Cathrine Walters Adams, Program Associate

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Cathrine earned her BS in Natural Resource Management in Wisconsin and moved around working as a range technician and wildlife technician in Wisconsin and Idaho. She eventually landed in Missoula and joined Wildlands CPR's staff in August 2005 as Program Associate. After a short hiatus last summer to pursue her other passion of photography, she returned in fall to split her time with Wildlands CPR and shooting.

 

 

Marnie Criley, Restoration Coordinator

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Marnie began working with Wildlands CPR in February 2000. Marnie has an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a BA in English from the University of Michigan. Marnie has spent the last 12 years working in forest and watershed restoration in the intermountain region. In addition to small-scale, environmentally-sound logging, she has been involved in numerous aquatic restoration projects including some road removal work. Marnie is a published writer and also spent a year working for Hells Canyon Preservation Council in eastern Oregon. Currently she is a member of the National Forest Restoration Collaborative and the Restore Montana network. She also serves on the steering committee of the Montana Forest Restoration Committee and the board of Montana Trout.

 

Sue Gunn, Washington State Representative

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Sue has a PhD in isotope geochemistry and conducted research in igneous petrology for the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA for over a decade. Her doctorate fieldwork was conducted on the Cretaceous granites of southwestern Montana and the research for her MS was in a remote area of Baja, CA. Her undergraduate degree is in Political Science with an emphasis on constitutional law. Sue has an extensive policy background and worked for a decade in Washington DC as the director of Budget and Appropriations and later the director of the the National Parks Program for The Wilderness Society. She moved to Olympia, WA in 2006 to get closer to big wilderness and has worked on water and environmental issues. Sue is currently the Washington state representative for Wildlands CPR and the campaign coordinator for the Washington Watershed Restoration Initiative. Raised in the Chicago area, at one time she worked for the Chicago Daily News as an editorial assistant and for the Second City as an improvisational comedian.

 

Laurel Hagen, Utah Off-Road Vehicle Coordinator

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Laurel Hagen lives in a disreputable old trailer under the canyon rim in Moab, Utah. She comes to work for Wildlands CPR from several years of doing outreach and issues work for Utah groups such as The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Red Rock Forests, and Great Old Broads for Wilderness. As the sole, stalwart occupant of WCPR’s Utah Field Office, Laurel roams the Colorado Plateau and the southern Rockies talking to ranchers, hunters, community activists, biologists, forest rangers and lost hikers. She is thrilled to be able to continue her work as a conservation activist in Utah, which allows her to make a living by mucking about in the backcountry, cursing at uncooperative topo maps, trading rural gossip, and writing letters in vaguely threatening legal terms. She is also extensively involved in Moab community activities, including radio, film, theater, youth, conservation, and local charity events.

 

Josh Hurd, Membership and Web Marketing Associate

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Josh recently graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College, with a degree in Environmental Studies and Public Policy. Born and raised in Montana, he grew up climbing the cliffs of Kootenai Canyon and fishing for trout on the Blackfoot. At Dartmouth, he was the captain of the Woodsmen's Team and an active member in the Dartmouth Outing Club, leading trailwork, hiking, and fishing trips. He worked in the college's sustainability office, promoting building efficiency and public outreach, and during the winter of 2006 interned with us at Wildlands CPR. Josh joined our staff in June 2007.

 

Sarah Peters, Legal and Agency Liaison

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Sarah has a JD from the University of Oregon School of Law and a BS in Environmental Science from Indiana University. Sarah graduated from UO Law with certificates in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, Public Interest Law, and Pro Bono and is a member of the State Bars of Colorado and Oregon. While in law school, Sarah worked with the Western Environmental Law Center and the Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center on a variety of environmental law issues, and worked part-time as a law clerk in the office of public interest attorney Marianne Dugan. She was Articles Editor of the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, and involved in planning the annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. Sarah also volunteered with local restoration and conservation groups, and focused energy on increasing community activism among law students.

 

Tom Petersen, Development Director

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Tom has an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and has worked as a fund raiser for not-for-profit environmental groups for seventeen years. He has been with Wildlands CPR for ten years, and was co-founder and Executive Director of an environmental education organization in North Carolina for seven years, creating funding strategies, budgets, and development plans. Tom is also Board President of the Wild Rockies Field Institute (WRFI) and sits on the Advisory Board of Orion Magazine's Grassroots Network. In addition to working in the non-profit world, Tom is a published nature writer, and editor of the 2006 anthology on wildland roads, A Road Runs Through It: Reviving Wild Places (Johnson Books, Boulder CO).

 

Adam Rissien, Montana Off-Road Vehicle Coordinator

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Adam earned his MS in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana with an emphasis on national forest policy, which culminated in a professional paper examining restoration principles, their on-the-ground application and intersection with the Forest Service budgetary process. Prior to this, Adam spent eight years in Montana working and volunteering on numerous environmental issues, including tracking snowmobile trespass in roadless and Wilderness areas, documenting illegal ORV use in the Great Burn Proposed Wilderness Area, and serving as Chair of the Sierra Club's Bitterroot-Mission Group. Before taking the Montana ORV Coordinator position, Adam worked for the Sierra Club in Wyoming as their state lobbyist and Associate Regional Representative working on issues such as national forest planning and impacts from energy development.

 

Franklin Seal, Communications Coordinator

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Franklin has been professionally engaged in the progressive and environmental movements since 1982 when he received training from Mid West Academy and founded a local activist group in the Puget Sound area. In 1992, compelled by his love of wild landscapes and wild people, he moved to Moab, Utah, in the heart of red rock country. After a four-year stint at the Moab weekly newspaper where his coverage of local politics regularly won awards from the state press association and floggings from local real estate developers, Franklin resumed his activist career working for The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. He comes to Wildlands CPR with more than four years experience organizing in rural communities to stop off-road vehicle abuse, writing editorials in favor of wilderness protection for the red rock country, working on multimedia projects and orchestrating online outreach.

 

Adam Switalski, Science Coordinator

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Adam has been with the Wildlands CPR staff since June 2002. He earned an MS in Wildlife Ecology from Utah State University, working with John Bissonette, a renowned leader in road mitigation research. Adam's graduate work in ecology quantified the impacts of wolf reintroduction on coyotes and synthesized other cascading effects throughout the ecosystem. Adam comes to Wildlands CPR with a broad range of experience and skills, including research at Mt. St.Helens National Volcanic Monument and work in the Washington, D.C. Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance (Department of Interior).

 

Bethanie Walder, Executive Director

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Bethanie Walder, Executive Director since 1995, has an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Duke University and a Master's in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. For her Master's degree, she completed an in-depth study of the "forest health crisis" for Hells Canyon Preservation Council (and other activists) to use to challenge forest health timber sales. Prior to working with Wildlands CPR, Bethanie spent a year working on roadless area protection for The Ecology Center in Missoula. She was a founding member of Women's Voices for the Earth, also in Missoula, serving on their steering committee from its inception until July 1997. She has been on the board of the American Lands Alliance since 1997, including several periods serving on the executive committee. Bethanie serves as a faculty affiliate for the Environmental Studies Department at the University of Montana. She also sits on the board of the North Missoula Community Development Corporation, which focuses on affordable housing and promoting livable, thriving neighborhoods within the Missoula community.

Board Members

The Board of Directors is a group of individuals dedicated to preserving and recovering wilderness by removing roads. They stay involved in the decision-making process through frequent fax, e-mail and phone communication regarding major issues and allocation of funds. We have one annual weekend meeting per year, plus quarterly phone conferences. Wildlands CPR's Director is responsible for day-to-day decisions, and she frequently consults with individual members of the board on specific issues. Board members can serve up to 2 consecutive 3-year terms, but then must step down for at least a year before rejoining the board.

 

Amy Atwood, Vice-President, is an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) in Eugene, Oregon, where she litigates cases brought pursuant to federal environmental statutes including the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, National Forest Management Act, and Federal Lands and Policy Management Act. She joined WELC in September 2003; previously she was an Associate Attorney for three years with the Washington D.C.- based public interest environmental law firm of Meyer & Glitzenstein. While there, she litigated in federal court on behalf of environmental organizations to restrict off-road vehicles in Big Cypress National Preserve in south Florida. Amy received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995 and graduated from Vermont Law School in 2000. She is a contributing author to "Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws" (EPIC Publications, Access Reports, The James Madison Project), which was published in 2002. Amy joined our board in June 2004.

Greg Fishbein is a Manager of the Business Consulting Group with The Nature Conservancy, an internal advisory group that supports senior Nature Conservancy managers in the U.S. and overseas in structuring complex conservation transactions and developing partnerships with private businesses. Prior to the Nature Conservancy, Greg worked for twelve years in management consulting with Price Waterhouse and others. Greg has also served as an Aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on international trade, budget and other economic policy issues. He has a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and a M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School. Greg joined Wildlands CPR's board in April 2003.

Jim Furnish, President, is a consulting forester in the Washington DC area following a 34-year career with USDA Forest Service. He served as Siuslaw National Forest Supervisor in Corvallis, OR from 1992-1999, and as Deputy Chief of the 192 million acre National Forest System under Mike Dombeck for 2 1/2 years. As Siuslaw Forest Supervisor, he directed a total reformation from a timber-dominated mission to one of conservation biology under the Northwest Forest Plan, with dramatic reductions in timber harvest and road networks. As Deputy Chief, Jim was instrumental in creating the Roadless Area Conservation and Forest Planning regulations, two of the most significant and controversial in recent agency history. Jim joined the board in February 2005.

William Geer, Secretary/Treasurer, is an avid elk hunter and fisheries biologist who has worked for state agencies (Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Montana Department of Fish & Game) and non-profits (National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and founder of the Utah Outdoor Resources Foundation). He was executive director of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (2002-2004), an organization of professional writers and communicators encouraging public enjoyment and conservation of natural resources. William joined our board in February 2004.

Brett Paben is an attorney with WildLaw, where he as worked since graduating from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2000, with his J.D. and a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. Brett also holds bachelors' degrees in International Affairs and Environmental Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wildlife Ecology and Conservation from the University of Florida. Brett works on public lands, endangered species and anti-pollution related issues, with a particular focus on National Forests.

Chris Kassar is a wildlife biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity where she is working to defend public lands in Arizona, New Mexico and California from off-road vehicle abuse. She joined the Center in 2005 and previously worked for the Friends of the Inyo, surveying routes and conducting research on the impacts of off-road vehicles on the Inyo National Forest. Chris holds an M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Utah State University where she worked in the landscape ecology lab and completed research on the impacts that roads have on wildlife and habitat. Chris joined the Board in spring 2007.

Rebecca Lloyd is a Hydrologist and Project Leader for the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho. She develops and manages all of the Tribe's restoration work on the Lochsa Drainage, including road decommissioning, culvert replacement, road improvement, riparian restoration, and invasive plant control. Her restoration work began in 1997 when she took a position as a technician working for the Clearwater National Forest's burgeoning road decommissioning program. During that year she also worked for the Nez Perce Tribe, which was beginning to develop its partnership with the Clearwater National Forest. She graduated in 1993 from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Environmental Science and International Studies and earned a Masters Degree in Environmental Science/ Water Resources at Indiana University in 1999. Becca joined the Board in February 2006.

Cara Ritchie Nelson is a David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellow at University of Washington's College of Forest Resources. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from The Evergreen State College, Master of Science degrees in Conservation Biology and in Forestry from the University of Wisconsin, and a Ph.D. in Forest Ecosystem Analysis from the University of Washington. In August 2007, Cara will be moving from the Cascades to the Rockies to join the faculty at University of Montana's College of Forestry and Conservation as Assistant Professor of Restoration Ecology. Cara's research encompasses a variety of studies, organized around the central theme of the effects of fire and other large-scale disturbances on forest vegetation. In addition, Cara is continuing to pursue several long-term studies initiated during her doctoral program. She originally joined the board in November 1995, and rejoined in 2005.

Photos provided by Wildlands CPR staff