John Douglas Peine was born in Dallas, Texas on January 21, 1944. He earned his BS in Forestry from Purdue University and his MS and PhD (1972) in Watershed Management from the University of Arizona. In 1972, he began working as an Outdoor Recreation Planner for the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1982, Peine took a position as an Outdoor Recreation Planner for the Heritage, Conservation, and Recreation Service in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the same year, he began his work with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as Research Administrator and Director of the Uplands Research Laboratory. Peine has also been involved in several international conservation efforts and has written several books, including Environmental monitoring and baseline data management strategies and the focus of future research in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (1985), Visitor use patterns at Great Smoky Mountains National Park (1988), and Ecosystem management for sustainability : principles and practices illustrated by a regional biosphere reserve cooperative (1999).