Course Leaders
Forests of the Far North - Exploring the Border Lakes
July 14-21, 2012: Ely, Minnesota
Chris Williams with Dog.
Chris Williams, Course Host and Organizer
Chris Williams was born on a farm in central Ohio where she first learned her love of nature. Her parents also owned a remote island in Canada and between that, the farm, and yearly pilgrimages to old Florida, she developed a deep affinity for Earth in all her diversity. With an undergraduate degree in Botany/Geology and masters work in Environmental Education, she was set to pursue a career in the outdoors. Hired by the Ohio State Parks as a summer naturalist in the early '70s, she found a career choice and the lifelong passion of experiencing nature first hand while sharing that love and knowledge with others. The state park naturalist mantra in Ohio in those days was '...through knowledge comes understanding, and through understanding comes appreciation' and that has been a thread through Chris' personal and professional life. She left the state park system as Chief Naturalist in the mid '90s to raise and homeschool her two children.
Chris, her husband, and children now live in the boreal forest of extreme northeastern Minnesota, reliving those wondrous early years on that remote island in Canada and experiencing Earth every day as manifested on a wild border lake. Through it all, Chris remains a staunch defender of wild country, protector of our human heritage of interaction with earth, and facilitator for enabling others to sense their truest roots in the wild places.
Arctic Adventurer Paul Schurke
Adventurer, author and outdoor educator, Paul Schurke is an arctic adventurer and outdoor program leader. Following a degree at St. John's University, he did graduate studies in environmental journalism at the University of Minnesota and worked as a science writer. In 1977 he founded Wilderness Inquiry, a ground-breaking nonprofit adventure agency for disabled persons that has achieved international acclaim. He has since worked with numerous other outdoor programs and founded his own called Wintergreen Expeditions.
His polar career began in 1986 when he co-led with Will Steger the historic International Polar Expedition, which resulted in a National Geographic cover story and television special, a best-selling book, personal commendations from Pres. Ronald Reagan and the Merit Award from the World Center for Exploration.
Paul went on to build a Soviet-American expedition team that trekked from Siberia to Alaska in a mission of "adventure diplomacy" that led to the opening of the U.S.-Soviet border in the Bering Strait and resulted in personal commendations from Pres. George Bush and Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev, a National Geographic television special and a second award-winning book. In 1995 Paul worked with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to help China establish research programs in the polar regions and led the first Chinese team ever to reach the North Pole, a project hailed by Chinese leaders as a "milestone in China's efforts to step out its shell and become a global partner in scientific and environmental issues affecting remote parts of the world. In 1999, Paul led his 5th North Pole trek involving a national education charity and a team of NASA scientists.
In spring 2001 Paul dog sledded with Polar Eskimos through northwestern Greenland to produce a documentary film for National Geographic television. Paul's company, Wintergreen Designs and Dogsled Lodge, was recently selected by Outside Magazine as one of the most most innovative and influential outdoor businesses of the past quarter century.
In 2006 and 2007 he led expeditions across the high Arctic Island of Svalbard and in spring 2009 he led a dogsled expedition up the east coast of Greenland with the Explorers' Club. In the mid '80s, Paul's wife, Susan, designed a Inuit-inspired line of clothing to keep Arctic explorers warm called Wintergreen Northern Wear.
Naturalist Bill Tefft.
Bill Tefft
Bill Tefft is a naturalist and a resident of Ely, Minnesota of over thirty years. If he can help connect people to the landscape, he will work to get them out of doors. This has been his passion in a variety of roles: naturalist at an arboretum, assistant director for a Nature Conservancy Center, ranger guide for the Superior N.F., mine interpreter at Soudan Underground Mine State Park, college instructor at Vermilion Community College, Elderhostel (Exploritas) instructor, father and grandfather, and radio show host. He welcomes you to northeastern Minnesota.
Chuck Wick
Ecologist Chuck Wick.
Chuck Wick, born and raised in Minneapolis, has a BS and MS in Forestry, with graduate work in Ecology. Chuck worked for the US Forest Service for six years. Much of his professional career was spent at Vermillion Community College, in Ely, where he has taught for over 30 years, providing instruction in Environmental Science, Dendrology, and Wildlife Management. He has been married 34 years and has one married daughter who just delivered Chuck's and his wife, Marty's, first grandchild! (Much to his delight) Besides Chuck's extensive knowledge in Minnesota's flora, he is an avid fisherman, hunter, and wilderness advocate.
Considering the Forests of the Far North course's focus on late author and environmentalist, Sigurd Olson, it is interesting to note that Chuck knew 'Sig' quite well. His father met Mr. Olson in 1929 and the two became life long friends. Chuck met Sig when he was about five years old. When he started his teaching career in 1972, Sigurd Olson lived right next door! During those years, Chuck had the privilege of spending much time with him and they remained friends until Sig's passing. But their strong connection lives on. In 1994, Chuck and Marty bought the Sigurd Olson home, where they continue to live today!
Dr. Roger A. Powell
Dr. Roger A. Powell
Dr. Roger A. Powell, Professor Emeritus, Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, is the author of Natural History of Weasels and Stoats: Ecology, Behavior and Management, Ecology and Behaviour of North American Black Bears: Home Ranges, Habitat and Social Organization, Martens, Sables and Fishers: Biology and Conservation, and The Fisher: Life History, Ecology and Behavior, 2nd edition as well as papers and book chapters too numerous to mention. During the past two decades, his field research has emphasized animals' home ranges and spacing. He now envisions animals living in a fitness landscape where habitat value at each place is the potential contribution of that place to an animal's fitness.
From 1981 through the early 2000s, his field research was on black bears developing approaches to estimating fitness landscapes. The approach and results can be applied widely and generalized to other forest animals. Beginning in 2009, he conducted multifaceted research aimed at applying these approaches to fishers.
From Dr. Powell, “as a kid, I would read field guides with a flashlight under the covers after my parents told me to put out the lights. Did that destine me to become a field biologist or was I just a crazy kid? Since then I have held a frightened fisher by the tail, had a weasel urinate on my head, watched a mother black bear nurse her cubs in their den, and have spent too many hours in front of a computer monitor. In the end, I still don’t know what I shall be when I grow up. Shall I be a biologist who builds wood/canvas canoes, does photography, runs, trains dogs and loves to camp, or shall I be a canoe builder who is also a biologist who does photography, runs and trains dogs, or shall I be a photographer who . . .”
Author Joe Walewski
Author Joe Walewski.
Joe Walewski is the Director of Naturalist Training at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, Minnesota. He earned a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University and a M.Ed. in Environmental Education from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Every spring and fall, Joe leads Wolf Ridge graduate students on field botany excursions - Green Guys Hikes - with the intention of identifying all the green 'guys' and 'gals' in the woods. It was on one of these hikes in the early 1990's that Joe first included his beloved lichens. When away form work, Joe finds plenty to do helping his wife, Lori, in the gardens and banding birds (especially hummingbirds). He enjoys rambling and exploring outdoors with his daughter Jenny. Joe continually strives to reduce his ecological footprint. In an effort to reduce his contribution of global warming gasses, Joe commutes to work by foot, bike, or ski at least fifty percent of the time.
Joe is the author of Lichens of the North Woods, a part of the North Woods Naturalist Series and excellent field guide to these fascinating genera. The North Woods holds claim to one of the world's hotspots for lichens. Of the 3600 species of lichens found in North America, 700 are found in the North Woods -- making it the most diverse lichen community in all of North America. According to Joe, from breaking down the rock to form soil, to providing nest materials and food for wildlife, “Lichens are perhaps the most ‘obvious’ yet overlooked component of northern landscape.”
Author Kurt Mead.
Author Kurt Mead
Kurt Mead, author of the NOBA Award-winning Dragonflies of the North Woods, recently expanded and released a second edition of his book, and is the founder and coordinator of the Minnesota Odonata Survey Project (MOSP). MOSP seeks to expand our knowledge of the ranges of dragonflies and damselflies in Minnesota through the assistance of participating citizen-naturalists. Most recently, Kurt has been working as a naturalist himself, at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center near Finland, Minnesota. He has also worked in a pea canning factory, as a grunt for the MN DNR, as a garbage man, an animal control officer, an urban wildlife trapper, an aquaculturalist, a security guard, an acid rain monitor, a waiter, a delivery driver, an elected township supervisor, a DNR fisheries creel surveyor and, in Sweden - as a log home builder and a carpenter. His scavenging habits lead his wife to believe that he was a turkey vulture in a former life.
Kurt has a BS in Biology and a BFA in art, both from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Kurt has given hundreds of talks and workshops on dragonfly identification and ecology. Kurt lives in the North Woods near Finland, Minnesota with his wife, Betsy, also a naturalist, and their two lovely daughters, Yarrow and Lily. They recently spent a year living and working in Sweden, just because they could. Kurt in action at a dragonfly workshop.
Norma Malinowski.
Norma Malinowski
Norma Malinowski grew up on a small dairy farm in PA, spending lots of time playing in the woods, creeks, and nearby lake. She received a BS in Recreation Resource Management from Slippery Rock State College. Norma worked as a Park Ranger, Park Manager, and Outdoor Recreation Planner for the US Army Corps of Engineers for 17 years in OH, KY, VA, and MN, managing and protecting natural resources and providing places for people to spend time outdoors.
In 1992, Norma moved to Ely, MN where she worked for the Superior National Forest as Assistant District Ranger for Recreation, Wilderness and Trails. Since retiring in late 2007, she has been spending much of her time in bogs and fens searching for TES plants, birds, and butterflies.
Archeologist Lee Johnson, Courtesy of
USDA Superior National Forest.
Lee Johnson
Lee Johnson received an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Masters of Anthropology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Lee has worked for the Superior National Forest Heritage Resource Program since 2001, and currently serves as the Forest Archaeologist. Lee has worked for the Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Office, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and has spent considerable time guiding wilderness canoe trips across the Canadian Shield. His research interests include hunter-gather economies, 19-20th century Ojibwe land use and occupancy, and the Fur Trade (1630-1850) period in the Western Great Lakes.
Author Larry Weber
Larry Weber.
Larry Weber has recently retired from a 40-year career as a science teacher. He taught students from seventh grade up to graduate school. His awards include the Minnesota Secondary Science Teacher of the Year in 1993 and the National Biology Teacher Association's Middle School Life Science Teacher of the Year for 1998.
Larry writes a weekly phenology column for a local newspaper, presents phenology updates for two radio stations and is a regular contributor to the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer. He lives with his wife on an old farm in Carlton County, Minnesota where he watches, photographs and writes about critters. He is also the author of Spiders of the North Woods, an incredibly good guide to over 60 species found in this region.
Nancy Stranahan, Nature Preserve Director, Founder of Appalachian Forest School
Nancy Stranahan is the Director and co-founder of the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System, whose mission is to acquire and reunite broken fragments of the Eastern hardwood forest in order to preserve the natural biodiversity of the world’s temperate deciduous forest biome. Today the Arc manages fourteen preserves and over 5000 acres of land in southern Ohio.
Forest School Founder Nancy Stranahan.
The Arc also manages over thirty miles of hiking trails, Beechcliff Residential Education Center, and three visitor centers, including the Appalachian Forest Museum. This is the first Museum in the world to focus on teaching the world significance of the “invisible biome,” the temperate forest native to the eastern United States.
Nancy Stranahan received dual undergraduate degrees in secondary science education and natural resources at Ohio State University. She went on to work for Ohio State Parks for ten years, serving as Regional Naturalist, Chief Naturalist, and Public Information Administrator. In 1985 she left public service to co-found a creative endeavor in Columbus, Ohio -- a whole-grains bakery, international art & bookstore, and vegetarian cafe known as Benevolence -- a project she stewarded for 20 years, running it in association with a complex and rewarding internship program. In 1995 the Arc of Appalachia Preserve System was born, and in 2009 she initiated what she believes is the most exciting educational endeavor of her life (so far!), The Appalachian Forest School.
If there is one way to summarize Nancy's teaching style, it is holism. A lover of the "big picture," she likes to learn and teach from the foundational premise: "What does this fact or discovery mean in the formation of larger patterns, in view of a world perspective? How does one thing connect with everything else?" Nancy love to erase boundaries, not only between the various scientific disciplines, but crossing over the divides that often separate science, art, people and philosophy.
North Country Artists
Musician Pat Surface.
Musician Pat Surface
Born in St. Paul, MN, Pat was abandoned to the foster care system. At age two, he was adopted into a family with a formidable musical legacy - the LaPlants. Pat grew to be 6'8" and became an all-star basketball player. Now the owner of the international award-winning record label, Spiritwood Music, Pat sings and plays his hand-built LaPlant guitars - reaching millions with his solo performances, and with his critically acclaimed band, the Boundary Water Boys. Pat is often joined by his wife, Donna - a 'Performance Artist in Sign.' His acoustical music celebrates the beauty of the earth and his reverence for it.
Ann Schuler Santo.
Artist Ann E. Schuler Santo
Ann E. Schuler Santo was born and raised in New Jersey, about 10 miles from Philadelphia. Her love of creating art began at an early age. As a teenager, she took painting lessons from an eccentric spinster. Ann graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After college, she did some free lance artwork which led to a full-time position as the artist for the Parks and Recreation Division of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. In this position, she illustrated numerous brochures, pamphlets, booklets, posters and park maps with botanical and wildlife drawings. She also created nature center displays, interpretive trail signage, paintings and Ohio State Fair displays.
In 1989, Ann illustrated Hollyhocks & Radishes, a wonderful story cookbook about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that included many botanical and wildlife drawings. Two years later, she illustrated the companion, Recipe Treasury – a recipe collection book. The awesome beauty of our natural world has always beckoned to her. Having experienced wonderful vacations in the BWCA, in 2006, Ann, with her husband and son moved to Ely, Minnesota on the edge of the BWCA.
In her art work, she shows some of the myriad of textures and subtle nuances of color that are all around us. The boreal forest and lakes of northern Minnesota offer incredible inspiration for her art. The mediums of pen and ink, oil paint, watercolor, and pencil allow her to explore her vision of our world. Art has a way of evoking memories and longings in us all. Through art, we can feel a greater connection to each other and the fascinating world around us.
Illustrator Beckie Prange
Beckie Prange.
Beckie Prange is a printmaker, children’s book illustrator, and naturalist of the amateur type. She was born in suburban Chicago and grew up on a small farm in west-central Illinois with her professor father, artist mother, two sisters and brother. The fields, forests and wetlands surrounding her home were compelling places to explore, and she grew up fascinated with nature, from the massive to the minute. When in high school, she attended Outward Bound in the Boundary Waters, and fell deeply and permanently in love with northeast Minnesota’s boreal forests and lakes. She left to finish school, graduated from Lake Forest College in 1979 with a B.A. in Biology, and experimented with all sorts of occupations and habitats before returning to the northwoods in 1985. In 1989, she left again for a little while, to study natural science illustration at University of California in Santa Cruz.
Now she lives in Ely with her son Izaak, creating windows into nature with woodcut and linocut prints. Her first children’s book, Song of the Water Boatman, by Joyce Sidman, won a Caldecott Honor Medal for illustration in 2006. Original work for Song was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, May–November of 2009. Her second book, Ubiquitous, also by Joyce Sidman, was published in April 2010. She’s not spending enough time in the woods these days. But then, is it possible to spend enough time in the woods?
Polly Carlson-Voilles.
Illustrator Polly Carlson-Voilles
Polly Carlson-Voilles grew up in the city of Minneapolis using books and art and a large backyard to imagine a life outdoors among animals and trees and lakes. At the age of 14 she first went to the BWCA and fell in love with the quiet, the water, stars and trees, the sounds of night and the touch of ancient rock. These loves set a path for future art and writing. Art has been a part of her life as long as she can remember, inspired by her uncle, a well-known mid-century modern painter. Her work had to live a quiet life in drawers and notebooks during her years teaching inner city teens, but through two writing groups she kept alive her writing and learned about children’s books and children’s book art.
When she retired from teaching she wrote and illustrated SOMEONE WALKS BY; The Wonders of Winter Wildlife, published by Raven Productions, winning the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for children’s literature. Wolves became a special animal for Polly when she first observed pack behavior as a volunteer for a study at a wildlife center near Forest Lake in 1979. Her passion is digging deep to learn new secrets of nature, teaching children to love those secrets, and seeing the changing shapes and colors of the wilderness surrounding where she now lives with her husband and dog, perched on a high ridge overlooking Moose Lake. On lucky nights she can listen to the music of the wolves.
Consie Powell.
Journaler Consie Powell
"I love to muck around in nature's lovely untidy places, and I try to convey my fascination with the natural world through my art and writing." Exposure to nature has always been a way of life for Consie Powell. During her childhood in California, Consie snooped ocean tidepools, found desert tortoises and horned lizards in dry canyons, and went camping with her family. Animals and the out-of-doors were her constant companions. During college in Minnesota she got permanently hooked on winter and the critters and habitats of the North. After graduating with a B.A. in Fine Arts, Consie pursued a Master's degree in Elementary Education.
Consie's nature journaling work.
Graduate work steered her not towards teaching, as she had expected, but into the creation of natural science art and stories for young people. Marriage to her biologist husband added constant opportunities to be involved with scientific research firsthand and to continue a rich life centered on the natural world.
Consie has written and illustrated numerous books for children, including Leave Only Ripples: A Canoe Country Sketchbook, winner of the 2006 Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award for Children’s Literature. Consie also illustrates, designs, edits and occasionally writes the North Carolina WILD Notebook, a monthly young readers' nature feature in Wildlife in North Carolina magazine. She has created illustrations for field guides and numerous scientific publications, including books on bears, weasels, and fishers.
After 30 years of living in North Carolina (but escaping to Minnesota for several months every summer), Consie and her husband now live in Ely. She continues her work with the WILD Notebook, is half done with illustrations for a picturebook due out this fall, and has mental files overflowing with ideas for stories and artwork. Consie keeps a nature journal handy wherever she goes, taking written or visual notes (usually both) about the world around her every day.
Heidi Pinkerton, Nature and Wildlife Photographer
Heidi Pinkerton, Nature and Wildlife Photographer
Heidi Pinkerton currently lives in the North Woods of Minnesota with her husband, Tom. For the past seven years, she has dedicated much of her time making images that celebrate her favorite aspects of nature. In early 2011, Heidi made her website, Root River Photography, public and has begun selling images in gift shops throughout the town of Ely. Her work is also on display at the Ely Vet Clinic.
With the sun becoming more active during the past year, her interest in capturing the northern lights has skyrocketed. She reads charts and graphs daily to make sure she will catch the next beautiful display. When not taking pictures in the North Woods, her favorite place to travel to is the Yellowstone National Park area in Wyoming. Spending time with grizzly bears is always high on her list!