Dave Smaldone is a course leader in the Collaborative Conservation & Communications Branch at NCTC. Prior to joining and FWS and NCTC in 2024, he spent 20 years as a faculty member of the Recreation, Parks & Tourism Resources Program in the Division of Forestry & Natural Resources at West Virginia University (WVU).

He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Environmental Education and Interpretation, Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management, as well as Citizen Science and Natural Resource Conservation. He has extensive experience leading interpretive, education, and communication training workshops for state and national organizations. He also conducted visitor management and interpretive research and evaluation projects for a variety of agencies over the last 20 years, including the USFS National Visitor Use Monitoring program and the NPS/NASA Earth to Sky collaboration.

Prior to his position at WVU, he worked for the National Park Service at Grand Teton National Park for number of years in various interpretive positions. He received a Ph.D. in Recreation, Parks & Tourism from the University of Idaho, and an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University in Maryland. He is originally from the Annapolis, MD area. In his spare time he enjoys being outside with his wife and 2 boys, hiking and taking photographs, and occasionally leading nature photography workshops. He completed a WV State Park “Big Year” in 2023, visiting every state park in WV with his oldest son.