Kevin T Shoemaker

B.S.  (Bio. / Env. Science)  2000    Haverford College

M.S.  (Cons. Bio.)              2007      SUNY ESF                   Currently I am a PH.D. candidate in Cons. Bio. at SUNY ESF

305 Illick Hall

Department of Environmental Forest Biology

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Syracuse, NY 13210

email: ktshoema@syr.edu

Office: (315) 470-6754

Ph.D. Candidate, Conservation Biology

EDUCATION

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Humans continue to aggressively appropriate natural ecosystems to meet rising resource demands. Consequently, heavy-handed management strategies such as recolonization and habitat manipulation are becoming common practice for many threatened species. In my research I aim to evaluate how and when active management may effectively enable threatened species to flourish (or at least persist) in human-dominated environments. I am especially fascinated by reptiles, and have focused much of my efforts on the conservation and management of threatened snakes and turtles.

 

 

 

Surveying for bog turtles (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) in eastern NY.

Surveying for eastern massasauga rattlesnakes in western NY

Eastern massasauga rattlesnake, Sistrurus c. catenatus

Juvenile bog turtle basking on moss in eastern NY.

PUBLICATIONS

Shoemaker, K. T., G. Johnson, G. and K. A. Prior. 2009. Habitat manipulation as a viable conservation strategy. Pp 221-243 IN Snakes: Ecology and Conservation, S. J. Mullin and R. A. Seigel, editors. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, USA.

 

Schlaepfer, M. A., W. D. Helenbrook, K. B. Searing and K. T. Shoemaker. 2009. Assisted colonization: evaluating contrasting management actions (and values) in the face of uncertainty. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24:471.   

 

Shoemaker, K. T. and J. P. Gibbs, in press. Evaluating Basking-Habitat Deficiency in the Threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake. Journal of Wildlife Management.

 

Shoemaker, K. T. 2007. Habitat manipulation as a viable strategy for the conservation of the massasauga rattlesnake in New York State. M.S. Thesis. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY.

SELECTED REPORTS

Shoemaker, K. T. 2009. Developing Effective Survey Techniques for Queen Snakes (Regina septemvittata) and their Habitat in New York. Report prepared for the New York State Natural Heritage Program, Albany, NY. 11 pp. 

 

Shoemaker, K. T., A. T. Krofta and J. P. Gibbs. 2007. Management recommendations for the eastern massasauga rattlesnake at Cicero Swamp Wildlife Management Area based on recent surveys.  Report prepared for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY. 13 pp.

 

Shoemaker, K. T., A. T. Krofta and J. P. Gibbs. 2006. Is Management Intervention Necessary for the Conservation of the Massasauga Rattlesnake at Cicero Swamp? A Report Based on a 2-year Ecological Study. Report prepared for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY. 39 pp.

Some thoughts on Conservation Biology

I am fascinated with the complex interplay of values and science that is Conservation Biology. The nature of our field requires that we approach problems through the eyes of an activist, an ethicist, a field biologist, a statistician, a sociologist, and more  — often at the same time. To maximize our real-world success in wildlife conservation, I sometimes think we would do well to define ourselves as a meta-discipline that tailors innovative, interdisciplinary methods to suit unique problems rather than as a distinct discipline defined by specialized techniques, terminology and publications. Although we are academics, I think we should heartily resist the “ivory tower” syndrome— there is no shame in engaging with local stakeholders to solve issues with little global or national import.

 

I am skeptical about some of the normative underpinnings of conservation biology, and I am often uncomfortable with the justifications we give for why species/biodiversity should be conserved. I think we have created a false dichotomy between the instrumental and intrinsic value of species, and I feel that justifying conservation in these terms can only present a rude caricature of the real reasons we are in this field. I can’t really see how values can exist outside of the human beings that hold, express, and promulgate those values.  Therefore I’m not sure how non-human objects, individuals and entities such as species can have intrinsic value. However, that doesn’t mean that species can only have instrumental value in the narrow sense that they provide valuable ecological services or may cure cancer someday. I think humans are fully capable of valuing species and ecosystems for reasons far deeper than any direct material benefit they may provide — reasons such as their strangeness, their beauty, their ability to remind us of some deep past when our common ancestors roamed the earth. I could go on– and I do in my blog.