Jeff Debonis This is Me

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1. 1. National Forest Protection Alliance

   www.forestadvocate.org/about/a - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/15/2007   Last Visited: 12/15/2007

   Jeff Debonis
   
   Jeff has led a distinguished career in forestry, environmentalism and employee activism. He worked on national and international government forestry projects in the Peace Corps, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Agency for International Development. In 1989, he founded and was the Director of the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (AFSEEE), a group of dissident, environmental activist agency employees within the Forest Service. In 1992, he founded and directed Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), an expanded national organization of public employees of numerous environmental agencies who work to ensure the integrity and public accountability of their agencies. DeBonis has been recognized for his leadership by several foundations and public interest groups including the National Wildlife Federation, the Wilderness Society, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, California League of Conservation Voters, Oregon Natural Resources Council and the Society for Conservation Biology.
   
   Jeff is currently one of TREC's Senior Associates. Prior to joining TREC, he was a free-lance consultant for three years specializing as an Interim Executive Director for several environmental groups around the country, providing leadership, planning, program, financial and other critical services to organizations in transition.

2. 2. TREC - Staff

   www.trecnw.org/about/staff.htm - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/22/2007   Last Visited: 2/22/2007

   Jeff DeBonis, Senior Associate
   ...
   Jeff DeBonis, Senior Associate, has led a distinguished career in forestry, environmentalism and employee activism. He worked on national and international government forestry projects in the Peace Corps, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Agency for International Development. In 1989 he founded and was the Director of the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (AFSEEE), a group of dissident, environmental activist agency employees within the Forest Service. In 1992 he founded and directed Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), an expanded national organization of public employees of numerous environmental agencies that work to ensure the integrity and public accountability of their agencies. Top

3. 3. Native Forest Council: About Us

   www.forestcouncil.org/aboutus/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/11/2007   Last Visited: 12/11/2007

   Jeff DeBonis
   ...
   Jeff DeBonis
   
   Although he worked for the Forest Service for 13 years, Jeff DeBonis will not be remembered for his career in harvesting national forests. He will be remembered for standing up to a huge organization and violating it's unspoken rule: don't speak out against the Forest Service's policies. But that's exactly what he did; in 1989, after attending a seminar in Eugene, Oregon on ancient forests, DeBonis wrote a two-page memo and distributed it throughout the Forest Service using their equivalent to email. In the memo, he assaulted the Forest Service's position as "an advocate of the timber industry's agenda." He called for greater attention to conservation and stewardship. The memo created a ruckus throughout the Forest Service and Timber Industry, and although he was the first to speak his mind, he certainly wasn't alone. DeBonis was contacted by hundreds of Forest Service employees who wanted to speak their minds but were afraid. Due to his efforts, a group called the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics emerged. DeBonis left the Forest Service in 1991 in order to concentrate on environmental advocacy through nonprofit organizations. Since that time, he founded the Public Employees for Environmental Ethics (PEER) which has organized hundreds of public employees as environmental activists and sued and won many court decisions on behalf of those activists. DeBonis has received many awards for his work in the environmental community.