At the one-year anniversary of Jim Omernik’s passing, his friends and colleagues are fundraising to establish a memorial at the Pacific Ecological Systems Division in Corvallis, OR. This memorial will be a picnic table with a map of Omernik Ecoregions imprinted on top. We envision this to be a permanent gathering spot on the EPA Corvallis site where colleagues could work, relax, or have a conversation around his map.

Jim was a visionary geographer who pioneered the development of the Ecoregions concept. Ecoregions are used to organize and understand the landscape by scientists and managers across North America and the globe. The Ecoregion layers have been among the most influential content on EPA’s website for the past decade.

Many of us valued the time spent discussing the landscapes of North America with Jim, among other topics like OSU Beaver basketball, and hope to share the picnic table with others soon.

We ask you to consider donating to this effort to create a memorial area. Our goal is to raise approximately $3000 to construct the table with a suitable map image of the Omernik Ecoregions. UPDATED GOAL: the funds needed to purchase the table and map have been quoted at $3400.

Omernik Memorial Committee:

Scott Leibowitz, Dave Peck, Paul Ringold, Glenn Griffith,

Mary Kentula, Marc Weber, Amanda Nahlik, and Jana Compton

Please contact Jana with any questions