Ensuring a Healthy Environment

Todd Bryan is the principal of ASSENT/ASCENT, a small consulting firm specializing in conflict management, collaboration, and organizational and social change. He grew up in Illinois and graduated from the University of Kentucky, with a B.S. in agriculture. His diverse interests led him to earn M.S. degrees in water resources management and landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin and an M.P.A. from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University. He is now working on his doctorate at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment and serving as a Ford Foundation Community Forestry Research Fellow and an adjunct assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Colorado. With 22 years of experience in the environmental and natural resource field and as an enthusiastic and intuitive teacher and trainer, he presents a unique perspective to the understanding of collaborative decision making and transformational leadership. He is also a down-to-earth guy who enjoys hiking, skiing, swimming, and visiting micro-brewpubs. In fact, he holds the world Master's swimming record in the 1500-meter freestyle in his age group.
 

Jeff Danter grew up in Ohio and earned his Ph.D. in ecological management communications from Ohio State University. His dissertation research focused on organizational and stakeholder aspects of ecosystem approaches to natural resources management. He holds a B.S. in engineering as well as an M.B.A. and has a broad background in ecological science and organizational management. He has worked for the Wildlife Nature Conservatory and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and recently coauthored a text book on environmental communication. A visionary who challenges others to think differently, he brings to his work an expertise in organizational approaches to ecosystem management.  He is also a creative instructor whose enthusiasm for his subject matter is obvious. In this course, he teaches the social aspect of the bio-social ecosystems, specifically the role of science and community-based partnerships.  In his spare time Jeff enjoys canoeing, snorkeling, and hiking.
 

Carla Harper received her B.A. in English and communication from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  She worked in the field of ecotourism from 1990-1993 before beginning a graduate program at Colorado State University in Natural Resource Management, resource economics, and rural sociology.  In 1995 she began working for San Juan National Forest, researching the economic impacts of the timber industry in southwest Colorado.  She was also appointed as the coordinator of the Ponderosa Pine Forest Partnership that year.  In 1997 the Montezuma County Federal Lands Program created a permanent position for her. She works on forest policy locally, regionally, and nationally as well as other natural resource issues in southwest Colorado.  In her spare time she enjoys fishing, hiking, and horseback riding.
 

He earned a B.S. in forestry from Humboldt State University and a M.S. in forest engineering from Oregon State University.  He is also a registered professional forester in California and a registered professional engineer in Oregon and holds both basic and advanced Certificates of Public Administration. He began his Forest Service career in 1978 in California as a zone logging engineer for Sierra and Sequoia national forests.  A year later he transferred to Tahoe National Forest, where he held assistant staff positions in both timber and engineering.  In 1982 he was appointed to Nevada City as district ranger, and in 1985 he began serving as the Olympic National Forest District Ranger at Quinault.  In August 1996, he became Special Assistant to the Deputy Chief for Programs and Legislation at the National Forest Foundation, where he helped maintain a successful partnership between the National Forest Foundation and the Forest Service. After leaving the Foundation he was assigned to special details for the Forest Service, including the Washington Office Recreation, Heritage, and Wilderness Resource Staff as the National Partnership Coordinator.  He also served as the Executive Team Director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE) staff.  Most recently he is working in Policy Analysis and is coordinating the Forest Service’s National Policy Analysis Advisory Board.
 

Herman Karl majored in geology at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1969.  He received a Master of Science degree in geology from the University of Nebraska in 1971 and a doctorate in geological sciences from the University of Southern California in 1977.  Herman began his career with the USGS as a National Research Council Research Associate in 1977 and was hired as a marine geologist in 1978.  He has been chief scientist on many cruises and has conducted research in areas that include the Bering Sea, Aleutian Island Arc, U.S. West Coast, and the Ross Sea, Antarctica.  Beginning about 1989, in response to society’s needs, Herman designed and led projects to provide impartial scientific information that is critical to sound environmental and resource management of the coastal ocean.  Currently, he is senior scientist at the Western Geographic Science Center where he is responsible for developing INCLUDE (Integrated-science and Community-based Values in Land Use Decisionmaking).  INCLUDE’s credo is “learning by doing.”  It’s overarching objective is to engage scientists and citizens as partners to develop together community-based projects for the purpose of empowering citizens to use science to inform decisions.  These issue-driven, citizen-centered projects use a full range of integrated multidiscipline information and incorporate community/cultural values within a collaborative problem-solving framework to seek consensus on land-use planning and environmental resource management decisions.  Herman enjoys quiet reflective moments; these moments most often come about while fly fishing, hunting with his setters, and pondering the 32 year love/hate relationship with his 1969 Land Rover.
 

James Kent was born and raised in the northern mountains of Appalachia on a farm near Panama, New York.  He received his B.A. in human relations from Salem College in Salem, West Virginia, his M.A. in sociology from Kent State University, and his Doctor of Law degree from the University of Denver.  Having worked on establishing the programs of the Great Society, including Head Start, in 1969 he and his long-time associates from the war on poverty established the Foundation for Urban and Neighborhood Development (FUND, Inc.).  FUND is a social justice group that pioneered the original concepts of the Discovery Process, which is designed to empower people in their environments.  To increase access to wider markets, he created the SRM Corp in l981 and the JKA Group in 1989.  Under the JKA Group the concept of Human Geographic Issue Management System (HIGMS) was published. In 2000 the Discovery Process and HIGMS were combined in a new company called Natural Borders.  He is also widely published.  His most recent work (with Kevin Preister) is the article Social Ecology: A New Pathway to Watershed Restoration, which appears in the ecosystem textbook Principles and Practices of Watershed Restoration.  James lives in Basalt, Colorado, where he helped develop that community’s  first Master Plan, to include a section on the need to generate social capital as an essential part of Basalt's growth. His main hobby is exploring the world's coffee shops, where major changes have been incubated and networked into reality from the same gathering places over generations and centuries.
 

Gary McVicker has more than 30 years of experience working for BLM, serving in the West and in Washington, D.C. in a variety of positions and locations. He received his B.S. in rangeland management from New Mexico State University and continues to expand his knowledge base through reading, independent study, and fieldwork.  He has a keen interest in ecosystems and uses practical applications to bring science into stewardship. He is also exceptional at connecting with others and encouraging their efforts to bring their visions to fruition.  With a unique perspective of how things could be for government and communities working together for landscape and human community health, he served on the original design team for and teaches "How We Got Here, A Vision for Change," and other course segments.  He is also a talented landscape and nature photographer and in his spare time enjoys, hiking, fly fishing, running mountain trails, and studying herpetology.  
 

With a doctorate in economic anthropology from the University of California at Davis, Kevin Preister is managing director of Social Ecology Associates, an Oregon-based firm that specializes in community assessment, action programs, and management training. He also serves as adjunct professor at Southern Oregon University, teaching courses in anthropology and conflict studies.  For 20 years he has been involved in community assessment, impact management, and evaluation for a wide range of development projects: water, oil and gas, recreation, welfare reform, agriculture, urban re-development, and natural resource management. As a dedicated, enthusiastic, and committed instructor for BLM's National Training Center, he has been traveling to small towns throughout the West, conducting workshops in collaborative stewardship for restoration, and witnessing emerging partnerships between citizens and agencies. His special strengths are social impact management, determining the social/cultural, economic/political, and ecological factors within the community.  He enjoys hiking, traveling, playing the guitar, and spending time with his family.
 

Mike Preston has 25 years of experience in community development through problem solving, consensus building, forming collaborative relationships, and formal and informal networking.  His unwavering determination and patience help bring together people and help organizations of diverse values and backgrounds resolve complex problems.  Mike is also skilled at integrating knowledge, and he brings to his class an excellent example of commodity and conservation groups that have come together to address forest health and community issues in southwest Colorado. With a strong legislative background, Mike has a passion for helping determine the future of rural communities and landscapes.  He spends his spare time learning about the world through reading, visiting with neighbors, and listening to and watching public radio and television.  He also enjoys hiking, exploring, and spending time with his family.
 

Christine Turner earned her B.A. in geology from the College of William and Mary, her M.S. in geology from Northern Arizona University and her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado.  She has a multitude of skills, including scientific leadership, management, and organizational and team building skills. Her scientific expertise ranges from basin analysis to paleohydrology. Currently she is working with the U.S. Geological Survey as the Central Region Coordinator of the INCLUDE (Integrated Science and Community-Based Values in Land-Use Decision-Making) Project. She is leading an interdivision effort in the Central Region to formulate an approach to integrating the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, and political perspectives as they relate to decision making in public policy. Christine has written many publications and is involved in a variety of leadership and professional activities.
 

Gene Williams, with his wife Linda, owns and operates a combination farm and ranch in southwest South Dakota, where he raises livestock, hay, and nonirrigated small grain. He has lived his entire life on this ranch, which his parents bought in 1949. The ranch holds a grazing permit on the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and a farming lease with the Ogalala Sioux Tribe. It also has a Minuteman missile site administered by the U.S. Air Force. Gene has been active in a variety of local, state, and national organizations, including the White River Cooperative Grazing District, the Jackson County Conservation District, the South Dakota Association of Conservation Districts, the Big Sioux Nursery Inc., and the National Association of Conservations Districts. He and his wife also facilitated "Charting a Healthy Future," a community-based effort to help the towns of Kadoka, Philip, and Midland, South Dakota, plan their health care needs for the 21st century. His most recent venture involves giving the public access to his ranch for recreation, and promoting the positive role of agriculture in the stewardship of natural resources. In his spare time he follows the lives of his 11- and 13-year old sons, Tristen and Trevor.