About Us
About Us
Please see below bios for Jim Luken and Scott Hartley. These two individuals serve as the organizers and contacts for this organization. Please email them anytime to get more info and to get involved! Get your FLOB on!
Contact Jim and Scott via email here.
Jim Luken
James Luken, Ph.D., is a retired professor of biology. Coastal Carolina University brought Luken to the Grand Strand area in 2001 as chair of the Department of Biology and served in that position until 2005. From 2008 to 2011 he was associate dean in the College of Science, charged with oversight of the master’s program in coastal and marine wetland studies. He served as associate provost of Graduate Studies from 2011 to 2018. Luken has directed university wide graduate programs and initiatives, which led to the establishment of the College of Graduate Studies and Research in 2018. He received the HTC Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Award in 2007. He is a botanist/ecologist and has worked with both undergraduate and graduate students in efforts to understand and preserve rare endemic plants, including the Venus flytrap, and plant communities of the southeastern United States. Luken has established a national reputation in restoration, community ecology and population biology of plants in coastal systems, providing Coastal students with unique research opportunities. Luken co-authored the book “101 Wild Things Along The Grand Strand” and more recently authored his own book “Coastal South Carolina Fish and Game”.
Contact Jim here.
Scott Hartley
Scott received an Associates of Science in Fish & Wildlife Management from Haywood Community College. Scott retired in 2013 after 30 years with NC State Parks as park ranger, interpretive specialist and park superintendent. Scott spent his last 17 years at Weymouth Woods Sandhillls Nature Preserve. In this position he used prescribed fire to managed 900 acres of longleaf pine forest which is home to many fire dependent rare plants and animals including the federally endangered Red-cockaded woodpecker, Sandhills fire lily and a 150 ac tract of old growth longleaf pine that includes the oldest known longleaf pine in the world at 475 years old. Since retiring Scott has worked for a property management group in Myrtle Beach and as a seasonal park ranger at Mendenhall Glacier in the Tongass National Forest Alaska. Scott lives in Myrtle Beach with his better half, Ranger Ann, at Myrtle Beach State Park.
Contact Scott here.