Linking People, Place, and Perspective

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.
 

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.
 

With a B.S. in geology and an M.S. in hydrology, Joan Resnick has spent the past 15 years with BLM working in a wide range of positions involving natural resource and environmental analysis.  From serving in controversial natural resource management programs (hazardous materials management, commodity management) she has learned the value of partnering and its effectiveness over confrontation or "control and command."  She has spent the last 5 years initiating partnerships, developing positive relationships between government and citizens, and promoting collaborative natural resource management.  She is currently the bio-social ecosystem coordinator in BLM's New Mexico State Office, a position that is also called community-based planner.
 

Since earning her B.S. in rangeland management and wildlife biology from Washington State University, Gail Tunberg has served in a variety of increasingly significant resource management positions in the Forest Service.  She began her Forest Service career in 1987 as a range conservationist and wildlife biologist in the Umatilla and Fremont National Forests in eastern Oregon.  From 1989 to 1992 she served as a threatened, endangered, and sensitive species program assistant in Washington, D.C.  She moved to New Mexico where she has served as a forest wildlife biologist at the Santa Fe National Forest, Southwest Strategy Coordinator for the Forest Service's Southwestern Region, and Regional Wildlife Program Manager in Albuquerque.  In 1991 she was selected by the Secretary of Agriculture to the Woman's Executive Leadership Program.  Her interests include camping, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and training and showing Brittany pointing dogs.