WRFI Staff
Laurie Schlueb, Executive Director
Laurie's passion for environmental education fuels her work behind the scenes as WRFI's executive director. Prior to accepting this position in December 2003, Laurie spent nine years as a naturalist guide or teacher in the Bahamas, southeast Alaska, Denali, Baja California, the Everglades and Montana, where she kayaked, hiked and dove in some of the most fabulous landscapes and seascapes on Earth. Her real zeal, however, is for connecting people to the environment and helping them understand their relationship to it, whether they are in the wilds of Alaska or their city neighborhood back home. Laurie hopes to foster this sense of community, place, and stewardship through her work in, and outside of, the office. She holds a B.A. in biology from Washington University and an M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Montana where she focused on adult environmental education. Laurie can be reached at laurie@wrfi.net.
Bethany Swanson, Outreach Manager
Bethany is WRFI's Outreach Manager. 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.
Rob Terwilliger, Program Manager
Rob Terwilliger has been involved in field based experiential education since he was a child on the Oregon Coast, following his marine biologist parents through tide pools, in mud flats and along beaches poking dead things with sticks. He received his BA in Biology from The University of Colorado at Boulder in 1994 and immediately dove into the field of environmental education. Restless with 6th graders he began teaching college field studies courses in Alaska and Chile. For more than a decade he led students across glaciers up mountains and across rivers, earning a Master’s in Wildlife Management in 2001, and slowly moving from teaching assistant to Program Director to Executive Director of a small non-profit institute in Alaska, The Wrangell Mountains Center. He took some time off from the itinerant world of field instructor to get married, move to Montana, get an MS in Mental Health Counseling in 2007 and start a family in 2009. He uses his past experiences to support staff and students as they head off into the wildness to learn and connect with landscapes they travel through.
WRFI Board of Directors
Travis Belote
Travis is a senior ecologist in the research department of the Wilderness Society, serving in their Northern Rockies Regional Office in Bozeman, MT. He also serves as a faculty affiliate in the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. In 1997, Travis was a student on WRFI’s Montana Afoot and Afloat course, which inspired him to pursue a career in ecology and conservation. He holds an MS from the University of Tennessee and PhD from Virginia Tech where he studied hardwood forest responses to timber harvesting and invasive species. He moved to Montana to work for TWS after a post-doctoral research position with the US Geological Survey in Flagstaff, AZ. Travis’ research focuses on human influences on species diversity, determinants of ecosystem composition and function, and restoration ecology.
Patrick Burke
Pat Burke joined the WRFI Board of Directors in 2009. 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 teaches Restoration Ecology in Greater Yellowstone, Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons and Cultures, and Montana Afoot and Afloat: Human/Land Relations.
Jim Burchfield
Jim Burchfield provides leadership to the research, instructional, and outreach programs of the College of Forestry and Conservation at the University of Montana. He is trained as both a rural sociologist and a forester, and his major interest centers on how people may reside and interact with forest and grassland settings in a productive, harmonious manner. Dr. Burchfield received his academic training at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan. He continues to study the effectiveness of community-based groups in the development of plans and activities on forested lands, as well as how people have responded to frequent wildfire events in the West. Prior to becoming the Dean, Dr. Burchfield served as Associate Dean of the College of Forestry and Conservation and the Director of the Bolle Center for People and Forests at the University of Montana. Prior to coming to The University of Montana he worked for the USDA Forest Service in several locations in the United States as a silviculturist and timber management assistant. He has conducted assessments of social conditions in the Columbia River basin, worked in the international division of the Forest Service in Washington, D. C., and helped implement forest management operations on National Forests in Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, and the state of Washington.
April Christofferson
April Christofferson is an author and former Seattle attorney. Several of her novels are set in the West and focus upon timely and controversial Western environmental and cultural issues. She is a passionate advocate for wilderness and wildlife, especially the preservation of Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. She writes natural history pieces for the Yellowstone Association's Discovery and works as a contract attorney for the University of Montana's Continuing Ed/Community and Professional Services. Through her writing, April's fondest dream is to foster a greater understanding and appreciation for the West's remaining wild places--as well as their four-legged, winged and finned inhabitants.
Gail Gutsche
Gail Gutsche is a long-time activist with a penchant for environmental and reproductive rights issues. A former development director for both Planned Parenthood and the Missoula Urban Demonstration project (MUD), Gail also worked as program coordinator for many years at Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE). Gail served four terms in the Montana House of Representatives (1999-2005). She was elected Democratic Whip in her final term; sat on the Judiciary and Fish Wild Life and Parks Committees; and served as vice chair of the Natural Resources Committee. She sponsored numerous bills to protect Montana’s environment, and helped to defeat several bills that threatened reproductive rights for women. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, Gail earned a B.A. in English. She has lengthy experience as a journalist and editor in Salt Lake and St. Paul, experience that has served her well in Missoula where she utilizes her writing and communication skills to help fundraise for numerous non-profit organizations. An enthusiastic, but limited gardener, Gail grows great basil and garlic. At home in Missoula for the past 14 years, she is an independent contractor who enjoys lounging around with felines Frank and Ella. Gail can be reached at: gutsche@wildrockies.org.
James McKusick
James McKusick is Professor of English and Dean of the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana. He completed his B.A. in English and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College, and his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in English at Yale University. His research and teaching interests include British Romanticism, literary theory, environmental studies, and the history of science. His books include Faustus: From the German of Goethe, Translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, co-edited with Frederick Burwick (Oxford University Press, 2007); Green Writing: Romanticism and Ecology (Palgrave, 2000), Literature and Nature: Four Centuries of Nature Writing, co-edited with Bridget Keegan (Prentice-Hall, 2001), and Coleridge's Philosophy of Language (Yale University Press, 1986). He has also published more than twenty articles and over two dozen reviews in such journals as Eighteenth-Century Studies, English Literary History, European Romantic Review, Keats-Shelley Journal, Modern Philology, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Romantic Circles, Romantic Pedagogy Commons, Studies in Romanticism, University of Toronto Quarterly, and The Wordsworth Circle. Dr. McKusick has been the recipient of grants and scholarships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Fletcher Jones Foundation, and the Maryland Humanities Council. He currently serves as President of the Wordsworth-Coleridge Association and Executive Director of the John Clare Society of North America.
Sarah Richey
Sarah was a student on Montana Afoot and Afloat in 1998 and the experience sealed her appreciation for experiential education and the WRFI mission. That appreciation has only grown since then, and Sarah has stayed connected to WRFI as an occasional instructor and now as a board member. Sarah’s professional background combines environmental science and field education, and now working with local government on natural resource conservation projects through Missoula County Rural Initiatives. Sarah earned an undergraduate degree in Environmental Biology and a graduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. She spent several years dividing her time between leading Outward Bound backpacking and mountaineering courses and working as a field biology technician on fish and amphibian research projects. Sarah spent 4 years in Yellowstone National Park managing field seminars and backpacking courses for the Yellowstone Institute. In 2008, she returned to Missoula where she lives with her husband Dave. When not working, Sarah can generally be found exploring the mountains on skis, bike or foot.
Sara Smith
Sara Smith is the Chief Financial Officer for ALPS Corporation headquartered in Missoula, Montana. Sara studied at the University of Montana graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Management and Marketing and the University of Colorado with a MBA. Sara also holds her CPA license with the State of Montana. Sara grew up in the Absaroka Beartooths of Montana and worked as a camp counselor on the Boulder River leading trips into the wild. In addition to being outside, Sara is an avid skier, holding her Level III certification through the Professional Ski Instructors of America. She also has complete 5 marathons, with the biggest accomplishment running Boston in 2010. If not running, skiing, or biking, Sara can be found gardening in her back yard or plotting a new adventure.
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.
Bryan von Lossberg
Bryan and his wife, Genevieve Marsh, are thrilled to have returned to Missoula where they met in the University of Montana's Environmental Studies graduate program in 2005. Seeking to integrate a technical background with a conservation ethic, Bryan has started a new business - Commons Link - promoting energy efficiency and conservation by engaging people more directly and creatively in their resource use. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on several projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope and Mars Pathfinder programs. Later, after several years in the Bay Area at semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials, Bryan moved to Lake Tahoe in 2000, where he volunteered extensively for several environmental organizations. Among those, he served on the board and later as the executive director of the Tahoe-Baikal Institute, an international, place-based education and leadership development nonprofit that runs exchanges between Tahoe and Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. Bryan now serves as the executive director of the Montana non-profit, Alternative Energy Resources Organization.
WRFI Advisory Board
Tom Bansak
Upon completion of his Master's degree in river ecology from the University of Montana's Flathead Lake Biological Station, Tom Bansak came to WRFI as an instructor. He ended up staying on as a full-time WRFI instructor for five years, during which time he became involved in most aspects of WRFI. He has worked in our office, revised and created course curricula, helped with gear purchasing and repairs, and contributed to fundraising efforts. Tom joined the Board in 2001 and has served as board president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and the head of the safety committee. He is currently a research scientist at the Flathead Lake Biological Station and is the research coordinator for the British Columbia component of a large international research project called the Salmon Rivers Observatory Network, which focuses on large intact salmon rivers of the Pacific. This position keeps him busy, but facilitates his love of exploring the wild and remote rivers of the world. For WRFI, Tom has taught Colorado Plateau: Desert Canyons & Cultures, The Alaskan Rainforest: Ecology and Policy of the Tongass, and Montana Afoot & Afloat: Human/Land Relations.
Tim Bechtold
Tim Bechtold is a Missoula lawyer who specializes in environmental law, toxic torts, and products liability. See www.bechtoldlaw.net. Along with Matt Thomas and Dave Havlick, he is a co-founder of WRFI and has taught WRFI courses in Alaska, Montana, and Baja California. He holds an AB in biology from Harvard University, an MS from Montana's Environmental Studies Program, and a JD with high honors from the University of Montana School of Law. He has climbed many peaks across the Americas, Asia, and Europe, paddled the seven seas, ripped and slogged thousands of backcountry turns, and shivered through countless nights in a sleeping bag. He lives in Missoula with Karen Knudsen and their two kids, Stellan and Bente.
Katie Deuel
Before taking time off to become a full-time mother, Katie Deuel worked for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, a joint Canadian - U.S. network of organizations working to secure a life-sustaining web of protected wildlife cores and connecting wildlife movement corridors. Katie has worked on public land issues for several other regional conservation groups, including the Alliance for the Wild Rockies as the ecosystem defense director. She has extensive experience leading outdoor expeditions for the National Outdoor Leadership School. Katie completed her Master of Science in environmental studies at the University of Montana and has recently returned to UM to enter the Master of Social Work program. Katie is a former president of the WRFI board.
Dave Havlick
Dave is the founding president of Wild Rockies Field Institute. In addition to more than a decade as a field instructor, Dave has worked for Predator Conservation Alliance, Wildlands CPR, and the Forest History Society. His publications include No Place Distant: Roads and Motorized Recreation on America's Public Lands (Island Press, 2002) and articles in High Country News, Walking, Adventure Cyclist, Conservation in Practice, and other periodicals. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in English, earned an M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Montana, and a Ph.D. in geography from the University of North Carolina. He currently is a professor of geography at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Dave and his spouse, Marion Hourdequin, a professor of philosophy at the Colorado College, have two adventuresome kids.
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.
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 has filled many roles on our board, and is one of the founding instructors of the Cycle the Rockies course. She can be reached at nicky.phear@umontana.edu.
