Identifying & Mitigating Capacity Challenges As They Relate To Impacts On Wildlife & Habitats
Speakers
Shawn Johnson
Managing Director
Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy, University of Montana
Shawn Johnson is Managing Director at the Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy at the University of Montana. He is also Co-Chair of the University’s Graduate Certificate Program in Natural Resources Conflict Resolution. Shawn works with diverse groups, including landowners, agencies, NGOs, funders, and the research community to improve natural resources policy and practice.
Kevin Eskelin
Regional Recreation Manager
BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development
I came to BC from eastern Canada over 25 years ago, and have worked with the Recreation Branch of Ministry of Forests for 14 years (the Branch was moved to and from the Ministry of Tourism for 5 of those years). I was a District Recreation Officer in north-central BC (Smithers) for 8 years, having had the good fortune to be a part of developing several new community mountain biking and backcountry ski projects which have significantly enabled a growing tourism economy up there. I now work out of Cranbrook BC as a regional manager, overseeing recreation land management on provincial lands in the Okanagan, Columbia and Kootenay regions. I have a great interest in the integration of stewardship activities and responsibility amongst governments and community organizations. We work towards authorizing, developing and managing public amenities in collaboration with civil society, industry and governments – leveraging funding, sharing commitment, and enabling community visions.
Sarah Lundstrum
Glacier Program Manger
National Parks Conservation Association
Sarah joined NPCA in July 2012 and is currently the Glacier Program Manager in Whitefish Montana. Her work is focused in and around Glacier National Park and throughout the greater Crown of the Continent. Recently, much of her work has been facilitating and participating in collaborative processes on the Flathead National Forest, including the Whitefish Range Partnership. Her work also includes a variety of issues including grizzly bear management, oil trains, forest planning, National Park Service NEPA work, visitation and the maintenance backlog.
Sarah has lived and worked in the Flathead Valley for a decade and brings local knowledge of the people and the land to her work at NPCA. Prior to living in Montana, Sarah spent time in the desert southwest; graduating with her B.S. from Utah State University in 2003 and then working in Albuquerque NM. She enjoys all forms of outdoor activity, playing hockey, cooking delicious food and hanging out with her dogs.
Bryce Maxell
Program Coordinator
Montana Natural Heritage Program
Bryce Maxell grew up surrounded by a variety of farm animals and spent many hours dogsledding in the mountains of Utah. He completed a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Economics at the University of Puget Sound in 1994 where he studied the demography of kelp species in the Puget Sound and was an NAIA All-American swimmer. After his undergraduate degree, he received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for a yearlong independent study of the natural history of Australia and New Zealand in 1994 and 1995. Bryce completed his Ph.D. in Fish and Wildlife Biology in the Wildlife Biology Program at the University of Montana in 2009 where he completed a state-wide status assessment of, and constructed predicted habitat suitability models for, Montana’s amphibian and reptile species and examined the population demographics of Columbia Spotted Frogs. Between 1996 and 2015, Bryce conducted field inventories for a variety of animal species in Montana. During his time in Montana he has authored or coauthored three books, a dozen peer reviewed publications, and 35-plus professional reports on amphibians, reptiles, bats, small terrestrial mammals, birds, terrestrial mollusks, and fish. Bryce is passionate about making biological information available to resource managers and the general public so that Montana’s plants, animals, and terrestrial and aquatic communities can be appreciated by current and future generations and is excited to lead Heritage Program staff in this endeavor.
Onno Wieringa
Onno Wieringa was born and raised in Conrad, Montana and graduated from Montana State University with a B.S. in Commerce in 1972. In 1976, Onno and two partners founded Glacier Raft Company in West Glacier. In the ensuing years started Glacier Raft Operations in Polson on the Lower Flathead, in Idaho on the Lochsa River, and in Canada on the Kicking Horse River. Additionally, the trio partnered with Adrift Adventures in Moab Utah. By 2000 they consolidated all operations to West Glacier and developed the Glacier Outdoor Center. The Center has cabins, a lodge, an events center, outdoor equipment rental, fishing, and retail. In 2015, Onno moved out of daily operations and is still a partner in the land and facilities.
From 1988 until 2016, Onno was General Manager of the Alta Ski Area in Utah and was responsible for all operations and business development. In 2008, Onno founded the Alta Environmental Center as a ski area department to not only add process and measurement to environmental and stewardship projects, but to also have projects be financially responsible to help assure their sustainability.
Additionally to his general experience, he pursues quality experiences from rafting, ski areas and life. He often says it comes back to capacity, over-capacity and under capacity and how capacity affects everything around it.
