Welcome New Members Archives - Outdoor Writers Association of America

Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 02:06:00 +0000

Carmen M. Alex is a scientist, writer and photographer. She is especially concerned with the sustainability of our natural resources and the preservation of wilderness areas in the U.S. and abroad. Alex received a bachelor’s of science in geophysics from UC Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in earth science from UC Santa Cruz. After 20 years working in academia, national labs and, most recently, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Alex shifted her focus to conservation efforts, such as the restoration of the coral reefs and surrounding marine environment in the Florida Keys, as well as the protection of mineral-rich landscapes of the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern U.S. Through her writing and photography, Alex hopes to highlight the beauty of natural spaces.
Bill Bowers is a freelance writer and editor. He is the author, with his wife Eileen, of “50 Hikes in Central New York’s Leatherstocking Country,” published by W.W. Norton in 2010 and the editor of two recent anthologies, “Great American Ghost Stories” and “Great American Crime Stories,” published by Lyons Press in 2017. A professional copy editor for many years, Bowers specializes in outdoor subjects, and freelances for Fly Fisherman, Covey Rise, Key West and Outdoors Unlimited magazines. A former staff editor at Lyons Press, he also edits book manuscripts on many subjects, including medicine and law textbooks, and trade books on everything from fishing and hunting to gardening and French Renaissance swordsmanship.
Daniella Cressman is a college student double majoring in English and conservation management, at the New Mexico Highlands University. She lives in rural New Mexico with her family, two dogs and two cats. She is a fan of reading and writing. She enjoys books such as “Refuge,” by Terry Tempest Williams and “A Fierce Green Fire,” by Aldo Leopold. During her free time she enjoys kayaking, hiking, bicycling, motorcycling and reading and writing about nature and the environmental issues facing the planet.
Joe Drake is a wildlife biologist, conservationist, and avid outdoor sportsman. He is currently working toward a doctorate in ecology from UMass – Amherst. Whether it’s fly-fishing, upland bird hunting, backpacking or rock climbing, he just likes to be outside. He is also a freelance outdoor writer, science communication blogger and photographer. He hopes to publish in new venues. Find him on Instagram @ fieldbiojoe, Twitter @van_dll and read his blog www. secretlifeofafieldbiologist.wordpress. com. He has two stories in “The Wildlife Confessional: An Anthology of Stories,” coming out later this year.
Candice Horner is a competitive shooter and an avid hunter. Like most professionals in the firearms industry, she has a diverse background. She has worked as an aviation mechanic in the U.S. Marine Corps and as a registered nurse in a federal prison. Horner let passion guide her to pursue a career in writing, photography and editing. After freelancing for several years, Horner became an editor for RECOIL magazine and its specialty publications in September 2017. Horner lives with her husband and daughter in the middle of nowhere in Georgia, where she can shoot out to 500 yards whenever she desires.
Drew YoungeDyke is the Great Lakes Communications Coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation and a freelance outdoor writer. He writes primarily about conservation issues, hunting, fitness and outdoor recreation. His work has been published on the National Wildlife Federation blog, Woods-N-Water News, Michigan Outdoor News and Michigan Outof-Doors. He grew up in Central Lake, northern Michigan, and earned political theory and law degrees from Michigan State University. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife Michele and spends his free time bowhunting, backpacking, trail running, kayaking, attempting to flyfish and volunteering for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Sun, 01 Apr 2018 19:48:21 +0000

Nicole Atkins is an accomplished outdoor educator with more than 25 years of experience in the outdoors. After leaving a career in academia, she turned her attention to freelance writing and photography. She has a blog dedicated to raising awareness of conservation and the outdoors. She’s a regular contributor with several outdoor sites and a consultant on special educational projects. Galleries across the U.S. have featured her photography, and her blog has won two web awards. When she’s not working, she’s hiking or climbing a mountain, traversing a desert, or crawling through a canyon. There’s always another adventure waiting around the next corner.
Rachel Cooper is a freelance writer and author with extensive knowledge of Washington, D.C. and the Mid-Atlantic region. Her books include “60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Washington, D.C.” and “Images of Rail: Union Station in Washington, DC.” Her third book, “Quiet Water Mid-Atlantic: AMC’s Canoe and Kayak Guide to the Best Ponds, Lakes and Easy Rivers,” will be published in 2018. Cooper has written thousands of travel-related articles for regional publications including About.com (now TripSavvy.com), Washingtonian, Montgomery Parks, ApartmentGuide. com, Conde Nast Traveler, Grandparents.com, Washington Parent and more. She especially enjoys outdoor recreation including hiking, biking, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and skiing. To learn more about her writing, visit http://rachelqcooper.com.
Dana Henricks is a freelance editor and writer living in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley of western Montana. She became a freelancer after working as an editor for a textbook publisher in Austin, Texas. Moving to Missoula, Montana, from Austin was a culture shock, and she came close to hightailing it back to Texas until she saw her first cow moose and calf. She evolved into a veritable mountain woman whose greatest passions are fly-fishing, hiking, kayaking, skiing, camping and building her cordwood cabin. In recent years, Henricks has copy edited and proofread numerous outdoor-related books, including Dave Whitlock’s “Artful Profiles of Trout, Char, and Salmon.” Combining her passion for the outdoors with her love of editing has been exquisite, and Henricks is determined to continue blending these two facets of her life.
Growing up in Lynchburg, Tennessee, allowed Ken McBroom many opportunities to go afield as a boy. He served in Operation Desert Storm, his wanderlust took him all over North America, including to Alaska and Canada. Married with two beautiful children, McBroom now calls Kentucky home. He is an avid hunter, angler and cook, and hopes, as an outdoor communicator, to share his adventures and help others pursue their outdoor dreams. McBroom has served as president of Hoosier Outdoor Writers and is owner, contributor, editor and designer of www.ramblingangler. com where you can see more of his adventures. He writes for Game and Fish, Midwest Outdoors, Heartland Outdoors, Tri-State Outdoors and has a cooking column called “Deliciously Outdoors” for Heartland Magazine.
Selene Muldowney is passionate about the outdoors, conservation and marine life. She has years of experience as a writer and marketing consultant which complements her current position as publisher of Scuba & H20 Adventures Magazine. Muldowney volunteers with a number of organizations including the Mt. Baker Council Boy Scouts, The Burned Children Recovery Foundation and the Washington Scuba Alliance.She believes in advocating for small businesses and is the co-founder of the Whidbey Island Small Business Association. She lives with her family on a farm on Whidbey Island, just north of Seattle, surrounded by an amazing assortment of animals.
Denise Semion’s computer and camera gave her opportunities to promote Michigan’s outdoors, including its wildlife, fisheries, woods and parks. Now retired, she worked as a communications specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for five years and as communications manager for the Huron-Clinton Metroparks for 15 years. Her experience includes developing news releases and brochures, social media and email marketing and creating website content and photography. When not in South Lyon or Roscommon, Michigan, she and OWAA member Bill Semion travel in their RV, writing a paid blog for Leisure Travel Vans. She is a member of Michigan Outdoor Writers Association.
Caroline Smith is a native Floridian and grew up on the water fishing, snorkeling and learning about conservation from her father. That love for the ocean evolved into a passion for marine education and capturing Florida’s beauty through her artwork. For the past nine years Smith has run a photography studio in St. Petersburg, Florida, and you can see her work at www. carolineevan.com. She is completing an undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida in environmental science and policy. In between traveling and running her business, she plans to continue telling environmental stories through photojournalism.
Mary West is a public information officer with CAL FIRE. She works for the Nevada Yuba Placer Unit in the foothills of Northern California. When not covering incidents for the unit, she hikes trails. Her bimonthly column “Day Hiker” appears in the Auburn Journal in Auburn, California. She has seen fire devastate a landscape and she tries to capture the ridgetops and canyons in their glory before they are gone and encourages others to do the same. West hikes the trails of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and their foothills with her husband Micah, sons Canyon and Ocean, their faithful dog Stella, and many friends.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 23:59:45 +0000

Nancy Cowan’s interest in sled dogs led to years of writing publicity for races and clubs, freelance writing for northern dog publications and magazines and self-publishing six books of her own on the subject. Her writing about dogs and raptors working together in falconry won awards from the Dog Writers Association of America and New England Outdoor Writers Association. A master falconer and a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, in 2005 she established the New Hampshire School of Falconry, now an internationally known facility. She has consulted for conservation organizations and agencies. Her book “Peregrine Spring” made the New York Times Best Seller List in September. Cowan lives in Deering, New Hampshire, with her husband, falconer Jim Cowan, three pointing dogs, six falcons and five hawks.
Jason Klass has been fly-fishing for bass, trout, salmon, lake trout, steelhead and various saltwater species since he was 15 years old. Originally from Western New York, he now resides in Colorado where he fishes for trout in the Rocky Mountains. In 2009, he became an early adopter of tenkara (a traditional form of Japanese fly-fishing that doesn’t use a reel) and has authored the blog Tenkara Talk ever since. With more than 500 posts and 5,000 comments, it’s one of the most active and authoritative resources for the modern tenkara angler. He’s also an avid hiker, backpacker and snowshoer, and previously wrote the blog Gear Talk, which is still one of the most prolific websites on ultralight backpacking.
Liam Diekmann is a junior at Bozeman High School in Bozeman, Montana. He is a member of the Bridger Ski Foundation competitive Nordic ski team. He enjoys writing about outdoor- and conservation-related topics, especially fishing. His father taught him how to fly-fish when he was 5 years old. In his spare time, when he isn’t fishing or skiing, he enjoys photography. Diekmann plans to take a gap year after high school to write, fish and ski as much as he can. Following his gap year he plans to attend college to study conservation and environmental sciences.
At a young age, Jacob R. Lutes showed interest in following in his father’s footsteps, hunting and fishing the territories of north-central Missouri. Once his family moved to a small farm just outside of town, his passion for the great outdoors was met by the venture of showing Angus cattle. From then on, summer vacations consisted of annual trips to the state fair and national Angus shows all over the country. Lutes went on to earn a degree in higher education, where he developed a passion for photography. He is currently a senior at Missouri Western State University studying photography. He is determined to find a way to overlap his passion for photography and the exploration of the great outdoors. He believes the next few years will be important stepping stones in his life and that his headstrong way of thinking and determination will lead him on a path that will change the lives of all whom he encounters.
Tyler Frantz is a hunter, angler and freelance communicator who lives for the outdoors. As comfortable in his favorite archery stand as he is in his home office, he strives to bring his writing, photography and videos to life so his audience can experience the thrill of the hunt along with him. A teacher by trade, Frantz takes great pride in providing a workingman’s approach toward print and digital media, which resonates with his diverse readership. Sharing the outdoors with the public is his passion. He tallied exactly 205 published pieces last year in addition to his day job. He has won more than a dozen awards for his work from various writing organizations and harvested countless trophies, though his greatest prizes are his wife Erin and son Foster, with whom he lives on a hobby farm in Pennsylvania. Visit www.naturalpursuitoutdoors.com for more information about Frantz.
Jeff Moore is an outdoor photographer who specializes in waterfowl hunting, gun dogs, decoys and wildfowl. You can see his work at jeffmooreimages.net. He delivers images depicting the inherent drama of the sport and a full understanding of those who hunt. They have appeared in a myriad of outdoor magazines. In 2016, his photograph of a retriever dragging a goose appeared in Ducks Unlimited magazine and was a finalist for the Black and White Spider International Photo Awards. In 2014, Sotheby’s used his photos to sell one of the most expensive decoys ever. Moore’s picture of an eider decoy was chosen for the cover of Robert Shaw’s book “Bird Decoys of North America.”
Michael R. Shea is a writer, editor and video producer with frequent work in Field & Stream, Petersen’s Hunting, New Pioneer and American Frontiersman. He is a contributing editor at Field & Stream and previously served as the special projects editor for Field & Stream, and as a video editor for both Field & Stream and Outdoor Life. He also serves as the Atlantic Flyway migration editor for Ducks Unlimited. Behind the scenes, Shea creates regular corporate communications content, specializing in science, security and biotechnology. He is a graduate of the writing program at Columbia University with a master’s degree in nonfiction. Prior to Columbia he was a staff reporter at the Modesto Bee and the Beaufort Gazette. When he’s not tweaking sentences or cutting video, you can usually find him in a bow stand or duck blind or working his start-up hobby farm in central New York State.
David Van Wie is a writer, photographer and renaissance fly-fisherman who lives in New Gloucester, Maine. In addition to his monthly column in The Maine Sportsman, his writing has appeared in Northern Woodlands magazine and several newspapers. Van Wie was lead author of “The Confluence – A Collection of Essays, Art & Tall Tales about Fly-fishing and Friendship,” published in 2016. After a 30-year career in environmental consulting and public policy, he now teaches environmental studies at the University of New England. He previously was director of the Maine Bureau of Land & Water Quality, and later served in the Maine House of Representatives where he was on the Utilities and Energy Committee. He has been married to Cheryl Bascomb for 32 years, and his son and daughter have grown and flown the coop. You can find out more on his website and blog at www.watchyourbackcast.com.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 23:44:22 +0000

The post Welcome to OWAA appeared first on Outdoor Writers Association of America.

Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 00:30:29 +0000

Will Cooper was born and raised near the sandy beaches of Southern California. At a young age he developed a passion for exploration — from hiking into storm tunnels as a child to running 100-mile mountain races around the world. Cooper earned his bachelor’s degree from American University’s School of International Service. He is the CEO of a national real estate company and serves as board member for several trade organizations dealing with legislation and federal policy affecting the environment. An avid runner and writer, he has completed over 30 ultra-marathons, including the Grand Slam of ultra-running — four 100-mile races over the course of one summer. He narrates his journey as an ultra-runner and outdoorsman in his unabashed running blog, willrunlonger.com. Cooper’s work has been published in print and digital media and includes inspirational articles, interviews with best-selling authors and his candid opinion on all things running and beyond.
Keith Crowley is a full-time outdoor writer and photographer based in western Wisconsin. He travels extensively each year and you’re as likely to find him on an Alaskan salmon stream as you are a mountainside in Wyoming, or in a mangrove swamp in Florida. You can find his work in Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Sporting Classics, Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited magazine, Bugle, Petersen’s Hunting, American Hunter, Defenders of Wildlife magazine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, Newsweek, the London Times, Paris Match, the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, the Daily Register and many other national and international publications. He has authored two books: the award-winning “Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter” and “Wildlife in the Badlands.” His work is also in several anthologies, including “A Passion for Grouse.” His primary website is http://www.lodgetrail.com.
Joel M. Herrling is a freelance writer and lifelong outdoorsman, from upstate New York. He got his start writing about college lacrosse for a school paper in 2002. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences, he went into sportswriting at a local newspaper. Recently, he rediscovered his passion for writing and has been focusing on the outdoors and writing ever since. His articles have appeared in North American Whitetail, American Waterfowler and other magazines. He also enjoys composing poetry about waterfowl hunting. When he isn’t writing or working, he is teaching his young children about the importance of agriculture and respect for the outdoors. Herrling is completing his debut novel, which he hopes to have published in 2017.
Bruce Ingram of Troutville, Virginia, has been an outdoor writer and photographer since 1983. Ingram regularly writes for Turkey Country, Quality Whitetails, Whitetail Times, Virginia Wildlife, Game and Fish publications, Wildlife in North Carolina and other publications. Ingram and his wife Elaine also have a cooking column, celebrating venison, for Whitetail Times. Besides hunting and fishing stories, Ingram often writes about conservation, wildlife habitat and destinations. Ingram has written seven books, including four on floating and fishing such rivers as the James, New, Shenandoah, Rappahannock and Potomac, as well as a how-to book on fly and spin fishing for river smallmouths, and his latest book, co-written with his wife, “Living the Locavore Lifestyle.” His seventh book, “Ninth Grade Blues,” is young adult story that will debut in September. Ingram is also a high school English teacher. For more information, https://sites.google.com/site/bruceingramoutdoors.
Mark Lassagne, from San Ramon, California, is a popular professional bass angler, former United States Marine, outdoor writer, guide, promoter and top competitor. He is also the editor-in-chief of Bass Angler Magazine. Throughout his career as an angler, he’s qualified for numerous regional and national events and won several. Lassagne has published articles on websites and in numerous magazines, including Game & Fish magazines, BassWestUSA, Bassin’, American Bass Angler magazine, FLW Outdoors, Rabid Angler, Fish Sniffer, Field & Stream, Western Bass, Tackle Tour and others.
Lukas Leaf is an avid, passionate outdoorsman and chef born and raised in Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2005 with a bachelor’s of science in graphic design. Leaf was formerly executive chef at Al Vento restaurant in south Minneapolis and is now the chef for Modern Carnivore and a board member of the Minnesota Chapter for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. His father first introduced him to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness when Leaf was 13. Since that first trip he has had the privilege to introduce many people to the beauty of the Boundary Waters through numerous camping and fishing trips. He spends his free time fishing, foraging, hunting, camping and cooking his way through the great Minnesota outdoors. Leaf now works as the sporting outreach coordinator for Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters and has appeared in its two films, “Fish Out of Water” and “Flush in the Wild.”
Mark Neuzil is a professor of communication and journalism at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author or co-author of seven books, including “Canoes: A Natural History in North America” and a frequent writer and speaker on environmental themes. He has worked as a reporter for the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, the Associated Press and several daily newspapers. A former summer state park ranger and licensed U.S. Forest Service guide, he has reported from across the globe, including Cuba, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Costa Rica. He lives in St. Paul.
Omelets and ducks — those were the two staples every winter for Garrett Turner growing up in Osceola, Missouri. His father taught him the importance of hunting waterfowl, and folded eggs. That passion grew and branched out to all things outdoors. Turner now resides in Roanoke, Virginia where he is an anchor and reporter for WDBJ-TV. His “work” takes him into the Appalachian Mountains covering hunting, fishing and hiking. Before coming to Virginia, he was in Alaska for three years, a wild place where, among other things, Turner worked on the Iditarod Race and witnessed the largest caribou migration in North America in a small cabin in the middle of the Arctic Circle. Turner is always up for an adventure, especially if it’s wife and dog friendly.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 16:35:57 +0000

Unable to choose between art and science, Rachel Cramer pursued a degree in biological and pre-medical illustration at Iowa State University. She trained in traditional illustration mediums like graphite, ink and oil paint, but an internship in the exhibition department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City introduced her to a variety of materials and techniques to create three-dimensional figures. Her professional experience has focused on sustainable agriculture and science communication and she continues to produce art. While working at the Science Center of Iowa, she created a series of wildlife illustrations for an educational dome theater program called Bump in the Night, and during her Princeton in Asia Fellowship in Sri Lanka, she designed numerous infographics and posters for the International Water Management Institute. She is currently working on a master’s degree in environmental studies and freelancing on the side.
As a National Park Service ranger, Mark Kaufman educated a curious public about natural wonders and culturally significant places like Katmai National Park, where brown bears outnumber people, or Alcatraz Island, where a century-old prison sits atop a Civil War fortress. Ensuring that masses of humans did not collide with summer bears was certainly an important duty, however, Kaufman’s interest in natural education graduated to journalism, and today he finds himself in New York University’s science, health and environmental reporting program. He writes about planetary science, space, culture and evolution. Kept busy by a world burgeoning with scientific novelty and an Earth that refuses to stop evolving, Kaufman plans to develop stories and documentaries about these topics for many more rotations around our star.
Andy Long is an award-winning photographer and writer with more than 35 years of experience. Having started shooting sports at newspapers and magazines, he has concentrated on wildlife and outdoors for about 27 years. He is a columnist for Nature Photographer magazine and a featured writer for apogeephoto.com. He has written several e-books and currently has a book on the northern lights in the printing process. His photography has graced the pages of many magazines, books and calendars covering a wide range of topics and locations around the world. As a leader of international photo workshops since 1992, he likes to introduce photographers to new and interesting places, passing on what makes the place so special and what challenges it faces. His programs stress wildlife and landscape diversity and how people can help protect these special areas.
Skip Stover is a newcomer to the outdoor writing community. He recently enrolled in The North American School of Outdoor Writing. Stover holds degrees in administration of justice and parks and recreation. He’s worked as a salmon charter boat deckhand and as an elk field rehabilitation specialist, experiences which add to his writing. While spending 36 years as an adult probation officer, Stover cultivated his love of the outdoors by spending many hours on the water, in the field and applying his knowledge to valuable endeavors. Stover wrote the first court-implemented probation conditions for big game violators and videotaped night deer decoy surveillance for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. He’s guided hunting trips for 12 years for Hidden Ranch Outfitters.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 17:44:40 +0000

Kim Dinan is a freelance writer and blogger. Her work has appeared in Northwest Travel Magazine, OnTrak Magazine and Parks and Recreation Magazine, among others. In 2014, Dinan and her husband were hired by Backpacker Magazine’s Get Out More Tour and hiked and camped their way around the U.S. while delivering presentations about the outdoors along the way. Her blog was named one of the best outdoor blogs by USA Today, and Sourcebooks will publish her forthcoming travel and adventure memoir, “The Yellow Envelope,” in April 2017. A general outdoors junkie, she has been lucky enough to hike and backpack all over the world. You can find her online at www.so-many-places.com.
Debbie Hanson is a freelance writer based in Fort Myers, Florida. Her work, which focuses on freshwater and saltwater fishing, has been featured in publications such as Florida Game & Fish magazine, USA Today Hunt & Fish, BoatUS Magazine and Times of the Islands Magazine. You can read her weekly angling-related blog posts at TakeMeFishing.org and visit her personal blog at Shefishes2.com. She graduated magna cum laude from Western Illinois University in English and journalism. Connect with Hanson on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/debbiehanson or via Twitter @shefishes2.
Ryan Hughes is a lifelong hunter, fly-angler and surfer from Santa Rosa, California. He is 21 years old and a senior at the University of Nevada, Reno, studying journalism. His passion for outdoor writing was sparked at the beginning of his freshman year of college, while working on his associate’s degree in social and behavioral science at Santa Rosa Junior College. He began writing stories of his hunting adventures and sending them to friends and family. Meanwhile he spent his days off surfing and hunting with a bow, rifle, or spear-gun. After transferring to Nevada, Hughes decided to pursue his passion for writing by studying journalism and has landed various writing jobs like working for liveoutdoors.com and freelance writing for several publications. Recently he had the opportunity to write as an intern with theinertia.com, in Boise, Idaho.
Jim Mosher is a retired natural resource and wildlife ecologist. He grew up in and around New York’s Adirondack Mountains. Following graduate school, he spent considerable time in the Intermountain West and on Alaska’s North Slope. He taught in the University of Maryland’s wildlife management program before managing nonprofit conservation organizations. He served as the Isaak Walton League of America’s conservation director and as executive director and board member of the North American Grouse Partnership and the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. He served a two-year appointment as deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Interior’s Fish, Wildlife & Parks Division. Mosher is an upland bird hunter and an avid sailor. He has cruised coastal waters from New York to Key West. His writing and photographs have appeared in Outdoor America magazine, Grouse Partnership News, Spinsheet and the Bay Journal. He maintains a personal blog at www.chesapeaketidings.com.
Charlotte Orr is a graduate student at San Jose State University, where she studies journalism and mass communications. Her specialty and passion is working on environmental campaigns. Orr spent about five years working for Tuleyome, a northern California conservation organization. There she managed media and communications for the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument campaign, which was successfully designated by President Obama in 2015. This year, Orr spent her summer interning at The Wilderness Society in Seattle, where she provided communications support for several campaigns and conservation efforts in the Pacific Northwest. She is hoping to complete her master’s degree in December 2016.
John Pickles is a wildlife, nature and travel photographer. He has photographed in the U.S., Canada and Mexico and made extended trips to China, India and Iceland. He won first grand prize and best of contest awards in the Valley Land Fund and Coastal Bend wildlife photo contests in Texas. Pickles leads photo tours to Alaska, Iceland, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and guides photographers on south Texas ranches. He is active in the New Orleans area in photography-related organizations, is a certified Louisiana Master Naturalist and conducts photography classes. His publishing credits include Nature’s Best Photography magazine, Ranger Rick, My Big Back Yard, Trailer Life, Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine and books produced by the Valley Land Fund and Coastal Bend wildlife photo contest. His images are represented by the Alamy stock agency. His photo essay “Sundance” is in the ibooks store. His website is www.voyagerphotography.com.
Mike Rice grew up hunting, fishing, skiing and climbing in the mountains of northern New England. After spending his first 30-plus years following the jack-of-all-trades career program, he located to Boston’s south shore where he was introduced saltwater fly-fishing. In 2000 he started Mud Dog Saltwater Flies as a “full-time part-time” side business and has been tying flies for east coast fly shops and guides since. Rice wrote regularly for the now defunct Fly-fishing New England and Flyfishing Mid-Atlantic States magazines, has given presentations and tying lessons at fly shops and fishing clubs and is an ambassador for the American Museum of Fly Fishing. In 2013 he started his blog, http://backwaterflats.blogspot.com/ to tell the stories of the people, places and fish he encounters on the water. He looks forward to creating new relationships through the OWAA and developing his writing abilities and opportunities.
Since Lynn Starnes was a child with a Brownie camera, she has taken photographs of everyday moments. The difference is her everyday world is wilder than that of most Americans. She gets the most pleasure from tracking and photographing animals with a camera in their most calm, intimate moments. Starnes’ life work is a combination of aquatic ecology, in which she has a degree, and documenting that world in photographs. She worked for 38 years as a fisheries and wildlife biologist in a number of federal agencies. This academic background afforded her access to a wide variety of animals and habitats. She has tagged and released animals, conducted research, written peer-reviewed articles and managed programs conserving and enhancing animals and their habitat. She dedicated her life to wildlife and its habitat and continues in retirement. She feels more comfortable in the woods than in any city. She currently sells her photography in her gallery and on her website www.greatwildlifephotos.com.
Mary Terra-Berns is a biologist and freelance writer with a master’s degree in fish and wildlife sciences from Texas A&M University. She has worked on a variety of research and management projects focusing on rare species such as wolverines, Canada lynx, red-cockaded woodpeckers and many other species. As the environmental staff biologist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Panhandle Region, she was the primary technical writer and worked with other agencies and the public on wide ranging and complex land use issues. Terra-Berns has published several articles in Sandpoint Magazine, Bonners Ferry Living Local magazine and Idaho Game Warden Magazine. She’s also written numerous technical documents. As often as possible she is outside hiking, fly-fishing, running, biking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and traveling.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 00:44:31 +0000

New Members

Bob Baldwin became an avid bowhunter at 12 years old. He founded bowhuntinginfo.com in 1998. It was one of the earliest websites dedicated to archery. Baldwin’s goal is to get closer to wildlife, something bowhunting allows. He also takes photographs and video of wild game. Baldwin loves telling stories around a campfire. He is collaborating with his huntin’ buddy, Jay Ledbetter, to chronicle some of their hunting escapades through their website Bob N’ Jay Adventures. There is a kernel of truth to all their stories — some of the things that happen when hunting with good buddies just can’t be made up, but according to Baldwin, any embellishments are solely the responsibility of Ledbetter. Baldwin lives with his bride of 45 years in the state of Michigan.

Dacia Meneguzzo was born and raised in upper Michigan’s rugged and beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula. Her love of the outdoors led her to study forestry at Michigan Technological University. A job with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service brought her to Minnesota. She earned a master’s degree in natural resources science and management at the University of Minnesota where she is currently a doctoral candidate in the same program. While working as a research forester with the U.S. Forest Service, she created presentations and wrote a variety of reports, papers and scientific journal articles on forestry-related research and natural resource issues. She is an avid bowhunter and spends most of her vacation time hanging out in a tree. Her love of outdoor adventures, photography and writing prompted her to create www.daciaadventuress.com where she shares photos and blogs about her outdoor experiences.

Bobby Whitescarver is a watershed restoration scientist, farmer, award-winning writer and educator. He retired from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service with 31 years of field experience. He and his wife run a commercial cow calf operation in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with 120 brood cows. He is president of Whitescarver Natural Resources Management LLC, an environmental consulting firm, and is under contract with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Bay Journal News Service. He teaches natural resource management at James Madison University and is a freelance writer. He has written for Virginia Wildlife Magazine, the Bay Journal and several newspapers throughout the country. He has a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree from James Madison University in public administration. In 2002, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation chose him as the Conservationist of the Year. He can be reached through his website at http://www.gettingmoreontheground.com.

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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 17:47:59 +0000

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Lisa Baril is a writer and wildlife biologist living and working in Yellowstone National Park. She earned a degree in biology from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2000, then spent the next five years traveling throughout the United States and Central America to see what biologists really did for a living. In 2005 she took the best gig ever— monitoring songbirds in Yellowstone National Park. Although she only planned to stay for the summer, the northern Rockies captured her imagination like no other place. In 2009 she earned a master’s degree from Montana State University, then moved up the food chain with her research on birds of prey. More recently, her passion for conservation and wildlife has taken her in a new direction — writing about science, nature and life in the American West. Visit her website http://www.lisabaril.com/.
Amy Bulger is a freelance writer, editor and photographer and the assistant editor at Bugle magazine with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, who recently traded the urban wilderness of Denver for an acre in western Montana. She landed in journalism after a curmudgeonly professor thought her history paper too well written to be her own. “If this is how you write, then you’re a writer,” he said. She changed her major and spent 14 years as a daily newspaper reporter, editor, online manager, copy editor and designer. In 2010, she migrated to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, redesigning and editing hunting and fishing regulation brochures and becoming associate editor of Colorado Outdoors. Her projects currently focus on women’s hunting, conservation, wildlife crimes, ungulates and upland birds. She speaks fluent government and six years ago suffered a bad case of adult-onset hunting, for which she’s purchased new chest freezers and firearms.
Sinjin Eberle believes that open spaces, wild landscapes and flowing rivers deserve all the respect and reverence we can possibly afford them. With that in mind, he enthusiastically pursues his role with American Rivers (www.AmericanRivers.org) as the Intermountain West communications director. With a degree in environmental science from Ball State, and an extensive background in white-water rafting, mountain biking, mountaineering and mountain rescue, exploration of the outdoors is paramount to who he is. Primarily a writer, photographer and executive producer of short films, Eberle is also versed in broad conservation issues of the Colorado Basin and the West, particularly water supply issues and protection of the Colorado River itself. Driving communications and advocacy across the West is a thrilling and consuming adventure, and one met with optimism and gusto. Eberle lives in Durango, Colorado, and jots random thoughts at www.ridesandrivers.com
Bridget Hawkins is an aspiring outdoor professional with a passion for adventure writing and photography. As a student at West Virginia University, she has combined her interests in the outdoors and journalism with her dual degrees in strategic communications and recreation, parks and tourism resources. She currently works as a student leader for the university’s outdoor program, Adventure WV, where she introduces students to West Virginia’s wilderness and recreational areas by taking them backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking and white-water rafting. Throughout her college career, Hawkins’ passion for outdoor writing and photography has taken her across the nation, to places like Appalachia, Grand Teton National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Big Bend National Park, the Guadalupe Mountains and the canyon lands of Utah. She plans to continue her writing and outdoor pursuits by advocating for youth engagement in the outdoors.
Mark H. Kelly is the public relations manager for Lodge Manufacturing Company in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. His duties include media relations, acting as company liaison with independent chefs and producing the Lodge cookbooks. In addition to OWAA, Kelly is a member of the Southern Foodways Alliance and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. In recent years, Kelly was the co-editor of two best-selling cookbooks, “The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook” and “Lodge Cast Iron Nation Cookbook.” In 2013, he self-published “Gone Off with the Angels: Christ-mas Stories of Golden Love,” a memoir about his son, Benjamin-Hayes Kelly, who passed away in 1999 after a two-year struggle with leukemia. An award-winning journalist, Kelly’s work has been published in Georgia Trend Magazine, Lake Oconee Living magazine, Taste of the South magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen magazine and Savannah Morning News-Evening Press. A graduate of Georgia Southern University, Kelly lives in Jasper, Tennessee.
Katy Schaffer grew up outdoors, running on beaches, climbing trees and hiking up mountains. Raised among the diverse wildlife of South Texas, she moved to Austin in 2011 to pursue journalism at the University of Texas for one purpose: to combine her love of storytelling with her passion for anything outdoors. Now, as a full-time information specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Schaffer has the opportunity to help tell the story of the great Texas outdoors. Drawing on her own experience as a young explorer, Schaffer has produced several photo stories, news releases and magazine stories for the department about outdoor recreation and natural and cultural resources conservation. She hopes she can inspire other young Texans to go outside and explore, pursuing any adventure that surely awaits.
Kim Campbell Thornton specializes in writing about dogs, cats, wildlife and marine life. Her work has appeared on MSNBC.com, Vetstreet.comand in Sea Magazine, Consumers Digest and numerous pet-related publications. Her weekly syndicated column, “Pet Connection,” appears online and in newspapers across the country. She loves to travel, and one of her favorite memories is watching shooting stars from her sleeping bag in the NamibRand Desert. This year’s planned destinations are Mongolia and the Outer Hebrides. When she’s not writing or traveling, she is reading, hiking, stand-up paddleboarding off the coast of Laguna Beach, mountain biking, scuba diving, or competing in nose work trials with Harper, a Cavalier King Charles spaniel.
David Zoby’s creative nonfiction has appeared in Ninth Letter, The Sun Magazine, Gray’s Sporting Journal, American Angler, Fourth Genre, The Nervous Breakdown and the Missouri Review. Last year he won the Jeffery Smith Prize at The Missouri Review. He publishes outdoor articles in The Flyfish Journal, Retriever Journal, Fish Alaska, Bugle and others. A lifelong waterfowl hunter and fly-fisherman, Zoby lives in Casper, Wyoming. He keeps a lively fishing blog at davezoby.com.
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Welcome to OWAA

OWAA Developer — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 06:35:39 +0000

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Dr. Peter Brookes escapes his Washington, D.C. “think tank” job in foreign policy to America’s woods and waters as often as possible to partake of Mother Nature’s bounty and write about it. (Considering international politics, one must do what one can to preserve one’s sanity.) As a part-time, freelance scribbler, his writings on the great outdoors have found a home with the Northern Virginia Daily, an award winning Shenandoah Valley newspaper where he’s written on topics from bonefishing in Hawaii, to rabbit hunting with beagles in Virginia. A prolific commentator on foreign policy, Brookes has made more than 3,000 TV and radio appearances, published more than 500 op-eds and articles and one book. He’s a graduate of Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University and the U.S. Naval Academy.
Mark Johnson grew up hunting and fishing on his family’s Christmas tree farm in the rural Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. After a 10-year stint as assistant editor of a statewide agricultural publication in Tennessee, Johnson became communications director for the 70-year-old Tennessee Wildlife Federation in 2013. In addition to editing the organization’s magazine, Tennessee Out-of-Doors, Johnson directs e-marketing, social media, media relations and other communications needs. In early 2015, he created a public education campaign — “Tennessee’s Wildlife is YOUR Wildlife” — based on the public trust tenet of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Johnson lives in the middle Tennessee community of Kingston Springs with his wife, Holly, and the couple’s three children, Sam, 14; Ava, 13; and Pete, 8.
The adventures and grandeur of the mountains and the serenity of early mornings overlooking his favorite whitetail woods, drives Cody Metz’s creative passion for outdoor media. Metz entered the outdoor industry through a hunting-based television show that crafted his videography skills over a five year period. After writing his first published article in North American Whitetail, he quickly realized he wanted to spend more time and effort on the writing and photography side of media. He created his blog when he started submitting freelance articles to outdoor magazines. The blog has now become a point of focus not only for marketing his writing, but marketing key partners in the outdoor industry. While Metz is new to this industry, specifically the literature side, he is looking forward to the opportunities to not only grow his writing abilities, but also his list of outdoor friends through OWAA. You can find his work at www.calculatedsavage.com.
Benjamin Alva Polley is currently in the environmental sciences and natural resource journalism program at the University of Montana. His work has been published in Lake Superior Magazine, Whitefish Review, Written Rive magazine, Black Heart Magazine, Flathead Living magazine, Montana Headwall and in other publications. He is an associate editor of the Whitefish Review.
Krista Schlyer is a photographer and writer living in Mount Rainier, Maryland. Her work, which focuses on wildlife, natural history and conservation, has been published by BBC, The Nature Conservancy, High Country News, National Parks and Sierra. Schlyer is the author of three books including “Continental Divide: Wildlife, People and the Border Wall,” a winner of the 2013 National Outdoor Book Award. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography and the 2015 Vision Award, from the North American Nature Photographers Association. Schlyer’s newest book, “Almost Anywhere: Road Trip Ruminations on Love, Nature, National Parks and Nonsense,” recently released by Skyhorse Publishing, chronicles a journey that begins in a small Kansas town and culminates in America’s National Park System.
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