Welcome to the Walt Dineen Society

Who is Walt Dineen?
J. "Walt" Dineen (1937-1990) was, for close to three decades, a highly respected biologist/ecologist in South Florida. He was Everglades Project Leader for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, and Director of Environmental Sciences at the South Florida Water Management District. Walt was one of the first to develop a broad regional perspective for the Everglades ecosystem, and to use that understanding to influence and improve management practices. Perhaps his most valuable contribution to the Everglades was his strong, personal demonstration of the importance of having well-informed scientists participate in the management and policy debates. For his early role in this process, we honor his name.

Mission
The Walt Dineen Society is an informal, non-affiliated forum, dedicated to the task of substantially improving the communication of technical information on the ecosystems of South Florida, among the natural, physical, and social scientists and the management and policy leaders who work in this region. The Society considers that frequent exchanges of research results, and multi-disciplinary discussions designed to integrate new information with the old, are essential steps leading to improved understandings of the natural components and ecological processes of the South Florida systems. It is these intellectual processes that will assure that our understanding of both the natural and managed systems continue to mature (i.e., "the whole [of our understanding] is greater than the sum of its parts"). By supporting a communications process that is organized from the perspective of systems, in contrast to an issues or project-driven perspective, we believe that science will be in the strongest position to make substantial contributions to the important management and policy questions raised by the restoration programs.

Walt Dineen Society Conferences
To achieve these goals, the Society sponsors conferences pertaining to the ecosystems of South Florida. The main priority of these conference is to encourage everyone who is conducting studies in the natural and physical sciences in South Florida to report on their on-going and completed work. These conferences differ from other technical conferences in the region in that:

1 they are systems-focused;
2 we encourage participation by all researchers and students of the natural systems of South Florida; and
3 the conference is organized to maximize the opportunities for the integration of new information from a broad array of disciplines.
For more information about upcoming or current conferences, please refer to our Conference Page. Program information and abstracts from the first Walt Dineen Conference are available at the Conference Archive.

For further Information
To learn more about the Walt Dineen Society or Conference, contact:
John Ogden
South Florida Water Management District
3301 Gun Club Rd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33416
jogden@sfwmd.gov