Herpetologist Doug Wynn (and his Labrador retriever, River) discussed the snakes that can be found in and around Grand Lake at the September 2025 Lake Improvement Association meeting.
ABOUT DOUG WYNN, HERPETOLOGIST
Doug Wynn is a retired high school ecology teacher. As a result of his fourth grade teacher, he has a special interest in snakes and has been studying them since his undergraduate years. Doug is especially interested in Ohio’s endangered snakes and has received over 250 grants and contracts.
The Ohio Division of Parks presented Doug with their Naturalist Award in 1994. The same year he and fellow teachers developed a research class that focused on implementing species survival plans for endangered Ohio snakes. The students in that program worked with many of Doug’s projects and made significant contributions to our knowledge of Ohio reptiles. The Ohio Division of Wildlife presented them with a special award in 2000.
In 2006 Doug and Scott Moody authored an “Ohio Turtle, Lizard, and Snake Atlas.” In 2008 he received a Visiting Scholar appointment from The Ohio State University. He also received the Ohio Biological Survey’s 2010 Naturalist Award, the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2011 Conservationist Award and a Division of Wildlife Cardinal award in 2020.
Doug recently co-authored and co-edited the Reptiles of Ohio books funded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife and published by the Ohio Biological Survey, Inc. It resulted in his receiving the Ohio Biological Survey’s 2022 Osborn Award. Doug’s work continues to focus on Timber Rattlesnakes, Plains Gartersnakes, and Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes.