Horizons of His Own Choosing: David Yates ’99 Enjoys Life in Service to the Natural World

As the dawn slowly unveiled the Labrador horizon, David Yates ‘99 paused to take in the scene. Though an experienced research biologist and mammal director of the Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham, Maine, traveling regularly to assignments across North America, Yates is anything but jaded.

This is the life he’d dreamed of living while a student at Unity College. Yates considers assignments such the one in Labrador, Canada, where he was doing research on red throated loons on the pristine island that is off limits to humans, to be perks of the job.

“I pretty much work all across North America, including Canada up to Labrador, travel out west to Nevada, over to Virginia,” Yates said. “My work involves trapping mink, otter, bats and other mammals.” The work Yates pursues often involves assessing mercury levels in animals and the environment, a key indicator of whether an ecosystem is healthy or headed for trouble. Yates is a full-service research biologist.
What he has seen in his work has not only given him a deep, hands-on appreciation for the natural world, but a grasp of both the fragility of that world and importance of environmental education.

There is definitely an important role for a small environmental college like Unity to play in the world, filling a complex niche that serves both students and the natural world. Students receive outstanding training in a supportive environment, benefiting from small class size, hands-on instruction, and outstanding professors who aren’t afraid to act as insightful guides and mentors.

When Yates describes the hands-on learning that goes on at Unity College and praises its faculty, he is in a particularly strong position to judge. His road to college was non-traditional, a path that he turned into an asset.

The career Yates forged and all the benefits he now enjoys from his career in service to the natural world was aided by the insights and maturity he gained from his diverse experiences.

Though he always loved the outdoors, the multi-dimensional Yates was also outstanding athlete in both hockey and lacrosse. As he approached his final high school year in native Connecticut, Division I athletic programs came calling. In the end he had to make a decision between accepting an offer to pursue big-time college athletics in either hockey or lacrosse.

Rather than leave one of his beloved sports behind, Yates decided to drop the offers from Division I schools, and pursue studies at a college in Vermont. A problem emerged when the curriculum proved to be too narrow for his liking, placing him in the more traditional lecture and lab settings.

“I was a pre-med student there,” noted Yates. “Within my first two years there I realized that I was getting further away from my goal rather than getting closer to it.”
His goal had never been medical school, but working in service to the environment.
The best approach was to take a few steps back and gain perspective on his life. Yates spent time doing some odd jobs, including working on fishing boats and fish processing plants in Alaska.

“I realized how hard it would be to live without a college degree,” Yates said. “That put me on track.”

The track he chose was to pursue a wildlife biology degree at Unity College. Factors that influenced his decision included the small size of the college, its environmental focus, and hands-on approach to learning.

“Unity gave me a great background in wildlife,” Yates noted. “It offered a very broad curriculum which was good because when I got out of school I worked with birds, and the education I obtained at Unity prepared me for that.”

So much of what Yates became as a personal and professional was influenced by Unity.

“It’s fine to be concerned about the environment, to have a positive impact you need to have the science preparation behind you,” Yates explained. “Unity gave me the preparation to be more than just concerned, but to go out and make a professional contribution to protecting the environment.”

Though he credited the entire faculty with helping him, he singled out Professor Jim Nelson as being a mentor.

“We were out in the field and doing a lot of things that were applicable in the real world,” Yates said. “Hands-on experience prepares students for environmental careers. I bump into Unity grads and talk with them about their projects and life after college. The grads say they were well prepared for their careers, and professionals in the environmental field who hire Unity grads say they are prized because of their preparation.”

After graduating from Unity College in 1999, Yates worked seasonal jobs for a time and saw graduate school as his way to a full-time environmental career with one employer. He went on to earn a master’s degree in conservation biology from Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire.

What does the future hold for David Yates?

“I am thinking about earning my Ph.D,” Yates said.

It seems that after leaving the path to medical school to attend Unity College, Yates may well wind up with a “Dr.” before his name. Only in his case, Yates’ office will remain the great outdoors.