Dombeck worked as a fishing guide for 11 summers near Hayward, Wisconsin, which informed the path his career would take. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and earned a B.S. in biology and general sciences and an M.S.T. in biology and education degrees. He attended the University of Minnesota, earning an M.S. in Zoology and later earned a PhD from Iowa State University in 1984. His research included studies on the movement, behavior, reproduction, and early life ecology of the muskellunge, Wisconsin's state fish. His research lead him to become Program Chairman of the 1st International Muskellunge Symposium held in 1984 with proceedings published by the American Fisheries Society. After three years of teaching zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Dombeck joined the United States Forest Service as a fisheries biologist on the Hiawatha National Forest. He held additional Forest Service assignments throughout the Midwest and California, focused on both aquatic research and fisheries management, after which he was promoted to National Fisheries Program Manager for the USFS where he led the integration of aquatic resources considerations into national forest management and the Rise to the Future Program. He spent a year in 1989 as a LEGIS Fellow working in the U.S. Senate on agriculture and appropriations issues.
Federal Service
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
At the beginning of the George H. W. Bush administration, Dombeck was assigned as Special Assistant to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and later was named Science Advisor. At the beginning of the Clinton Administration, he was assigned Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Lands and Minerals Management. In 1994 he was appointed Acting Director of the Bureau of Land Management by Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt. Dombeck held that position until 1997 when Secretary of AgricultureDan Glickman named him the 14th Chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Dombeck's time at the BLM was marked by a focus on wildlife protection, riparian and aquatic resources and . Dombeck worked closely with then Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas to increase the two agencies' accessibility to public land users, and to promote ecosystem-based management and watershed restoration on public land.
In 1997, Dombeck and the Forest Service Leadership team crafted a four-point agenda, known as . It emphasized four major topics; watershed health and restoration, ecologically sustainable forest and grasslands management, recreation and a long-term forest roads policy. Dombeck emphasized the importance of clean water as a forest a product, appointing a task force of scientists and economists to the quantity and value of water flowing from the National Forests. He staunchly defended land conservation and science-based management in . Under Dombeck’s leadership, the Roadless Rule was developed, which protected 58 million acres of the most remote national forest lands. Dombeck out laid his proposal for roadless area management in a speech in 2000. This provided the groundwork for enhancing and increasing Americans’ experiences in the nation’s forests by protecting million acres of the remaining wildest places for outdoor recreation and protecting the health and quality of watersheds and ecosystems. His career in public service was recognized with the highest award in career federal service, the Presidential Rank-Distinguished Executive Award by President George W. Bush in 2001. He was the only person to have led the nation's two largest public land management agencies.
Post Federal Service
After retiring from federal service, Dombeck took a position as Professor of Global Conservation at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and was later named UW System Fellow, where he served from 2001 to 2010. He currently serves as Executive Director of the in conservation biology, as a trustee of the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread, and is a former trustee for Trout Unlimited and the Wisconsin chapter of The Nature Conservancy. Dombeck has authored, co-authored, and edited more than 200 popular and scholarly publications, including the books:
Watershed Restoration: Principles and Practices
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From Conquest to Conservation: Our Public Lands Legacy.
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Awards
For his efforts in land conservation, Dombeck was awarded the Ansel Adams Award in 2010, the Aldo Leopold Restoration Award in 2009, an honorary doctorate from Haverford University in 2007, by the National Wildlife Federation in 2001, US-IALE Distinguished Landscape Practitioner in 2019, and numerous other awards.
