About the Author

Suggested Citation: Kerr, Andy. 2000. Oregon Desert Guide: 70 Hikes. Seattle: The Mountaineers Books. p. 271.

Andy Kerr first fell in love with the wild as a kid. After dropping out of Oregon State University, he spent two decades with the Oregon Natural Resources Council, the organization best known for having brought you the spotted owl. He has been hung in effigy (at least twice) and received death threats (lost count).

He consults, writes, and speaks on environmental issues through The Larch Company (the western larch has a contrary nature as a deciduous conifer). Kerr is on the board of the North American Industrial Hemp Coun- cil and is founder of Alternatives to Growth Oregon.

A fifth-generation Oregonian, he was born and raised in Creswell, a recovered timber town in the upper Willamette Valley. Until recently, he lived near Joseph, a recovering timber town in the upper Wallowa Valley. He now resides in the recovered timber town of Ashland.

He is happily married, child-free, and lives with two dogs and one cat. He likes to canoe, raft, hike, read, listen to shortwave radio, and move his home toward energy self-sufficiency. He knows all the words to "Home on the Range" (see Appendix E).