Peter E. Black is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Water and Related Land Resources, Emeritus, at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY. He has taught and conducted research at SUNY since 1965. He was awarded the BSF and MF degree in Forestry from The University of Michigan in 1956 and 1958, and the PhD in Watershed Management from Colorado State University in 1961 where he received the first PhD in Watershed Management from the newly-formed Cooperative Watershed Management under the direction of Dr. Robert E. Dils, his Major Professor. He served as a Research Forester at the US Forest Service' Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina from 1956 to 1959, and taught at Humboldt State College in Arcata, CA from 1961 to 1965. He has taught forest management, surveying, and forest hydrology, and has offered on-campus courses and short courses in watershed hydrology, watershed management, conservation policy, environmental impact analysis, and seminars to a variety of technical and lay audiences in the United States and internationally in China, Chile, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, South Africa, and South Korea. Dr. Black retired "from a job, not a career" in December, 2000, and continues to write, lecture, teach short courses and workshops, advise students, and provide public service, serving on the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Agricultural Program; the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's Watershed Agricultural Program; the NYS Soil and Water Conservation Committee; the USDA's NYS Technical Committee for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Advisory Group for the State of Maryland's Commission on the management of state forest lands. He is serving as a member of the Eagle River Valley, Colorado Sustainable Design Assessment Team, a long-range plan review sponsored by the American Institute of Architects in the Fall of 2009, and is the most recent recipient of the American Institute of Hydrology Ray K. Linsley Award "to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions in surface water hydrology" at 2009 annual meeting of AIH in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 1974, he co-founded IMPACT CONSULTANTS, a private firm in Syracuse , for which he served as EIS project manager for twelve years. He is a member of several professional organizations, served as President (and held many other offices) in and is a Fellow of the American Water Resources Association, for which organization he was General Chairperson of its 1987 Summer Symposium entitled Water Quality Monitoring, Modeling, and Mediation, and its 1996 Summer Symposium entitled Watershed Restoration Management. He was Organizing Chair for an AWRA-sponsored International Congress Watershed Management for Water Supply Systems in New York City in 2003. He has served as Associate Editor for Watershed Management of the Journal of American Water Resources Association and Water Resources Impact. Black has been active in the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation as a representative from the AWRA, and he has served on its Education Committee. He has also served on local, state, and national advisory committees and on the Board of Directors of the Universities Council on Water Resources (1994-7), chairing a conference on Building Interdisciplinary Water Resources Partnerships in 1998; the US Army Corps of Engineers' Environmental Advisory Board (1992-6), and as its Chairperson in 1995-6, for which received the Commander's Award for Public Service in November, 1996. He holds Professional Hydrologist certification by the American Institute of Hydrology, Environmental Assessment Certification by the National Association of Environmental Professionals, and Certified Environmental Professional by The Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals. Black was appointed SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in 1997. In January, 2006, Black commenced a series of weekly two-minute facts and/or musings about water culture, history, law, organizations, policy, hydrology, weather, and science on NPR affiliate WRVO FM in Oswego, NY. Visit Water Drops for titles of 133 available subjects (another 30 are on the way), and the introductory WD is available for free listening to hear what they are all about. Water Drops is/are available free of charge at www.prx.org for your favorite public radio station.

Black has published an educational film, numerous articles on hydrology and water resources (see complete resume), and three books entitled Environmental Impact Analysis (Praeger, 1981), Conservation of Water and Related Land Resources (CRC Press/Lewis Publishers, Third Edition, 2001); and Watershed Hydrology (Ann Arbor Press, Second Edition, 1996). The books — now available new at PBShortCourse — have been acquired along with the copyright from the publisher to preclude exhorbitant prices, and may be purchased at greatly reduced prices at that webpage via PayPal.

Black has given numerous short courses and workshops on watershed hydrology and sustainability and regularly speaks at professional and NGO meetings as well as working with community organizations on water resources education and sustainability (See Books and Courses for listing and scheduled appearances).