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Core Instructors
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Adam Lieberg |
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Melanie Parker |
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Andrea Stephens |
Guest Instructors
A diversity of guest speakers round out the instructional staff for our field programs. Swan Valley community members, local and regional biologists, agency personnel, business owners and environmentalists serve as speakers, hosts and guides. All of our speakers contribute to our field programs through their deep knowledge of the region's ecology, economy and community.
The following is a sampling of some of the speakers students will meet during Wildife in the West.
Claire Emery—Claire is an artist, naturalist and educator from Missoula, Montana. Her work focuses on illuminating Montana’s natural and cultural heritage, and on honoring all life’s struggle for sustenance and meaning. She runs a freelance illustration business focused on natural science illustration and joins L&L students to help develop field journaling skills.
John Ingebretson—John is the Assistant Fire Management Officer and Fuels Specialist for the Flathead National Forest. He has worked in fire management with the US Forest Service for 25 years and is the current Fuel Planner on the Swan Lake Ranger District. John has extensive experience in collaboration and partnerships for fuel reduction projects on, and adjacent to, National Forest System Lands.
Neil & Dixie Meyer—Neil and Dixie have lived in the Swan Valley for past 53 years and own 350 acres where they raised their family. Neil has been a logger all of his working life and was on the board of the Montana Logging Association. Dixie continues to raise cattle on the property, puts hay up each year, and is the fastest female firewood splitter in the valley. They are active community members.
Greg Neudecker—Greg has been the Assistant State Coordinator for the Montana Partnership for Fish and Wildlife Program, a program of the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the past 12 year and has worked for USFWS for 20 years. Greg has been involvement with the Blackfoot Challenge ---a landowner-based group that coordinates management of the Blackfoot River, its tributaries, and adjacent lands---since 1993. For the past seven years Greg has served as Vice Chair of the Blackfoot Challenge and has engaged in diverse habitat restoration projects in the Blackfoot Valley.
Mark Ruby – Mark has worked as the Swan Valley Bear Ranger and with Swan Valley Bear Resources helping to manage bear and human conflicts in the Swan.
Jeff Stetz – Jeff is the Assistant Project Leader with the Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project.
Scott Tomson—Scott has been the Wildlife Biologist for the Seeley Lake and Missoula Ranger Districts on the Lolo National Forest since 2001 and has researched a variety of species including pine marten, lynx, wolverine and bears with private, state and federal agencies. Scott owns his own sawmill in Seeley Lake.
Zach Wallace – Zach has worked the last several winter field seasons as a field technician for the Rocky Mountain Research Station on an ongoing lynx study. He works out of the Spotted Bear area in the Bob Marshall using telemetry and trapping skills to locate and radio collar lynx.
Alan Wood—Alan was the first permanent wildlife biologist for the Montana state forestry office and Conservation and helped craft a management plan for 700,000 acres of state forestland. For the last 14 years, Alan has worked for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks managing a program designed to mitigate the impacts of hydropower facilities on wildlife in NW Montana.
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