2022 Speakers

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian and host of the weekly public radio program and podcast “The Storyteller’s Night Sky” and author of the richly illustrated book The Star Tales of Mother Goose ~ For Those Who Seek the Secret Language of the Stars.  Through her research in spiritual science and her education in literary arts, Mary has developed a unique, humanities-based approach to understanding our relationship with the stars.  Her work is further augmented by an extensive knowledge of ancient mythologies and fairy tales, which she relates to the research and ideas borne of contemporary culture, in order to keep the human being at the center of our thoughts and ideas regarding the cosmos. As a global advocate for starry skies, Mary led the team that established the 9th International Dark Sky Park in the world in 2011 at the Headlands in Mackinaw City, which later led to the state of Michigan protecting 35,000 acres of state land for its natural darkness. Mary has traveled extensively in fulfillment of her mission to safeguard the human imagination by protecting our access to the night sky and its stories, and has received numerous honors for her work.

Steve Apfelbaum, the founder of Applied Ecological Services in Brodhead, WI, has been a full-time research and consulting ecologist with AES since 1978 when he founded the company and in 2021merged with Resource Environmental Solutions (RES).   Steve has conducted ecological research projects in most biomes of North America, and since the early 1980s he has been one of the leading consultants in the U.S. in ecological restoration programs. Apfelbaum is trained as an animal and plant ecologist with graduate studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where he earned his MS Degree in Ecological and Biological Sciences in 1978. He has been a scientist in hundreds of field ecological projects and data analysis projects. During his career, Mr. Apfelbaum has authored or co-authored hundreds of technical studies, reports, ecological program plans, restoration plans, and monitoring and compliance reports for research projects and for regulatory program reporting. In recent years, his focus has been in soil carbon research and directing large soil carbon projects in Canada, Palouse Region and throughout the country.  He has worked closely with hydrologists to understand landscape-scale hydrologic changes associated with land settlement in the Midwestern U.S. This work has direct application to many millions of acres in North America and elsewhere. Mr. Apfelbaum has also presented results of his study of ecological restoration at hundreds of seminars and courses around the world and is a much sought-after speaker at educational events focusing on soil carbon, regenerative agriculture, ecological restoration, alternative storm water management and conservation development.  Apfelbaum’s latest book, “Restoring Ecological Health to Your Land” (Island Press) and his personal account of thirty years of restoring their Wisconsin farm, in “Natures Second Chance” (Beacon press) have received a range of awards, including rave reviews in the New York Times and elsewhere. The later book has been recognized as one of the top ten environmental books of 2009 and best books for people to personally learn about what they can do to address climate change. Apfelbaum teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Design a course on the future of coastal systems and regenerative agriculture and holds adjunct professorships and lectureships at several other universities.

To get updates about RES and our work around the country, visit our website, res.us, and follow us on social media.

Rosina M. Bierbaum received an early introduction to pollution issues, growing up in smoggy Bethlehem, PA. Reading Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us at age 11 hooked her on a career to preserve the environment. Dr. Bierbaum is a Professor and Dean Emerita at the University of Michigan with a primary appointment in the School for Environment and Sustainability, and courtesy appointments in the School of Public Health and the College of Engineering. She is also the Roy F. Weston Chair of Natural Economics in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. Her experience extends from climate science to foreign relations and international development. She chairs the Scientific and Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility, served on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, was an Adaptation Fellow at the World Bank, and a lead author of the U.S. National Climate Assessment. Rosina served for two decades in both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. Government, including serving as the Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She has lectured on every continent.  Bierbaum is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ecological Society of America, and Sigma Xi. Rosina has lectured on every continent.  She earned a BA (English), a BS (biology), and a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Ecology.

Janet served as director of the Center for Invasive Plant Management at Montana State University for nine years before switching directions and moving to the coast of Washington to work as a grant writer for the natural resources department of the Quinault Indian Nation. Salmon, old-growth forests, marine biodiversity, and coastal climate change were her focus. She was especially gratified to help the Quinault Indian Nation produce its first ethnobotany book. But after a rainy four-year coastal interlude, Janet was ready to return to the mountains of Montana. Today she is the administrator for Headwaters Economics – a Bozeman-based nonprofit organization that works with community development and land management issues, particularly those related to climate change and public lands. Peeking at retirement just over the horizon, Janet looks forward to spending more time with grandkids in Colorado and Tennessee, learning more about medicinal plants, and traveling around the West with her husband in their trusty camper.

Liesl Eichler Clark has served as Director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) since January 2019. She oversees a $500 million budget that supports a 1,200-person team dedicated to protecting Michigan’s environment and public health. 

Nestled in the heart of the world’s greatest freshwater ecosystem, Michigan EGLE has a unique regulatory role in ensuring the Great Lakes and their connecting waters remain the vital cultural, recreational, and economic engines of the region. The agency also regulates air quality, waste management, drinking water, groundwater, oil and gas extraction, and contaminated site remediation.  

Clark led a reorganization which elevated Michigan’s commitment to Environmental Justice, climate mitigation and resilience, clean drinking water, and the Great Lakes. The newly-created offices of Environmental Justice Public Advocate, Clean Water Public Advocate, and Climate and Energy—as well as the longstanding Office of the Great Lakes—are now housed in the EGLE executive office with Clark and her deputies. 

Expanding and improving EGLE’s internal and external communications is a major focus for Clark as she strives to support and inspire the EGLE team, engage stakeholders, meet communities where they are, and better share EGLE’s work with Michigan’s 10 million residents – whom she refers to as her “10 million bosses.” 

Clark chairs the UP Energy Task Force and the Council on Climate Solutions and serves on the Council on Future Mobility, the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, the Michigan Dam Safety Task Force, and the Michigan Poverty Task Force, among others. 

Clark received a B.A. in Political Economy and International Relations from James Madison College at Michigan State University and a Master of Public Administration from Michigan State University. 

She lives in Livingston County with her husband, their two sons, and Bella the Polish Lowland Sheepdog who is fond of interrupting video meetings. She is working to hike every trail within a 50-mile radius of home, to see more of Michigan’s natural treasures and to spend more time “in the field” with her 1,200 colleagues when circumstances allow.

Joe Davis is a nationally touring artist, educator, and speaker based in Minneapolis, MN. He employs poetry, music, theater, and dance to shape culture. His work has been featured on BET, CNN, and VH1. He is the Founder and Director of multimedia production company, The New Renaissance, the front man of emerging soul funk band, The Poetic Diaspora, and co-creator of JUSTmove, racial justice education through art. He has keynoted, facilitated conversation, and served as teaching artist at hundreds of high schools and universities including programs in New York, Boston, and most recently as the Artist-in-Residence at Luther Seminary where he earned a Masters in Theology of the Arts.

Philip Enquist is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects and an Honorary Member of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Phil is the former Governor’s Chair for the State of Tennessee researching Energy and Urbanism with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the School of Architecture and Design, University of Tennessee.

Phil is currently serving on the City of Chicago Rivers Governance Task Force and the City’s Committee on Design.

Beginning in 2009, Phil has led a pro bono initiative looking holistically at a vision for the international Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River watersheds, home to over 40 million people

From 1995 to 2017, Phil led the City Design Practice (CDP) for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.  During that time, Phil, focused on planning efforts within rapidly urbanizing regions and collaborated with over 100 cities.

Phil has taught urban design at:

• Harvard University Graduate School of Design
• University of Michigan
• Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
• University of Tennessee

Frank Ettawageshik lives in Harbor Springs, Michigan, with his wife Rochelle.  He has four adult children and six grandchildren.  He is a traditional storyteller and potter, believing that native people need to be rooted in their traditions in order to be prepared for the future.

He served in tribal elected office for sixteen years, fourteen as the Tribal Chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in Harbor Springs. During his tenure as Tribal Chairman he was instrumental in the adoption of the Tribal and First Nations Great Lakes Water Accord in 2004 and the United League of Indigenous Nations Treaty in 2007.  Now serving as the Executive Director of the United Tribes of Michigan, he is also the Chairman of the United League of Indigenous Nations Governing Board and the Co-chair of the National Congress of American Indians Federal Recognition Task Force.

Frank currently serves on several non-profit boards including the Association on American Indian Affairs, Anishinaabemowin Teg and the Michigan Indian Education Council.  In April 2016 he was appointed to the Great Lakes Water Quality Board.  Frank was a 2010 Fellow at the Native Nations Institute Indigenous Leaders Fellowship Program at the University of Arizona. His 40 years of public service have included serving on the Executive Board of the National Congress of American Indians, the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, the Historical Society of Michigan, the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, the Michigan Climate Action Council, the Little Traverse Conservancy, the Michigan Travel Commission, the Public Interest Advisory Group for the International Joint Commission’s Upper Great Lakes Study, the Michigan Great Lakes Offshore Wind Council, and the Michigan Ground Water Conservation Advisory Council.

In December 2015 he attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Council of the Parties 21 (UNFCCC COP21) in Paris, France, as a delegate from the National Congress of American Indians.  Approximately 45,000 people attended COP21 including over 100 Heads of State.  Frank joined approximately 200 Indigenous Peoples delegates as a member of the International Indigenous Peoples Caucus on Climate Change.

Sharon Farrell is Executive Vice President of Projects, Stewardship & Science at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Sharon and her team lead the organization’s project design and delivery, conservation initiatives, community science, restoration, and stewardship programs. This includes advancing opportunities for engaging partners, scientists and community members in research, monitoring and many aspects of land stewardship. Sharon also works closely with agency partners to oversee the One Tam Initiative, a community initiative to help ensure a healthy future for Mt. Tamalpais.

Prior to joining the Parks Conservancy in 2004, Sharon was the Executive Director of the Watershed Project. Her work included capacity building for “Friends” groups, with a focus on partnership and fund development with municipalities and local governments. Sharon developed training and grants programs to support this work, and forged regional partnerships with other Bay Area non-profit organizations to support community-based stakeholder groups.

Sharon has also worked as an ecologist and resource specialist with the National Park Service, a resource planner with the Presidio Trust, and as an environmental consultant. Sharon holds a MS in Park Management with emphasis on Ecological Restoration and Community Stewardship, and a BS in Chemistry.

Sharon is an avid backpacker, nature photographer, and explorer. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in the East Bay with her wife Sue, their two children, and their dog, Marco. Together they are frequent hikers of the amazing landscapes on Mt. Tam, Point Reyes, and the Marin Headlands.

Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer who is grounded in both artistic and
intellectual ways of knowing – she pursued an acting career for eleven years, but five years of backpacking
trips through Africa and Asia, and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences,
Carolyn returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. (gender and environmental issues
in Kenya and Nepal) and a Ph.D. (where she was a Fulbright and a Canon National Science Scholar Fellow).
Along with public speaking (nationally & internationally), writing, media engagements, consulting & teaching (she
has held positions at Wellesley College, the University of California, Berkeley & the University of Kentucky), she
served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces:
Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014. Recent
publications include Self-Evident: Reflections on the Invisibility of Black Bodies in Environmental Histories
(BESIDE Magazine, Montreal Spring 2020), The Perils of Being Black in Public: We are all Christian Cooper
and George Floyd (The Guardian, June 3rd 2020), and Who Gets Left Out of the Great Outdoors Story?
(The NY Times November 4 2021).

She is currently working on her new book (creative non-fiction) that takes a more personal journey into the very
complicated relationship between race, land & belonging in the United States, and a performance piece entitled
The N Word: Nature Revisited as part of an Andrew W. Mellon residency at the New York Botanical Gardens
Humanities Institute. Along with being the new columnist at the Earth Island Journal, she was recently awarded
the Alexander and Ilse Melamid Medal from the American Geographical Society and is an artist-in-residence in
the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College.

Dr. John Francis is an environmental educator, and former UN goodwill ambassador to the world’s grassroots communities. In 1971, he witnessed an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, stopped using motorized vehicles and began to walk. To learn to listen better, John took a 17-year vow of silence. He walked across the US receiving a PhD. He served as project manager and environmental analyst for the USCG OPA90 Staff, and authored Planetwalker: 17-Years of Silence, 22-Years of Walking, and The Ragged Edge of Silence, both published by the National Geographic Society. Speaking on Earth Day 1990, telling the crowd, “Environment is about how we treat each other.”

(Mdewakanton Dakota and Dine) Dallas travels extensively across Turtle Island to help fossil fuel and hard rock mining impacted communities tell their stories thru social media, video, and other forms of communication. Dallas is an IEN media team lead, working with IEN staff, board, and organizational partners from a diverse group of climate justice networks. Along with his many tasks and duties with IEN, he is also a Dakota cultural/language teacher, non-violent direct action trainer, and was one of the outstanding Water Protectors at Standing Rock/Oceti Sakowin Camp fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline. In addition, he is a co-founder of the Indigenous comedy group, The 1491s, a poet, journalist, traditional artist, powwow emcee, and comedian.

Jeff Grignon is a father, grandfather, husband, and enrolled member of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin.

A life-long student of the environment, having eighteen years of western and southern fire experience, he has now accepted the honor and responsibility to aid in the regeneration or the giving back of what the Menominee forest has offered. His responsibilities as a tribal member also include the preservation and protection of cultural habitational areas and the stories they continue to tell.

David Haskell is a writer and a biologist. His books, The Forest Unseen and The Songs of Trees are acclaimed for their integration of science, poetry, and rich attention to the living world. Among their honors include the National Academies’ Best Book Award, John Burroughs Medal, finalist for Pulitzer Prize, Iris Book Award, Reed Environmental Writing Award, National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature, and runner-up for the 2013 PEN E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. His next book, Sounds Wild and Broken, will be published in March 2022. Haskell received his BA from the University of Oxford and PhD from Cornell University. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and William R. Kenan Jr. Professor at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. Find him at dghaskell.com or on social media @DGHaskell (Twitter), DavidGeorgeHaskell (Instagram and Facebook).

Lyanda Lynn Haupt is an award-winning author, naturalist, ecophilosopher, and speaker, whose work explores the beautiful, complicated connections between humans and the wild earth. Her books include Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness, and Mozart’s Starling. Her newest book is Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit, published in Spring, 2021.

Patty Hernandez is co-founder and Executive Director of Headwaters Economics. Patty has 18 years of experience in researching economic development, building partnerships, and developing technology solutions to help communities plan and adapt to a changing world.

Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson, is a Tsimphean/Nicola Anishinawbe originally from Yakima, Washington. She is a Grandmother of the Three Fires Midewewin Lodge. Her responsibilities
include insuring the continuance of the teachings passed on from past generations on into the future.

She is a eighteen-year Sun Dancer, a carrier of the water prayer, a veteran of Standing Rock, and a principal keeper of Anishinaabe wisdom and traditions.

Beatrice retired as Helping Healer for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. She was a Montessori Teacher for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe for five years previously and a Tribal Outreach worker for Uniting Three Fires Against Violence in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Her formal education background includes a BA in Social Work from Michigan State University and a BS Degree from Ferris State University in Education. Beatrice studied/apprenticed in
native practices for many years with elders of the community. She is a producer and director of several movies and a member of the Snow Bird Singers hand drum group and the Women of
Traditions Hand Drum Group. She enjoys hunting, gathering and living a traditional lifestyle.

She resides in Ionia, Michigan.

Henry Lickers, a Haudenosaunee citizen of the Seneca Nation, Turtle Clan. He was the Director of the Environment for the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne for 32 years and the Environmental Science Officer, six years before his retirement in 2019. Throughout his career, Mr. Lickers has been instrumental in incorporating First Nation’s people and their knowledge into environmental planning and decision making.

Prior to his appointment as IJC Commissioner in 2019, Mr. Lickers was a member of the IJC’s current Great Lakes Science Advisory Board (SAB) since 2014. Mr. Lickers also served as a SAB member from 1987-91 and 1997-2000. He has been principle investigator on the EAGLE (Effect on Aboriginal in the Great Lakes Environment) Project and the Naturalized Knowledge Systems Project and the First Nations’ Community Health Indicators Project. Henry has been a Director, Ontario Professional Foresters Association, Scientific Co-Chair of The Haudenosaunee Environmental Taskforce, Vice President of the Board of Directors, St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences and a member of the Board of Directors for the Eastern Ontario Model Forest.

The recipient of a number of awards recognizing his lifelong service to the St. Lawrence River, and service to many environmental and government organizations over his career, Mr. Lickers was given an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the State University of New York Syracuse.

He holds a Bachelor of Science (Biology and Geography) and undertook graduate studies at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, and was a Trent University Ph D. Elder,Council member.

He has been married to his wife, Bev for 51 years and has three grown children and two granddaughters. He resides in Akwesasne, Ontario.

Dan is a Turtle Clan member of the Mohawk Nation and a citizen of the Rotinonshón:ni (Haudenosaunee – People of the Longhouse), originally from Ohsweken – the Six Nations community on the Grand River. Dan is an Associate Professor in the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent University, founding Director of the Indigenous Environmental Science/Studies program (IESS) and acting Director of the newly formed Indigenous Environmental Institute (IEI). He was also the first Director of Studies of Trent’s Indigenous Studies Ph.D. program. Dan designed and developed the IESS program – the first of its kind on Turtle Island. Granting both B.A. and B.Sc. degrees since 2009, the IESS program is an innovative and multidisciplinary undergraduate program that brings together principles of both Indigenous and Western (or neo-European/colonial) Knowledge systems for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. It is based on a collaborative partnership between university departments. Unique IESS courses, along with courses in Indigenous Studies and Environmental Resource Studies and Sciences, form the curriculum.

Dan is celebrated for his Traditional Rotinonshón:ni Knowledge and embeds this into his teaching and in developing the IESS program ongoing. Dan also acts as a cultural advisor and instructor for several programs at the First Nations Technical Institute, Ryerson University and several Ontario universities and colleges. Dan is invited to share across Turtle Island and lectures and teaches on diverse topics including Indigenous environmental Knowledges and philosophy, Indigenous responses to environmental issues, interactive science and Indigenous Knowledge systems, Indigenous education, pedagogy and Indigenous ways of knowing as founded upon Indigenous languages and cultures, the recognition and resurgence of Traditional Indigenous lifeways and practices, human health and the environment, Traditional Indigenous foods and medicines, natural resource development and restoration, community sustainability, international Indigenous networks, the recognition of Treaty and Indigenous rights and understandings of the environmental and human impacts of colonialism. Dan stresses the importance of learning from Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders as the critical foundation for Indigenous identity, vision and life purpose. He creates links between Traditional Indigenous teachings and science and promotes using a “Good Mind” as part of our responsibilities in taking the collective actions needed to restore the Earth for the next seven generations.

Curt Meine is a conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer based in Sauk County, Wisconsin.  He serves as Senior Fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation and Center for Humans and Nature; as Research Associate with the International Crane Foundation; and as Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Over the last three decades he has worked with a wide array of organizations at the intersection of biodiversity conservation, agriculture, water, climate change, environmental justice, and community resilience.  Meine has authored and edited several books, including the award-winning biography Aldo Leopold:  His Life and Work (1988/2010) and The Driftless Reader (2017).  He served as on-screen guide in the Emmy Award-winning documentary film Green Fire:  Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time (2011).  In his home landscape, he is a founding member of the Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance.

Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore is a professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and associate director of the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State University. She conducts research and teaches in the areas of agriculture, ecology, forestry and human-landscape interactions. Her research addresses the integration of continuous living cover into agricultural landscapes to support new markets and to meet societal goals for clean water, healthy soils, abundant wildlife and inspiring recreational opportunities. She works to return more of the value from agricultural supply chains to rural communities and the land, and develops relationships and institutional capacity so diverse groups of people can more effectively work together.

Dr. Schulte Moore is co-founder of the Science-based Trials of Rowcrops Integrated with Prairie Strips (STRIPS) project, which developed the prairie strips conservation practice. She is also lead developer of People in Ecosystems/ Watershed Integration (PEWI), a simple web-based educational game designed to help people understand human impacts on the environment and improve the management of natural resources. She directs C-CHANGE, an Iowa State University Presidential Interdisciplinary Research Initiative and USDA-NIFA Sustainable Agricultural Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project.

Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her family, particularly outdoors.

Charity Nebbe became the host of Talk of Iowa in 2010. It was a homecoming for her as she moved back to her native state. She began her career in public radio at WOI Radio in Ames, Iowa when she was a student at Iowa State University and has been working in public radio ever since. Early in her career she created Chinwag Theater a nationally syndicated public radio show that she produced and co-hosted with well-known author Daniel Pinkwater. She spent ten years as a host and producer at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor.

In addition to her award winning radio work Charity is also the host of Iowa Ingredient on Iowa Public Television and the author of the children’s book “Our Walk in the Woods,” published in 2008. Charity is co-founder of Let Me Run Eastern Iowa Corridor, a character development and running program for boys.

Stephen Packard has worked for four decades to develop the practice and popular understanding of ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation. He was Director of Science and Stewardship for the Illinois Nature Conservancy (1983-1999) and Founding Director of Audubon Chicago Region (1999-2014). He taught at Northwestern University (2008-2013). He was the primary initiator of the Chicago Region Biodiversity Council (Chicago Wilderness) – now a globally respected collaboration of more than 200 national and local conservation-minded agencies. He collaborates with and counsels a wide variety of efforts to conserve biodiversity through good land stewardship and building constituency through “conservation communities” in which people and nature can re-establish mutually nourishing relationships in a changing world.

Packard initiated and helped to plan and implement many of Illinois’ larger ecological restoration projects including Bartel Grassland (750 acres), Orland Grassland (960 acres), Nachusa Grasslands (4,000 acres), and the restoration of the North Branch, Poplar Creek, Deer Grove, and Spring Creek Forest Preserves. He has extensive experience in the restoration of prairies, savannas, and oak woodlands. His work on the oak ecosystems has led to new insights that have clarified ideas about the composition and dynamics of these vanishing rare communities. Some have referred to this work in the 1980s as the “rediscovery” of this ecosystem.

At the Nature Conservancy and later with Audubon, he initiated and guided the Volunteer Stewardship Network. With thousands of volunteers working at hundreds of sites, this new approach served as models for the creation of similar projects by many agencies in other parts of the United States and internationally. With William Freyman and Linda Masters, he published the Universal Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) Calculator: an online tool for ecological assessment and monitoring.

He helped assemble and was a founding board member of the Society for Ecological Restoration, which now has members throughout the world and is the pre-eminent organization in this flourishing new field. He helped design and initiate the Mighty Acorns (youth stewardship program), Friends of the Forest Preserves, Chicago Wilderness Magazine, and Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves. He is a national Honorary Director of “Wild Ones: native plants, natural landscapes.”

Armando Quintero was named director for the California Department of Parks and Recreation on Aug. 18, 2020. An experienced parks professional with expertise in park operations, outdoor education, equity and access, and diversity and inclusion in hiring and retention, Quintero is an environmental scientist by training. Since 2015, he has been executive director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the University of California, Merced, where he was also director of development from 2008 to 2014. He has also served as a member of the California Water Commission since 2014.

Quintero held multiple positions at the National Park Service from 1976 to 1998, including chief of the Special Park Uses Group and district ranger at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, personnel staffing specialist for the National Park Service, park ranger and supervisory park ranger at the Point Reyes National Seashore and park ranger at the Sequoia National Park and at the John Muir National Historic Site.

Following his career at the National Park Service, he was an independent environmental educator for a decade, from 1998 to 2008. He has also served as member of the Marin Municipal Water District Board of Directors since 2009.

Laura Rubin has spent more than 30 years working on environmental protection, policy, and conservation issues. She is currently the Director of the Healing Our Waters—Great Lakes Coalition, which has been harnessing the collective power of more than 160 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. The Coalition has earned a well-deserved reputation as a national leader in securing federal investment in regional ecosystem restoration efforts. Before that Rubin worked as executive director of the Michigan-based Huron River Watershed Council since 1998, where she transformed the nonprofit from a low-profile organization to a high-impact, high-visibility national leader in the field of watershed management. She has served as a board member or advisor to local, state, and national organizations including the Great Lakes Protection Fund, Michigan Environmental Council, the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the University of Michigan School Of Natural External Advisory Board, the City of Ann Arbor’s Greenbelt Commission, and others. For her national leadership in river protection, she received the River Network’s 2013 River Hero Award. She earned Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Natural Resource Policy at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute, and a Bachelor of Arts in business economics from Colorado College.

Mark Shepard is the CEO of Forest Agriculture Enterprises LLC, founder of Restoration Agriculture Development LLC and award-winning author of the book, Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers. Mark has also been a farmer member of the Organic Valley cooperative, the worlds largest Organic Farmer’s marketing co-op, since 1995. He is most widely known as the founder of New Forest Farm, the 106-acre perennial agricultural savanna considered by many to be one of the most ambitious sustainable agriculture projects in the United States.

New Forest Farm is a planned conversion of a typical row-crops grain farm into a commercial-scale, perennial agricultural ecosystem using oak savanna, successional brushland and eastern woodlands as the ecological models. Trees, shrubs, vines, canes, perennial plants and fungi are planted in association with one another to produce food (for humans and animals), fuel, medicines, and beauty. Hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts and various fruits are the primary woody crops. The farm is entirely solar and wind powered and farm equipment is capable of being powered with locally produced biofuels.

Trained in both mechanical engineering and ecology, Mark has developed and patented equipment and processes for the cultivation, harvesting and processing of forest derived agricultural products for human foods and bio fuels production.

Mark was certified as a Permaculture designer in 1993 and received his Diploma of Permaculture design from Bill Mollison, the founder of the international Permaculture movement. He teaches agroforestry and Permaculture worldwide.

Dr. Missy Stults is the Sustainability and Innovations Director for the City of Ann Arbor. In this role, she works with all city operations, residents, businesses, the University of Michigan, nonprofits, and others to make Ann Arbor one of the most sustainable and equitable cities in America and to implement the A²ZERO Carbon Neutrality Plan. Prior to joining the City, Missy worked with cities and tribal communities around the nation to advance their climate and sustainability goals, including during her time as the Climate Director at ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and as a consultant to philanthropic organizations. Missy has a PhD in urban resilience from the University of Michigan, a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and undergraduate degrees in Marine Biology and Environmental Science from the University of New England.

Alison Swan’s fifth book, A Fine Canopy (Wayne State University Press), was named one of the eleven most anticipated poetry releases of fall 2020 by Literary Hub and was a bestseller at Literati Bookstore. Her first book, Fresh Water: Women Writing on the Great Lakes, is a Michigan Notable Book. Numerous literary journals and anthologies have published her poems and environmental writing, including the eco-justice poetry anthology Ghost Fishing, edited by Melissa Tuckey. Alison has been awarded a Mesa Refuge Residency for her environmentally conscious writing and the Michigan Environmental Council’s Petoskey Prize for Grassroots Environmental Leadership. She is as concerned about the biodiversity crisis as the climate crisis. You can find her online at:  http://alisonswan.net.

Poet and writer Keith Taylor recently retired from the University of Michigan where he taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs in creative writing.

Recent publication: January 2021, Let Them Be Left, poems from Isle Royale published by Alice Greene & Co.

His sixteenth collection, The Bird-while, was published by Wayne State University Press February 2017. Ecstatic Destinations was published by Alice Greene & Co in 2018.

Keith’s work has appeared in such publications as Story, The Los Angeles Times, Alternative Press, The Southern Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, The Iowa Review, Witness, Chicago Tribune, and Hanging Loose. Other books are Marginalia for a Natural History published by Black Lawrence Press, and Ghost Writers, a collection of ghost stories co-edited with Laura Kasischke, published by Wayne State University Press.