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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