Owen Caddy is an interpretive naturalist, cartographer, and natural science illustrator.
One of my chief pleasures is finding new ways to share nature with others, to craft a an illustration, artwork, diagram, map or presentation that will suddenly make complex natural relationships clear. When such relationships lose their mystery, empathy and caring can follow.
As a person who spent much time with nature growing up, I ve come to realize that to be happy as an adult my work must somehow walk this interpretive path, either visually or verbally. While short on remuneration, having the wide world as an office has much in the way of benefits.
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Owen's work has taken him from the Antarctic to Africa, and from Minnesota to Puget Sound.
With the Minnesota DNR, Owen was a cartographer and resource specialist working on rivers and public waters. Owen also developed computer hydropower river and reservoir simulation models. For several years he moonlighted as Smokey the Bear at the Minnesota State Fair.
As a crew member, Owen took part in a six month NOAA research cruise to the Antarctic peninsula, and also spent time at South Georgia Island, and in South America. |
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king penguins, South Georgia island |
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macaroni penguins explore a bull elephant seal, South Georgia |
While in the Peace Corps, Owen was a Senior Warden for Uganda National Parks, in Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP). There he managed a sector of the park, and trained interpretive rangers for his, and other, parks. He also furthered ecotourism within the park, including, trail systems and amenities, a river recreation plan for the world class whitewater on the Nile river, and did the first research study of Rabongo Forest chimpanzees. He also headed the initial bioinventory of plant and animal species within Rabongo Sector of MFNP.
Recovering Ivory, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda.
The elephant had died naturally, and ivory is not left for poachers.
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Stylized Rabongo area map |
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| Giraffe and Hippo, Murchison Falls Nat'l Park |
Mountain Gorilla, Bwindi Nat'l. Park |
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Charaxes butterfly, Rabongo Forest |
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O.T. Caddy and ranger Baluku Martin at Chambura Gorge,
Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda |
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Chambura Gorge and Mountains of the Moon
Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda |
Currently, Owen is Interpretive Specialist and Head Ranger for the Marine Sanctuary and surrounding watershed in Edmonds, Washington. Teaching students of all ages about the wonders on their doorsteps continually delights him. He is also engaged in a biosurvey of the nearby Cascade Mountains.
In his work as an artist, Caddy creates interpretive illustrations used in signage for parks throughout the US.
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Bird Festival Poster artwork - Western Sandpipers |
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Orcas chasing salmon - detail from interpretive signage |
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