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Maureen Bookwalter is Program Director for Northwest Connections. Maureen received her Master’s of Science from the University of Montana’s Environmental Studies Program in 2004. Her graduate work focused on the divestment of corporate timberlands and the conservation strategies being utilized to maintain rural landscapes and working forests. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked for various government agencies (USGS, USFS, NPS, Nez Perce Tribe) as a seasonal biologist and field technician. Her passion in the conservation field lies with protecting rural places – working towards balanced solutions that sustain the natural resources while simultaneously sustaining local economies and protecting rural culture. Maureen grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of New York and has lived in Montana for 12 years. Although happy doing any outdoor activity, she can most often be found on long trail runs with her dog Lewis.
mo@northwestconnections.org
Grace Burgess
Grace is the Office Manager for Northwest Connections. She was born in North Carolina and lived in Virginia until she moved to Condon with her husband in May of 2005. She has three grown children and two grandsons. She enjoys her church and riding her horse.
grace@northwestconnections.org
Erika Edgley
Erika received her M.S. in environmental studies from the University of Montana in May, 2010. At UM she studyed environmental writing and sustainable food and farming with a focus on wildlife. Erika grew up on a potato farm in Lake Placid, New York and attributes her sense of place and passion for wildness to the Adirondack Mountains where her family has lived for over five generations. Prior to becoming Northwest Connections' Education Coordinator, Erika worked for Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks on the Gray Wolf Conservation Project. Working on the Gray Wolf Project was the basis for her M.S. Portfolio entitled, Wolf Management in Montana: Policy, Citizen Participation, and Notes from the Field. Erika has lived in Montana for three years and enjoys photography, hiking and cross country skiing in the Swan Valley with her dog, Hazel.
erika@northwestconnections.org
Tiger and Deb Hulett
Tiger is a third generation logger from the Swan Valley who has an intimate understanding of wildlife and habitat linkages. Tiger, and his wife Deb, both work with Northwest Connections in the Winter and Spring, tracking carnivores and setting up remote camera sets for grizzly bears. When they're not working, they enjoy spending time with their three boys, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling and horse packing in the mountains.
Steve is Northwest Connection’s Program Manager. He has a B.S. in Outdoor Recreation from Murray State University. Steve has worked for the Forest Service for 17 seasons as a forestry technician and backcountry ranger. He has also worked as an outdoor instructor and guide for 12 seasons, is a rustic furniture craftsman and local history buff, recently completing a book on Swan Valley place names. Steve has worked for Northwest Connections as an instructor and field assistant on grizzly bear DNA and whitebark pine research projects.
steve@northwestconnections.org
Adam has spent the last 6 years sharing his time between the Swan Valley, Blackfoot Valley, and Missoula. While completing his undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, Adam was also busy taking courses, interning, and eventually instructing for Northwest Connection. Both a Winter Field Studies and Landscape and Livelihood alumni, he is now Project Coordinator for Northwest Connections. Adam also spends a good deal of time working for the University of Montana’s Division of Biological Studies as the lead field technician on a long-term predator, small mammal, and vegetation research project in the Blackfoot Valley. Adam has a passion for studying the natural world and enjoys teaching natural history to people of all ages.
adam@northwestconnections.org
Jessie Lund
Jessie is the Outreach Coordinator and has contributed to Northwest Connections' field projects since 2001. Jessie has a B.S. in biology, and a B.A. in philosophy from Rocky Mountain College. When she is not working, she is likely to be found outside, hiking, biking, or horseback riding. Jessie volunteers with the local ambulance as an NR-EMT, and is a member of Missoula County Search and Rescue. One of her greatest undertakings has been the training of two Search and Rescue dogs.
jessie@northwestconnections.org
Susan Novosel
Susan, Northwest Connections' Marketing Coordinator, traded in her fast-paced advertising career for an idyllic life in the Swan Valley. She enjoys hiking and dog sledding.
susan@northwestconnections.org
Melanie Parker is co-founder and Executive Director of Northwest Connections. Melanie graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Science. She attained a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana in 1997. Melanie has taught field-based ecology courses for twenty years, and has worked in a wide diversity of outdoor jobs including backcountry ranger, wilderness guide and field ecologist.
Melanie is an active spokesperson for place-based collaborative conservation. She has a strong reputation as someone who can bring people with diverse interests together and craft a solution that benefits both people and land. Melanie facilitates the Swan Valley Coordinating Committee, a group that includes state and federal agencies, local government, as well as local and regional non-profits to coordinate conservation and restoration work. She is also the current chair of the Swan Valley Elementary School Board of Trustees.
Melanie grew up in Arizona and has always been an avid outdoors person. She and her husband Tom Parker now have two small children, Kyra and John, whom she hopes to instill with a similar love for nature.
melanie@northwestconnections.org
Tom has been an outfitter and guide based in the Swan Valley and surrounding wilderness areas for over 30 years (visit www.buckcreekguideservice.com). 
His intimate knowledge of the Swan Valley landscape and its ecology has garnered a wide array of respect from citizens, scientists and activists in the region, the state and the country. Whether he is guiding hunters, teaching students or leading natural history outings, Tom's respect and appreciation for natural systems is apparent and contagious.
Tom is Northwest Connections' Conservation Specialist.
tom@northwestconnections.org
Andrea has devoted more than twenty years to teaching field ecology and natural history, particularly of aquatic systems. She has spent many seasons leading volunteer crews on watershed monitoring and trail work projects around western Montana. Andrea earned a Master's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a Bachelor's degree in Natural Science and Geology from the University of Puget Sound. She has worked for Northwest Connections for ten years and currently serves as the Watershed Stewardship Specialist, in addition to teaching the Watershed Dynamics course for Landscape and Livelihood Field Semester. Andrea and her husband are busy raising two daughters a stone's throw from Rattlesnake Creek.
andrea@northwestconnections.org
Mike Stevenson
Mike, a native Montanan and long time trapper in the Swan Valley and Bob Marshall Wilderness, also has a firm grasp of the site specific ecology of several of our threatened and endangered species. Mike works as a master woodworker and building contractor, and contributes to Northwest Connections' monitoring and education programs part time. Mike enjoys journeying across the mountains to the Blackfoot Indian Reservation where both he spends time with family and old friends.
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