User Profile

James M. Omernik is a retired geographer formerly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory is Corvallis, OR. He currently works parttime for the U.S. Geological Survey. Omernik began his career in geography with the Defense Intelligence Agency in the early 1960's and was with the EPA from 1972 to 2002. At EPA he has led in the design and development of national and regional maps of stream nutrient concentrations attributable to nonpoint sources, total alkalinity of surface waters, total phosphorus regions for lakes, and ecoregions. His recent activities have included participation in a NAFTA-related project to map ecological regions of North America, an interagency effort to develop a common framework of ecological regions of the United States, state and multi-state projects to refine and subdivide ecoregions, and clarification of the use and misuse of watershed, hydrologic unit, and ecoregion frameworks.

Contact Information
U.S. Geological Survey
c/o USEPS
200 SW 35th St.
Corvallis, OR 97333
E-mail: James Omernik