John LaFave, State Geologist of Montana

John LaFave has been named interim Director of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology (MBMG) as successor to John Metesh. John has been part of the MBMG research staff since 1993; most recently, he served as the Research Division Chief. For many years, he served as the Program Manager for the Montana Ground Water Assessment Program. His research has focused on enhancing groundwater monitoring of Montana's principal aquifers and assessing regional groundwater quality. He has also served as an Associate Director of the Montana Water Center, a western-state representative to the National Groundwater Monitoring Network Board, and an Affiliate Faculty member of the Montana Tech Department of Geological Engineering. He holds an M.A. in geology from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Welcome, John!