WRFI Instructors
Our instructors are some of the best in the field. Attorneys, professors, writers, teachers, research scientists, they all combine teaching experience and an intimate knowledge of course subject matter with the leadership and backcountry skills necessary to provide our students with safe, high-quality learning experiences in wilderness settings. They are also fun, dynamic, and passionate about education and the wilderness they use as classrooms. Our students tell us all the time that our instructors are as important to their WRFI experience as the landscape and the content.
Steve Alexander
Steve Alexander joined WRFI in the winter of 2008. He received his B.S. in Geology from St. Lawrence University and his M.S. in Science Education at Montana State University in Bozeman. As an interdisciplinary educator he has worked with students in a variety of bioregions including the Colorado Plateau, Adirondacks/Northern Forest, the Greater Yellowstone Geo-ecosystem, and the Canadian Rockies. Steve has taught and developed both curriculum and programs for several non-profits and educational institutions inlcuding the National Outdoor Leadership School, Teton Science Schools and St. Lawrence University. After spending three years helping to run the Adirondack Semester for St. Lawrence University, a program which engages students in the study of nature and human relationships with nature while based in a secluded yurt campus, he has returned to graduate school to pursue a PhD in geography where his research focuses on environmental change and governance. When it comes to his line of work, Steve say that it is the unparalleled experiences students have in the field that guides his pursuit to reacquaint them with their natural surroundings. Steve teaches Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons & Cultures and the Wild Rockies Summer Semester. He can be reached at stevealexander11@gmail.com.
Adam Beh
Adam earned his Ph.D. from Colorado State University's Natural Resource Department in Environmental Communication. He has an M.S. in Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, also from CSU, and a B.S. in Behavioral Science from Grand Valley State University. Although much of Adam's recent experience is in Kenya, his interest in human/nature relations has extended to campus sustainability efforts at CSU and in national parks, Peace Corps experience in Africa and on the CSU campus, park rangering in Golden Gate State Park, and being a backcountry trail maintenance leader at Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota. After a year of teaching in the College of Natural Resources at Utah State University, Adam recently accepted a job in South Sudan as the Wildlife Conservation Society's Community Conservation and Livlihoods Coordintor where he directs all of the socio-economic research and community-based conservation activities in the Boma-Jonglei landscape. Like several other WRFI instructors, Adam has a knack for languages and speaks English, Kiswahili, Hausa, and French. Adam's interest in and experience with human's interaction with the landscape makes him a perfect instructor on the Wild Rockies Summer Semester.
Meagan Binkley
It's always a delight at WRFI when our alumni become instructors. Meagan was a student on WRFI's Baja Peninsula: Coastal Ecology and Culture before finishing her master's degree at the University of Tennessee in 2008. She joined Montana Afoot and Afloat: Human/Land Relations for the first time in 2008 and has now taught it twice. She is also an instructor on Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons and Cultures. Meagan brings a lot to a WRFI course including academic knowledge and experience in restoration, agriculture, and conservation biology. She is also a Wilderness EMT and has worked for various outdoor education groups. One of our favorite things about Meagan is that she conducted her master's thesis research at Dollywood, Tennessee, where she worked towards the restoration of the American Chestnut through plant breeding, molecular research, and tree planting.
Casey Brown
Casey has been a great addition to the WRFI instructor pool, joining WRFI in the summer of 2009. She has a BA in environmental studies and conservation biology from Prescott College and has worked extensively in the field of environmental and outdoor education. Casey earned her master's degree in the spring of 2010 from Colorado State University in Wildlife Ecology. Her thesis work, conducted largely in Grand Teton National Park, made her a perfect candidate for kicking off WRFI's summer semester course in the Yellowstone to Yukon ecoregion. Casey will begin work on her PhD in biology in the fall of 2011 at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Her reserach will focus on resilience and adaptation of wildlife to anthropogenic disturbances such as roads and climate change. From serving as a mountaineering instructor with Outward Bound to working as an ecological consultant, Casey's wide array of experiences inspire students and add depth to her teaching. Casey teaches on our Wild Rockies Summer Semester.
Patrick Burke
Pat Burke began instructing for WRFI in the summer of 2007 and brings a unique combination of education and experience to each course he teaches. Pat began his education with a B.A. in Philosophy from UC-San Diego, and continued with a B.S. in Forestry from the University of Montana. He then attained an M.S. in Forest Ecology at the University of Montana and is currently working towards an M.A. in Philosophy, also at UM. He has worked as a restoration ecologist on projects around the west including superfund sites, mine reclamation sites, national park natural disaster sites, and highway revegetation projects. He is also the author and co-author of numerous publications. Pat’s ability to review science while maintaining an ethical awareness allows him to fulfill WRFI’s mission of teaching critical thinking about social and environmental issues. Pat teaches Restoration Ecology in Greater Yellowstone, Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons and Cultures, and Montana Afoot and Afloat: Human/Land Relations.
Ashley Burry-Trice
Ashley joins WRFI with a range of experience working in the outdoors. She has a BS in Environmental Studies from Prescott College and is finishing an MS from the University of Montana focusing on water conservation issues and watershed health in the intermountain region. Her love for the western landscapes has brought her to work and play in many beautiful areas. Some of her experience includes working as a field instructor for Outward Bound, managing a watershed non-profit in central Oregon, and working as a scientist and field technician and educator. Ashley spends her time fishing and playing on the river, running, skiing, and climbing. Ashley teaches the Wild Rockies Summer Semester.
Peter Chaille
Peter is from, and currently based in, Portland, Oregon where he works as a researcher and consultant on a range of issues related to sustainable use of marine and land resources around the world. Peter earned his Ph.D. in marine biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he also obtained an M.A. in Comparative Physiology and a B.S. in Aquatic Biology. He has shared his knowledge via numerous publications and countless presentations around the world. Peter relishes having the opportunity to work with and for organizations that strive to conserve threatened environments and improve the livelihoods of those who depend on them through the integration of science, business and experiential education programs. He continues to work with such organizations as UCSB, Mercy Corps, Mars Inc., and others, and is particularly proud that half his life has been spent working in some capacity with the Portland Kayak Company, where he moonlights as Director of Instruction. In the event that WRFI goes global again, Peter speaks English as well as passable French, workable Spanish and ever improving Bahasa Indonesia. Peter teaches The Alaskan Rainforest: Ecology and Policy of the Tongass.
Natalie Dawson
Natalie hails from Detroit, Michigan but fell in love with Alaska and has been living, working, and exploring in its mountains, forests, fjords, and seashores for the last decade. She lives in Anchorage Alaska where she teaches classes at Alaska Pacific University, works as a biologist on various wildlife projects throughout the state, coaches a cross country ski team to pass the long winter months, and escapes to the desert every year for the chance to spend some time drying off in canyon country. She earned her Bachelor's degree in biology and environmental science from Central Michigan University, taught at Idaho State University, and earned her PhD in biology from the University of New Mexico where she studied weasels on the islands of the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. She loves every opportunity to teach outside, and is very excited to have the opportunity to be an instructor for WRFI. Natalie teaches Alaskan Rainforest:Ecology and Policy of the Tongass and Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons and Cultures for WRFI.
Chelsea Feeney
Chelsea grew up at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in central Virginia. While in college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, she took a backpacking trip to Utah's Canyonlands with the school's Outing Club, and so began her fascination with the American West. Upon graduation with a B.S. in Geology, she moved to the Pacific Northwest for four years where she worked as a trail crew leader on the Pacific Northwest Trail, a Project Geologist for the state of Oregon, an AmeriCorps Volunteer, and an instructor for Komo Kulshan Outdoor School in the North Cascades, Washington. She earned her M.S. in Geology at the University of Montana where she taught introductory geology labs and assisted in UM's Geology Summer Field Camp. After graduation she served as a Geologist-in-the-Park volunteer at Yellowstone. She currently works for Mountain Press Publishing Company as a cartographer and geology editor for the "Roadside Geology" guide book series. Passionate about our dynamic earth and sharing "why things are the way they are", Chelsea has explored the geologic wonders of New Zealand, Iceland, Costa Rica, Alaska, and much of the American West. Chelsea joins WRFI as an instructor on Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons & Cultures and Restoration Ecology in Greater Yellowstone. Chelsea lives in Missoula with her husband Dennis, a fellow geologist and educator.
Jeff Gailus
Jeff first came to WRFI in 2006 as WRFI's Recruitment and Development Coordinator. Providing much-needed guidance and creative flair, Jeff, amongst other things, recreated the WRFI website into the one you see today. Now an instructor, Jeff brings intimate knowledge of transboundary issues on our Wild Rockies Summer Semester.Jeff is the founder of Bristlecone Communications, a full-service communications consultancy. A widely published writer, Jeff has been honored with several awards, including Story of the Year from the Associated Collgiate Press, numerous nominations for magazine feature writing at the western Canadian and national levels, and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for his book about the mythical Great Plains grizzly bear. To reach Jeff, you can email him at jeff@gailus.ca.
Brandt Geyerman
Brandt is a passionate WRFI instructor and has instructed on Montana Afoot & Afloat, Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons & Cultures and Boundary Waters: Wilderness Land & Lakes. Brandt also joined WRFI's Safety Committee in the spring of 2009. As an active and trusted instructor, Brandt brings great expertise to this committee.Raised in Minnesota and the high country of Colorado, Brandt devoted many years to competitive alpine skiing before pursuing his passion for philosophy. He earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1994 and a J.D. in 1999. He has taught philosophy and political science courses in Breckenridge since 1999, coordinated non-profit educational organizations in Telluride, and currently teaches Introduction to Philosophy on-line for Colorado Mountain College. Brandt's philosophic interests include teaching classical, environmental and feminist ethics in the backcountry. He has traveled in over 20 countries and enjoys freeskiing, mountain biking, climbing and canoeing.You can reach Brandt at brandt@wrfi.net.
Neil Kessler
Neil teaches Alaskan Rain Forest: Ecology and Policy of the Tongass and Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons & Culture. Neil started out as a WRFI student on the Alaska course and fell in love with both southeast Alaska and the educational experience that WRFI offers. When Neil is not in Alaska, he spends time chasing birds and learning ancient hand skills and history in the desert Southwest. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology from Lehigh University and earned his master's degree at the University of Vermont. His interest in ecology and natural sciences is multi-sourced, including the WRFI Alaska experience, wilderness survival courses, three years in rural Vermont, and a stint at the New England Wildlife Center (NEWC), a wildlife rehabilitation hospital in Hingham, Massachusetts. Neil also works as a blacksmith/knifemaker and writer, with some of his recent nature-based adventure stories being published in Catalyst Magazine in Salt Lake City, and one upcoming in The Herb Companion.
Jesse Lewis
Growing up among the tangled forests and fields of the Virginia Piedmont and marshy tidal bays of the Chesapeake, Jesse has been nerding out on natural history from the day he could walk. His passions include un-puzzling the invisible connections in nature and finding creative ways to transform them into art, story, and education. Jesse holds a B.A in Biology and Environmental Policy from Virginia Tech and an M.S. in Conservation Biology from the University of Michigan. His graduate research focused on integrating agroecological farming with biodiversity conservation in the coffee lands of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. He loves teaching at the university level and has guided and taught for Round River Conservation Studies in highland Ecuador and for the University of Michigan Biological Station in the upper Great Lakes. His insatiable curiosity about biodiversity and our place in it has him traipsing around the wild side of the world. An avid photojournalist and science writer, his work has been featured in magazines and websites, exhibited in galleries, and sold privately. Today Jesse continues to connect with nature in fun and creative ways as a full time visual artist and science storyteller. He is currently working on two documentary film projects and is the co-founding producer for Sweetfern Productions.
Dave Morris
Dave graduated from Evergreen State College with a degree in Environmental Studies, then earned his M.S. in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. Dave has instructed and guided for many outdoor education programs since 1990. He has traveled and taught in South and Central America, Nepal, Africa, Alaska, New Zealand, and Canada. Dave loves teaching at the college level and offers WRFI students a wealth of knowledge about resource issues, environmental education, and ecology. He is currently seeking a PhD in Forestry and Conservation at the Univerity of Montana. When not otherwise occupied Dave is often found skiing, mountain biking, taking photos, or reading High Country News. Dave began teaching for WRFI in 2001. He has taught Alaskan Rainforest, Baja Peninsula, Continental Divide, Colorado Plateau, and Montana Afoot and Afloat. He has initiated and instructed two more courses: Conservation & Community in the Yellowstone to Yukon Region and Cycle the Rockies. Dave has served on the WRFI Board since 2004.
Ted Morrison
Ted Morrison joined WRFI in the fall of 2008. With many years of field work under his belt, Ted has returned to the University of Montana where he is pursuing a Master's of Science in environmental studies. Ted attended the University of Montana for his undergraduate studies, earning a degree in Environmental Studies, focusing on environmental politics and global trade policy. As he now studies EVST in more depth, Ted will be focusing on the study of behavioral changes of students of environmental and outdoor education programs. When asked, "Why WRFI?", Ted responded that he has been interested in combining college-level academics with outdoor education, and can't think of a better way to learn and teach about environmental and social issues than to be immersed in the landscape and with the people involved. When not studying or working in the field, Ted can be found travelling, trail running, fly fishing, backcountry skiing, and rock climbing. Ted also teaches for AERIE Backcountry Medicine and Outward Bound, and teaches Montana Afoot and Afloat for WRFI.
Noah Pollock
Noah Pollock hails from Delmar, NY, and graduated from Cornell University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources. He earned his M.S. degree from the Rubenstein School for the Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont, where he studied sustainable community development and ecological economics. Noah works as a consultant for Spring Hill Solutions, a Burlington, VT energy, carbon management, and business sustainability firm, the Gund Institute of Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, and the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. A passionate outdoor enthusiast and educator, he has cycled through New Zealand, the Canadian maritimes, and the Northern Rockies, and has taught college courses ranging from sustainable development to wilderness survival. Noah teaches Cycle the Rockies: Energy and Climate Change in Montana.
Nicky Phear
Nicky Phear coordinates and teaches for the Wilderness and Civilization Program, which is a two-semester field and campus program for undergraduates at the University of Montana. Nicky has long been dedicated to WRFI. She was the organization's first director and has taught a range of field courses for WRFI as well as Prescott College and the Colorado Outward Bound School. She is currently active in climate change education. In the fall of 2007 she cycled 1000 miles with the Ride for Climate giving public presentations about global warming and the need for action. She serves on the city of Missoula’s Mayor’s Climate Change Advisory Board and is helping the University of Montana develop an innovative minor in climate change. She received her Master of Science in environmental studies at the University of Montana. Nicky is one of the founding instructors of Cycle the Rockies:Energy and Climate Change in Montana. She can be reached at nicky.phear@umontana.edu.
Joshua Porter
Joshua joined WRFI in the fall of 2008. Joshua received a B.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in Wilderness Studies from the Evergreen State College, and earned an M.S. in Ecological Teaching and Learning through the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University. Joshua’s work has alternated between field biology, service based conservation education, wilderness leadership, and guiding, with most of that work located in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. He recently developed and directed a land stewardship program in Vermont and is involved in community-based folk education projects that explore human relationships to place and story. Joshua teaches Montana Afoot & Afloat and the Wild Rockies Summer Semester.
Karen Pratt
Karen joins WRFI with a quiver of experience working in the outdoors. She has a BS in Fisheries Resources from the University of Idaho and an MS in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana. She has worked as a director, manager, biologist, technician, independent consultant, and field scientist for many organizations including the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, Silver Creek Preserve, The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Pacific Power, Idaho Fish and Game, Mountain States Group, Sunscapes, and the Community Gardens of Boise. She is an accomplished outdoorswoman, focusing her outdoor pursuits on backpacking, hunting and horsepacking, cross-country skiing, and playing on the river. She also enjoys what she calls "recreational botany". Karen teaches Restoration Ecology in Greater Yellowstone.
Kirsten Rudestam
Kirsten Rudestam spent her adolescence running up the creek-beds and climbing the sage-brush trails within California's Los Padres mountains. She has since worked and traveled in India, Guatemala, Canada and the American West as an environmental educator, naturalist
and backcountry guide. She sees service projects and experiential education as inspiring methods that deepen and facilitate interdisciplinary environmental learning. She holds a master's degree in Environmental Science from the University of Oregon and has worked as a researcher for the Climate Leadership Initiative and Decision Research, where her principal areas of research examine water issues in the American West as well as public perceptions of space and place. Currently a co-coordinator of the Environmental Leadership Program at the University of Oregon, she works as well for the City of Eugene's Outdoor Program, teaching outdoor education and leading wilderness trips. Kirsten teaches Montana Afoot and Afloat for WRFI.
Dan Spencer
Dan teaches in the Environmental Studies program at the University of Montana where he focuses on issues of globalization, Latin America, community participation in ecological restoration, and environmental ethics and theology. Dan’s undergraduate degree is in geology from Carleton College, which also included three summers teaching geology field camp in the Tobacco Root Mountains of southwest Montana, and three summers working and climbing in Glacier Park. He has graduate degrees in theology and ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York, and spent 10 years teaching in a Religion and Philosophy Program at Drake University in Iowa before moving to Montana just in time for the fires of 2000. Dan grew up on the West Coast and in Colorado, and spent most of his adult life trying to find a way to get back to the West from Minnesota, New York and Iowa. He’s been teaching at the University of Montana since 2002, and now that he’s back in Montana, he hopes to never move again. He lives with his partner, Pat Burke, and Pat’s two kids, in Missoula.
Craig Stafford
Craig currently works as an adjunct professor for the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Montana. His current teaching responsibilities include freshwater ecology, lake ecology, and Montana wildlife. Craig's research focuses on freshwater biology, particularly the movement of mercury through aquatic food webs. He earned his B.S. in biology at the University of Michigan. After completing his M.S. in zoology at the University of Maine, Craig received his Ph.D. in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Montana. Craig teaches Restoration Ecology and Montana Afoot & Afloat.
Bethany Swanson
Bethany is WRFI's Outreach Manager as well as an instructor. Charged with letting the world know about WRFI, Bethany can be found on college campuses across the country meeting with students, professors, and advisors. When not travelling for WRFI, she is in Missoula at WRFI Central, designing marketing plans, organizing fundraisers, and trying to figure out ways to get back into the field. After years of instructing for WRFI, she is excited to continue with the organization from a new standpoint. Bethany graduated from Colorado College in 2000 with a degree in environmental history, and completed her Master's degree from the University of Montana's environmental studies program in May 2005. She currently is an adjunct professor at the University of Montana in both the environmental studies department and the Davidson Honors College. She's thrilled to have instructed Alaskan Rainforest: Ecology and Policy of the Tongass, Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons & Cultures, Restoration Ecology and Montana Afoot & Afloat. Bethany can be reached at bethany@wrfi.net.
John Todd
John grew up in Tennessee hiking, biking and backpacking in the Southern Appalachians. He earned his BA in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Ecology from the University of Montana in 2003. His Masters research- also at the University of Montana- included the successful defense of qualitative, content analysis approach that identified conceptual elements influencing social acceptance of biomass energy in Montana. John loves rivers. He is a river guide in Montana and an avid paddler of waterways fast and slow from week-long trips in the Everglades to month-long expeditions in the Canadian Arctic. When he’s not on the water somewhere, John also enjoys international travel, gardening, skiing along the Continental Divide, and spreading southern hospitality throughout the Inland Northwest while teaching his daughter to appropriately use the word “y’all”. John teaches Cycle the Rockies.
