Over the past 40 years Mr. Allbright has been a Certified Diver, Certified
Welder, Army Medic and Paratrooper, Nurse, Electronics Technician, Real-Time
Process Control Engineer, Computer Scientist and Research Scientist. During
that time he has acquired a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration,
Masters or Science in Telecommunications Management, a year of Law School,
and over 100 units of other study. He is currently on the Staff of Yavapai
College where he runs the Sciences Laboratory and teaches Economics,
Quantitative Methods, Research Projects as well as Liberal Studies Core. He
holds an Arizona State Registered Sanitarian license, is currently preparing
to take the Arizona Clean Water Act Operator Certification examinations and
is studying for the Professional Engineering examination.
Walt Anderson is a professor of Environmental Studies at innovative Prescott
College, where he teaches such things as Interpreting Nature through Art &
Photography, Natural History and Ecology of the Southwest, Wildlife
Management, and Wetland Ecology & Management. With advanced degrees in
Wildlife Biology and Resource Ecology, Walt formerly worked as a biologist
on national wildlife refuges, founded and co-directed a private sanctuary
system in the Sutter Buttes of California, and led ecotourism trips all over
the world, most recently to the game parks and preserves of Kenya and
Tanzania and to Antarctica. He is an accomplished artist and photographer
and considers his true calling to be that of the naturalist. His book,
Inland Island: The Sutter Buttes, is a delightful celebration of the
geology, plants, animals, and biogeography of a special place. Walt
believes that experiential education, drawing upon what he calls “informed
imagination,”is an important tool for the celebration and conservation of
the diversity of this exceptionally rich region.
Paul Beier conducts research in wildlife ecology and conservation biology
with a focus on conservation planning at landscape scales. His 1988-1992
study of cougars is best known for its documentation that cougars during
juvenile dispersal find and use habitat corridors in urban southern
California to reach distant mountain ranges where they establish home
territories as breeding adults. Since then he has worked on “missing
linkages” efforts in California and Arizona to promote science-based efforts
to maintain wildlife corridors on large regional scales. These alliances
among state and federal agencies, local planning agencies, and conservation
organizations are not trying to slow down the rate of fragmentation, but to
improve connectivity for wildlife and ecosystem processes.
He has also studied Mexican spotted owls, northern goshawks, and forest bird communities in the U.S. and West Africa. Since 2000, he has worked with traditional chiefs in West Africa to create and manage community-based wildlife sanctuaries for hippopotamus, elephants, and rare forest birds. In 2003, he chaired a team that undertook a massive review of scientific literature on the Florida panther. He also serves on the Recovery Team for the endangered ocelot population in Texas.
Beier serves on the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology. In this capacity, he chaired the effort that produced the Society’s first Code of Ethics, and successfully helped to make SCB the first society of professional ecologists to take responsibility for its greenhouse gas emissions. His website is http://oak.ucc.nau.edu/pb1/
Tom relocated to Arizona in 1998, but has always loved the southwest.
Growing up in California, Tom dreamed of being a mountain man and exploring
the wilderness. The awe and wonder of that boy are present in his art
today. Tom and his wife Alicia escape into the backcountry for serenity and
inspiration at every opportunity. Here the creative process is fostered.
Tom’s work has been most influenced by the art of Georgia O’Keeffe, John Shaw and Galen Rowell’s adventure attitude. College art study and even the summer art classes he taught to children also affected his individual style.
Tom photographs the natural surroundings that have influenced his love of the outdoors. “I feel a compulsion to capture the unique scenery around me to share with others.” He wants his work to encourage people to visit and protect the fragile environment we live in. Tom is proud to have donated photographs to The Nature Conservancy and the Highland Center for their publications.
Jan Bryan, CFPR AIFR Registered Investment Advisor
with First Affirmative
Financial Network, LLC
Jan has served for over 23 years in the financial
services industry, 17 in
the realm of Socially Responsible Investing. She
specializes in managing
portfolios of sustainable & socially responsible
investments and she
provides financial planning services for individuals
and businesses
throughout the U.S.. Jan is a Certified Financial
Planner (CFPR) , an
Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIFR), as well as a
professional member of
the Financial Planning Association (FPA), and the
Social Investment Forum
(SIF). Jan is a long time member of Co-op America
and is listed in Co-op
America's National Green Pages Business Directory.
She was an organizing
member of Business for Social Responsibility,
Arizona Network, co-chair of
the Arizona Environmental Strategic Alliance, and
she co-founded and is
currently serving as president of the Prescott
based Green to Gold Network
of Sustainable Businesses.
Jan is committed to educating the public about the importance of supporting green/sustainable businesses and incorporating environmental & social values into every aspect of financial decision making. Jan's speaks Spanish and some of her other interests are: hiking, gardening, birding, travel, welding, and working on her green remodeling project.
Michael
Byrd has been with Prescott Creeks since 1995. He began as volunteer while
attending Prescott College as an undergraduate student and quickly recognized
the potential for his contribution to evolve into a full-time paid position.
Michael was then hired as the Manager of Watson Woods Riparian Preserve and
in 2003, he ascended to the post of Executive Director. While maintaining his
Preserve management duties, Byrd has invested significant time and effort into
building the Prescott Creeks’ Board of Directors and
its intern program, as well as implementing marketing strategies to increase
Prescott Creeks’ capacity to fulfill its mission.
In addition to Michael’s work with Prescott Creeks, he also owns and operates Riparia, a Prescott-based ecological consulting firm that has conducted riparian restoration, education, and research projects throughout Arizona and New Mexico. When not working or playing on a creek or river, you might find Michael outside, and off the beaten-path, with his canine sidekick “Post.”
Dan returned to Arizona three years ago after an eight-year absence. Calling himself a “recovering TNC state director”, his current position is Verde Watershed Program Manager. For the previous eight years he was The Nature Conservancy’s Belize Country Programs Director. In this capacity, he was responsible for developing and implementing strategies for the conservation of biological diversity in Belize in cooperation with in-country partners. Under Dan’s leadership, the Belize country program spearheaded the development of many innovative conservation initiatives like a $11.5 million Tropical Forest Conservation Debt Swap and has been instrumental in the successful development or support for three Belizean conservation partner organizations He was also Country Program Director for Jamaica, helping to develop the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, and Bahamas, helping develop a marine National Parks in the Exuma Cays and Andros Island.
Prior to joining TNC’s International Program, Dan worked as the State Director of the Arizona Chapter for twelve years. As Executive Director of the Arizona program for 12 years started with six employees and left with 60 and oversaw the protection of 150 square miles of Arizona. In those years the Chapter raised $2 million per year, worked with a board of prominent leaders and a membership of 20,000. He oversaw the acquisition of the Hassayampa River Preserve (Wickenburg), Hart Prairie (Flagstaff), Hartwell Canyon (Sedona), Aravaipa Canyon (Dudleyville), Kartchner Caverns (Benson) and the first parcels in both the Verde River Greenway (Cottonwood) and San Pedro River (Sierra Vista). He co- produced the Desert Speaks television series and presided over the passage of the Arizona Heritage Fund ($20 million per year from the state lottery to protect parks, recreation and wildlife). Today he is based in Prescott as the Director of TNC's Verde River Watershed Program. Dan holds a Bachelors Degree from Oberlin College and a Masters Degree from the University of Colorado.
He is on the Boards of Prescott College and the Highlands Center for Natural History, and appointed to the Prescott Open Space Acquisition Committee and Verde River Basin Partnership.
Steven Corey is a member of the City of Prescott Mayor’s Open Space Advisory
Committee. The Committee is tasked with advising the mayor and city council
regarding open space issues with a principle focus on the acquisition of
open space. The City is in the midst of a broad open space acquisition
program expected to expend approximately $40 million over the next decade.
In a related capacity, he is in his second term as President of the Central Arizona Land Trust Board of Directors. The Central Arizona Land Trust’s aim is to preserve and protect open space, wildlife habitat, and the scenic and cultural values of Central Arizona for future generations. In this effort, the Land Trust works with landowners, policy makers, advocates, and local and national partners to craft solutions to the challenges of growth which brings the loss of scenic vistas, wildlife habitat and our western heritage.
Dr. Corey is employed by Prescott College where he serves as the Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Prescott College, he held the position of Fellow for Administrative Collaboratives with the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association. Prior to TICUA, he spent ten years with Cumberland University where he held the positions of Vice President for Administration, Vice President for Athletics, Director of Sports Medicine, and was a member of the teaching faculty.
He is an active member in the community where he serves on several boards in addition to the Central Arizona Land Trust, including the Yavapai County Education Foundation.
He was born and raised in Clovis, California where he received his Bachelor of Science degree from California State University at Fresno. He holds a the PhD in higher education finance from the University of Arizona, the Masters of Business Administration from Cumberland University, and the Master of Science degree from Arizona State University.
Dr Corey is married to Traci, also a native of central California. They reside in Prescott, Arizona and have one daughter, Karli Samantha.
Noel Fletcher is a wildlife biologist who works for the US Forest Service in the Prescott National Forest. She has a degree in Wildlife Management (with Habitat Option) from the University of Idaho, Moscow, ID. She has worked in the Kaibab National Forest as a Wildlife Biologist and in the Klamath National Forest as a Forestry Technician. She is passionate about NEPA and has extensive experience as a Team facilitator through the NEPA process. She also participated on the Forest Plan Revision NEPA team.
In addition to being a wildlife enthusiast Noel is the wife of Sgt. Fletcher and has two children, Hannah and Olivia.
Born in New Jersey, moved to the Phoenix area in 1988
where he lived unremarkably until 1996 when he moved to Prescott. Around
1998 he started to hit the trails in the area and became interested in
digital photography. It seemed the area begged to be photographed. It didn't
take much time before he was wrapped up in a seemingly never-ending cycle of
buying better cameras, lenses and computers to keep up. In July of last
year he quit his cushy city job because he, his wife and brother bought a
local coffee shop that required too much attention. While this has kept him
from pestering the local wildlife recently, he still can be seen wearing a
floppy hat, carrying a big camera and lens on a monopod and walking his dog
on our local trails. His favorite shooting spots are Watson and Willow
Lakes. The Arizona Sonora Desert museum is another favorite stop that he has
discovered only recently.
Here are two web sites to view his wildlife photography:
http://www.pbase.com/azrichg
http://homepage.mac.com/azrichg
Hoyt is the Director of the Sustainability & Science Impact Center at
Prescott College and also has a private firm, H3J Consulting. Through these
two efforts Hoyt provides visioning, marketing, training and technical
services. Hoyt seeks out the best available tools and processes for
creating, visualizing and promoting growth and impact models and their
results. He also develops additional capabilities in house, when the
necessary tools or processes are not yet available. The results of these
models yield valuable information which provide a wide range of information
which gives stakeholders, decision makers and others the opportunity to gain
a greater understanding of the short and long term impacts of their
decisions and actions. More importantly, this effort affords these people
the ability to alter those decisions before problems arise, allowing for a
more well-planned, efficient and sustainable environment.
Hoyt is the Director of the Sustainability & Science Impact Center at
T. Barnabas Kane is a second-generation, licensed landscape architect with a
multi-disciplinary background in graphics, architecture and planning. Since
founding the firm in 1999, hešs led the creative team on projects from
residential gardens to civic facilities to master-planned communities. His
experience encompasses architecture, planning, fine art and historic
preservation, plus specialization in sustainable landscape design. In
addition to creative leadership, Kane promotes public awareness and
understanding of landscape architecture and sustainability by serving as
guest presenter at universities, conferences and organizations.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design with minor in Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts, 1984. His community affiliations include the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation, American Society of Landscape Architects, Certified Landscape Architectural Registration Boards, Ecosa Institute, Prescott Mile High Middle School Site Council. Illustrator for the publication, "Wildscaping: A Central Arizona Highlands Native Planting Guide."
Linda Kennedy graduated from Fort Hays State University, Hays KS, with a
B.S. and M.S. in biology. She went on to earn a doctorate in botany from
Arizona State University, Tempe. Working now for the National Audubon
Society, she is the Director of the Appleton-Whittell Research Ranch, a
7000-acre sanctuary and research facility in southeastern Arizona. Her
responsibilities include land stewardship, initiating and supervising
research projects, and planning and implementing educational and outreach
programs. “Living Gently on the Land”, a program funded through USDA-NRCS
and Audubon-at-Home, is designed to help owners of small acreages live in
harmony with their environment.
A native Arizonan, Ted McKinney has for the past 15 years been a biologist
with Arizona Game and Fish Department's research branch. He also has taught
biology and wildlife management at Oklahoma State University and the
University of Texas. His field research in Arizona over the past decade has
focused mainly on desert bighorn sheep and mountain lions. Currently, Ted
and fellow biologists are studying distribution and movements of mountain
lions in urbanized and wild land areas near Payson and Prescott.
I have been the Information and Education Program Manager for the Arizona
Game and Fish Department's Kingman office for over four years. In that time
I've conducted countless classroom presentations on wildlife, habitat
fragmentation, Department responsibilities, and species specific talks. I am
also responsible for media relations, product development, and attending
events throughout the region.
I graduated from Northern Arizona University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism. Prior to joining Arizona Game and Fish I worked for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and prior to that I worked for the University of Nevada.
Landscape Architect and Naturalist who in January started a new firm, Steve
Morgan Landscape Architecture Eco-Logical Design that focuses on habitat
recreation, use of native plants in the home landscape, water harvesting
systems, pollinator and healing gardens. His office is based in Prescott,
Arizona.
Currently working on a book with his previous partner T. Barnabas Kane, LA, titled the same as this talk: Rehabilitation by Design.
Bill Ough (pronounced Oh) has worked for Arizona Game and Fish Department for 25 years, the last 17 years as Wildlife Manager II in Chino Valley.
He has a BS. Degree Wildlife Management 1972 and earned his M.S. Degree in Wildlife Biology in 1979.
Bill has 17 years of experience working with local wildlife populations and urban interactions in the Prescott tri-city area, particularly our endangered Pronghorn antelope herd.
Raised
in Arizona since the age of 4, Richard Ockenfels is a long-time resident of
Arizona and grew up appreciating Arizona's vast natural resources. Richard's
ties with wildlife management started as a teenager in Boy Scouts of America's
Explorer program. He completed his undergraduate studies at Arizona State University
in 1977, then started work with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Denver
Research Center studying the effects of Compound-1080 on non-target species
in southcentral California. He returned to Arizona to work as a wildlife biologist
with the Phoenix District of BLM in 1978. Offered an opportunity for graduate
school in Oklahoma in 1978, he moved there to study white-tailed deer for his
Masters of Science (completed 1980). He returned to Arizona to start a Ph.D.
program at University of Arizona, but was hired away from the academic world
by the Arizona Game & Fish Department's Research Branch in 1981. Today,
as a 25-year veteran for the Department, Richard supervises most of the terrestrial
research studies for the agency. His specialty is ungulate research; on pronghorn,
deer, javelina, and other big game animals, but he also completed several studies
on quail species and on hunter demographics in Arizona.
I received my Bachelors Of Science degree in
Wildlife Management from Northland College in
Ashland, Wisconsin and a masters in range ecology
from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I have
worked as a wildlife professional for almost 15
years. Previous to moving to Arizona, I worked 6
1/2 years as a private lands biologist for the
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission. Working with
farmers and ranchers to conduct wildlife habitat
projects across the southeast portion of the state.
The past 4 years I have worked for Arizona Game &
Fish Commission in the Landowner Relations Program
performing the same type of work on a statewide
basis.
Heather Reading serves as Field Representative in Land & Water Protection
for The Nature Conservancy in Arizona. She is a native of Arizona and grew
up in the Chino Valley Grasslands at the headwaters of the Verde River. She
is stationed in the Conservancy’s Verde Watershed Program office, where she
enjoys working with private landowners and the local community to protect
the landscape she has always treasured.
Before joining The Nature Conservancy, Heather worked as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in California and the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona on the Kaibab National Forest. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Science in Forestry at Northern Arizona University.
Heather’s research interests include wildlife-habitat relationships, habitat restoration, landscape connectivity, fire ecology, grassland ecology and the biology of pronghorn antelope.
Yvette (Eve) A. Schnoeker-Shorb’s poetry has appeared in Red River Review,
The Externalist, Karamu, Wild Earth, The Midwest Quarterly, Terrain.org: A
Journal of the Built and Natural Environments, The Blueline Anthology
(Syracuse University Press), Entelechy: Mind & Culture, The Pedestal
Magazine, LanguageandCulture.net, Out of Line, Antithesis Common, Hawai'i
Pacific Review, Weber Studies, Poem, Green Hills Literary Lantern, Pinyon,
Wild Violet, Rainbow Curve, and many other print and online journals. She is
a mentor and as co-editor of the Sustainable Ways Newsletter for Prescott
College and co-founder of Native West Press (which publishes small, edited
collections of works from authors and poets in both the arts and the
sciences in an effort to enhance public awareness of natural biodiversity
within the American West). Her BA degrees are in English/Linguistics
(Sonoma State University) and Wildlife Studies (Prescott College). She holds
an interdisciplinary MA in Ecosemantics with an emphasis on understanding
the phenomenon of speciesism, including emergent interspecific conflicts.
(Ecosemantics may be defined as an interdisciplinary perspective of study
that focuses on the interactions among human cognition, perception,
linguistic expression, and sociocultural conditioning in an effort to
understand how we derive, categorize, develop, and determine meaning from
and about nature. She has a special interest in the sociobiological aspects
and associated values typology of the Wilson/Kellert biophilia hypothesis,
and she is currently involved in research related to aspects of the
dimensions of biophilia. She also has an unusual fondness for spiders.
Terril L. Shorb is a life-long westerner who grew up on ranches, subsistence
farms, and in small rural towns in the northern Rockies. He holds an M.A. in
Interdisciplinary Studies, a B.A. in Communication Studies, and a
Certificate in Journalism, all from Sonoma State (California State)
University. He is on the Faculty of Prescott College, where he founded an
undergraduate degree emphasis in Sustainable Community Development. His
writings and photography have appeared in newspapers and magazines including
High Country News, America West Airlines Magazine, Country Woman Magazine,
the Albion Monitor, The Denver Post, Christian Living in the Mature Years,
Persimmon Hill, Succeed: The Magazine for Continuing Education, and Birds
and Blooms. “My life is written in bears and ravens, horned lizards and
desert tortoises. Seems only right I share some of those beloved two, four,
six, eight, or no-legged stories with my human brethren.”
I graduated from ASU with a BS in Wildlife Management and a MS in
Environmental Resources. I have my post-degree certification in Elementary
Education.
I worked for the Arizona Game and Fish Department for 18 years, most of which was as a research biologist in the Research Branch for Jim DeVos. I mainly worked on big game species with most of my time on Pronghorn Antelope. In the early 1990s I was asked to do a 1-year Urban Javelina project in Prescott, Arizona as result of an increased influx of adverse homeowner-javelina problems.
For the past 2 years I have taught elementary school science at my boys' gradeschool. I plan on teaching science at the middle school level in the future.
Darren Tucker has worked as a Wildlife Manager with the Arizona Game
and Fish Department for fourteen years. Darren graduated from Colorado
State University with a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and a minor in Fishery
Biology. Among other subjects, Darren has a keen interest in large
predators, predator/prey relationships and human/predator conflict.
Darren has gained significant experience regarding mountain lion behavior,
human/lion interactions and capturing and handling lions.
Jason Williams was captured by the beauty and diversity of Arizona while attending Prescott College. He has served as the Arizona Wilderness Coalition’s Regional Director for five years, taking him across the desert and mountains to inventory and advocate for the protection of Arizona’s wildlands and waters. He works from Prescott College under a collaborative partnership agreement that works to engage students and staff of the college in the work of protecting Arizona’s wildlands. Jason’s interest in wilderness stems from his early childhood days of fishing and camping in the urban wilds of Northern Illinois, where the sound of a beaver slapping its tail has inspired years of work to protect wild places for the benefit or all creatures. His more recent background in Environmental Studies (MA Prescott College) and recreational activities ranging from rock climbing, river running, and going for a hike with the family has continued to inspire his work for the wild.
His presentation will consist of a journey through Arizona’s diverse wilderness to issues affecting local areas such as Forest Service roadless areas, Bureau of Land Management National Monuments, Fossil Creek, and the Verde River. Jason will explore and highlight how integral the public lands and wilderness is to urban and other wildlife populations.