Alan L. Contreras is a fourth-generation Oregonian and a graduate of the University of Oregon and its law school. He is retired from a career on the fringes of higher education. He previously served on the boards of the Friends of Malheur, Malheur Field Station, and Lane Education Service District, among others. He has published eight books as author, editor or co-editor with Oregon State University Press, plus several books with other publishers. Recent OSUP titles include A History of Oregon Ornithology, Collected Poems of Ada Hastings Hedges, Edge of Awe: Experiences of the Malheur-Steens Country and Afield: Forty Years of Birding the American West.