environmental educators from 1991 - 1994.
 Dave graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, CA in 1994 (biology major), Master's from U of Idaho in 1991 (Latin American Conservation emphasis).
Employer:
Dave has worked as a park naturalist for the city of Boulder's Open Space & Mountain Parks program since 1996. He is proud to be a science and natural history geek, and this is the perfect job for him: gets to be the center of attention, gets to show off, gets paid to be outdoors learning about plants and animals.
Spouse's Name & Occupation:
Jen suffered a serious stroke back in 2005, and had to give up her job as a Spanish teacher. She is now on disability retirement. Jen has recovered, but many aspects of life are still difficult for her. She volunteers at the Butterfly Pavilion, taking care of plants in their greenhouse. 
Kids and birth years:
Ana, (b 1993). We adopted her in 1994, when we lived in Ecuador. Photo at right - Ana dressed in school colors at a game.
Do you have a Facebook account? Yes
Your birthday: May 2
Three off-the-wall things about me you didn’t know:
- Julia Boaz, who graduated from UHigh in 1981, by total coincidence ended up in the office one door down from me at work. We didn't keep in touch for all those years, so it was a real shock to discover our common past and current proximity.
- I still remember by heart big chunks of Monty Python and Holy Grail, Star Wars and most of Alice’s Restaurant (which I memorized while listening to it over and over in Clay and Jeff’s apartment, senior year). It's scary to say, but Monty Python and Mad magazine were huge influences on my sense of humor. I keep my heart perpetually in the third grade, and still laugh at potty jokes.
- I think it was Junior year? Metamora High School played our football team at Horton field and slaughtered us. But worse! they brought their own band, that competed with our band during the whole game. Some of my friends in band (who shall remain nameless) were so outraged that they wanted revenge. So we took it out on the band bus. We sort of . . . decorated it creatively, inside and out. In retaliation, the Metamora team broke out a bunch of ceiling tiles in the hall by the boy's locker room. There was a huge flap over the incident, and we had an assembly where Dr. Norris described the perpetrators as "undesirables who probably aren't even at this assembly." There was threatened police action and an investigation, but we weren't caught for almost a year. By then it had blown over, and we got off virtually without penalty. I think the statute of limitations has run out on this event, so I'm safe to tell about it now.
Photo - Dave in the Peace Corps (Fishculture extensionist) 1985 after a 2 hour motorcycle ride in the rain.
Links on the web:
The 2009 Photo Album - since the 2008 version was so popular (Pdf, 760 Kb)
Our 2008 Family Newsletter - lotsa larfs and more cool pictures (Pdf, 960 Kb)
Travel Photo Gallery  Family Photo Gallery
Wildlife Photo Gallery Scenery Photo Gallery
Dave's Galápagos Gallery on Flickr
Dave interviewed on Denver Channel 7 News (January 2009) - aftermath of the Olde Stage Road wildfire
Dave on Denver Channel 7 News again (August 2009) - Lady bug swarms on the mountain
Colorado Lifetime Achievement Award for Environmental Education
Hobbies and Interests:
Hiking, bird watching, cooking, photography, playing piano (poorly), amateur astronomy (I host public star-gazing parties with my telescope), travel, gardening with Colorado’s native plants, music of all sorts except country, rap and opera.
If you want to visit Costa Rica, Ecuador, or the Galápagos Islands, contact me for ideas and information.
 
Photos - 2004, in Otavalo, Ana's home town in Ecuador. When we went to a store to buy her a traditional blouse, the lady got so excited to dress up an adopted Otavaleña Indian that she called in her aunt from another store, and they pulled pieces off the racks until Ana was dressed in the complete outfit. She looked like she could have been from their family! (Maybe she was . . . ????)
Below, Dave at work (teaching kids about comparative skull anatomy). Who says science has to be boring?
 
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University High School
