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Today's Featured Biography

 
Gilbert Mac Adam

After I graduated from Kent State University with a B.A. degree in Geography and Botany in 1969, I took a job with the Stow Parks System under Gary Bliss, Parks Director. During this time, Kathy and I got married at Stow Alliance Fellowship Church. After one year working in the Stow Parks, the draft pressured me to join the Air Force, where I spent one year teaching English to the South Vietnamese soldiers in Nha Trang and coaching a fun bunch of college grad English teachers in two softball leagues. During the remainder of my Air Force time, Kathy and I spent time in Texas, Mississippi, Massachusetts and northern California. Leaving the military in 1974, I started a position as the first environmental naturalist for Broward County, Florida under Gary Bliss, again, where he had relocated from Stow. Through three successful bond programs of $73 million, $75 million, and $400 million, the County Park system in Broward has grown to an outstanding mix of recreation and natural area sites. My eleven staff and I have been responsible for doing the management plans and master plans for numerous sites in preparation for the site development such as restrooms, boardwalks, overlooks and trails with interpretation for public appreciation of resources. It has been a rewarding and challenging career, with beautiful subtropical hammock forests preserved and large coastal mangrove habitats of 1,560 acres also set aside for fisheries management and public use. These bond projects have been accomplished through caring conservation minded individuals, significant bond dollars and good planning. During the last 30 years, I have also been involved with the National Wildlife Federation in the promotion of backyard wildlife habitats for homeowners. Both my park work and NWF work were ignited by seeing the rural and semi-rural land disappear to development in northeast Ohio, where we all grew up. I wanted to be one to "make a difference" and preserve natural habitats. For a number of years, I taught a course entitled "Birding by Ear", which taught participants bird identification thru avian songs and note calls. Two of my hobbies include growing colorful bromeliads from around tropical countries, and my favorite, growing 14 of the 18 species of staghorn ferns which can grow in the continental U.S. In 1993, I was honored to be selected as the Outstanding Environmental Administrator for the United States by the American Society of Public Administration. I am a frequent speaker in the Southwest Florida area on a variety of subjects, after retiring from Broward Parks in 2007 after 33 years. My wife had a rewarding job teaching the GED program to women in the Broward jail system. Both Kathy and I have been involved in various Christian outreaches in our marriage of 44 years, and attended the very large Calvary Chapel of Ft Lauderdale Church (17,000 per weekend attend), while living in Broward County. Our son Ben and his wife live in Deerfield Beach, Florida, where is a Youth Pastor at a large church, and they have given us 2 beautiful grandchildren. Our daughter Julie lives in Arcadia, with us. I still play golf in various tournaments, and have had four holes-in-one since high school. We would be pleased to have any classmates call or stop in if you are in Southwest Florida. This region is still a fantastic part of the U.S. to fully enjoy life and all it's blessings.

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