Jeff Tome has been a naturalist at Audubon since 1996 and is now “Senior Naturalist for Programs and Exhibits”. He has been leading nature hikes all along, but other duties now include coordinating exhibit changes with staff and volunteers, running Audubon’s sustainability program to increase energy efficiency, working with teachers in long-term projects with their students through the Chautauqua Lake Curriculum Project and the Environmental Footprint Curriculum, and a variety of other things. As the tallest person on staff, he is also called upon to pull things off of the top shelves.
Jeff knows a little bit about a lot of things in nature, but realizes there is far too much out there for anyone to comprehend. He specializes in wildflower identification, but is also familiar with reptiles, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates, birds and is a font of odd nature facts.
Most recently, Jeff has been Audubon’s energy guru, working to lower Audubon’s environmental footprint through conservation of electricity. He has spent a lot of time learning about alternative energy, as well as alternative buildings, such as houses made from straw bales, cobb and cordwood. (He’s even helped to build a straw bale house.) His next goal is to lower the amount of natural gas used by the facility.
Before coming to Audubon, Jeff worked at the Asbury Woods Nature Center in Erie, PA, the Tampa Water Department and at the Ruth Lilly YMCA center in St. Paul, Indiana. He has two Bachelor’s degrees from Edinboro University of PA. One is in Speech Communications and the other in Environmental Studies.
When not at Audubon, Jeff can be found hiking and biking with his wife and children, puttering about in his gardens, camping, and searching for elusive plants and animals in the wilds of Warren County, PA.
