 |
 |
He graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a Masters Degree in Wildlife Biology in 1975 and was awarded a PhD in Marine Ecology by Boston University in 1995. Dr. Portnoy was an ecologist with the Cape Cod National Seashore for nearly 30 years (1970-2008).
A timeline for the Herring River prepared by the National Seashore documents that he and Seashore superintendent Maria Burks met with the Board of Governors of the Chequessett Yacht & Country Club in 1999 to discuss increasing tidal flow in the Herring River. He has served on the group responsible for the scientific planning for the project – the Herring River Restoration Project Technical Committee – for more than 15 years.
Dr. Portnoy has been a constant presence and frequent speaker at public forums to explain intricacies and nuances of the Herring River tidal restoration. This, of course, was only one of his many responsibilities as a National Seashore ecologist before his retirement in 2008. He performed environmental research and was an author of many scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He headed up the tidal restoration project in Hatches Harbor, Provincetown, and was the first author of The Hatches Harbor Prototype, which was published in Park Science in 2003.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Interior awarded him with an Environmental Achievement Award for his work on the Herring River project, and the Association to Preserve Cape Cod has honored him for his work on the restoration.
Dr. Portnoy is a longtime member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of Herring River – the project manager for the Herring River Restoration Project, which has raised the lion's share of the millions of dollars that is funding the project. He also serves on the Wellfleet Conservation Commission and the Mayo Creek Restoration Committee.
In 2006, the U.S. Department of Interior awarded him an Environmental Achievement Award for his work on the Herring River project, and the Association to Preserve Cape Cod has also honored him for his work on the restoration.
Dr. Portnoy has been one of the most influential stewards of Cape Cod's ecological welfare for more than five decades.
Top of page