Patrick Trotter holds a Ph.D. in chemistry and was a manager of research in chemical and biological sciences in the Pacific Northwest forest industry. Since 1990, he has worked as fisheries and watershed science consultant, specializing in the conservation biology of rare, threatened, and endangered coldwater fishes. He is the author of Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West (Universitty of California Press, 2008). He lives in Seattle, Washington.