The George S. & Dolores Dore Eccles Wildlife Education Center - January 15 - January 19, 2024

I am retired from The Longleaf Alliance where I served as President from 2012 until 2020. Prior to my stint with the Longleaf Alliance, I was Director of Agency Programs with the National Wild Turkey Federation where I managed wild turkey restoration across the US and Canada. I have a BS from NC State in Wildlife Biology and a MS from LSU in Marine Science. With 46 years of wildlife and conservation related experience, I have worked all over the US and Canada on projects as varied as waterfowl and wetlands research, wild turkey restoration, and habitat restoration of wetlands and longleaf pine forests. I grew up in North Carolina hunting with my father, brother and cousins. I have been hunting since before i can remember although I did not start carrying a gun until I was 10. I am married and have a daughter and son, both of whom are avid hunters. My passions are my family, hunting (specifically turkey) and habitat restoration on our family farm in Duplin County North Carolina.

Bill has an M.S. in Wildlife Science from Utah State University. He worked for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for 36 years as a biologist, wildlife manager, coordinator, wildlife section chief and assistant director. He now enjoys the wonders of the world on a daily basis with his family while on the road and from the porch.

Diane Eggeman was born and raised in Missouri, where she developed a love of the outdoors as a child. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Management from the University of Missouri and a Master’s degree from the University of Maine in Wildlife Biology. Diane retired in 2018 from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, where she worked from 1986-2018. She spent more than 20 years managing waterfowl and waterfowl hunting. In 2008, Diane became director of the Division of Hunting and Game Management. In this role, she became passionate about providing the public-trust benefits of wildlife management and conservation, including hunting and other recreation, for Florida’s citizens. Currently, Diane holds a part-time position under contract with Ducks Unlimited, Inc., serving as Integration Coordinator for the North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP). Diane is a Fellow of the National Conservation Leadership Institute. Diane and her family are avid hunters and anglers and spend much of their free time outdoors.

Heather currently works for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks as the Grassland/Wetland Coordinator for the state. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Trent University and her M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Mississippi State University. She grew up in Northern Ontario where she spent most of her time outdoors. She spends a good portion of her spare time hunting turkey, waterfowl, upland birds and big game and training her bird dog Riggs.

Aaron grew up spending some time camping and fishing, but it wasn't until high school that he discovered hunting. That discovery played a pivotal role in starting the fire that got him interested in conservation as a career. He received his B.S. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and his M.S. from the University of Kentucky studying the physiological effects of translocation on elk. He has been the Cervid Biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation since 2016 helping to conserve the state's deer and elk population. He has been an instructor with CLfT since 2009 and enjoys the opportunities to work and interact with the diverse array of participants and instructors at each workshop.

Lindsey currently works for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks as the Helena Area Wildlife Biologist. Lindsey received a B.S. in Ecology with an emphasis in Fish and Wildlife Management from Montana State University in 2010, a M.S. in Secondary Education from Black Hills State University in 2015, and a PhD from South Dakota State University where she researched Greater Sage-Grouse Breeding Ecology on the fringe of their range. Lindsey has been an instructor for CLfT since 2016. Hunting has been a big part of her life and culture since she was a child and she truly enjoys sharing her passion and knowledge about hunting with others. Lindsey has worked for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks since 2019.

As a young child Daryl followed in his Dad’s footsteps as they set off on hunting and fishing adventures in Western New York, just south of Lake Erie. Knowing that he wanted to live those special times as an adult, Daryl knew from a young age that his life’s calling was to be a wildlife biologist. Graduating with a B.S. in Forest Biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Daryl soon fell into the world of big game management. His first wildlife-related job was raising orphaned and injured black bear cubs brought to him by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. His job was to fatten them up and get them ready for release and a smooth return to the wild. After a great deal of success working with black bears, Daryl was hired by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency where he quickly moved up and in 2004, he became the state’s Big Game Program Coordinator and ultimately the Chief of Wildlife and Forestry. In 2015, Daryl made the move West to fulfill a childhood dream of living and working in the Rockies. Following a brief stint with the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico, Daryl now serves as the Big Game Specialist for the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. He now resides in the outskirts of Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife and two boys and routinely watches deer, elk, and pronghorn from his backyard deck.

Val grew up in a small town in Upstate NY and was an outdoors enthusiast at an early age. From the time she could say "zoologist", she knew she wanted to work with wildlife and conservation. She spent much of her time hunting and fishing with her family, who instilled an appreciation for wilderness in her and encouraged her love for wildlife. She completed her undergraduate at Cazenovia College, majoring in Environmental Studies. She then ventured to Murray State University for a Master's in Biology where she studied the impacts of roads on a population of copperheads in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. She returned to the Northeast to Binghamton University for her PhD where she studied movement patterns and population structure of the eastern tiger salamander on Long Island. She then worked for 2 years at the Bronx Zoo as a Curatorial Fellow in the Herpetology Department and then spent a year working for the Wildlife Conservation Society studying bison in Montana. She taught at Green Mountain College, Keystone College, and Hocking College, and served as Wildlife Biology Program Director at each. She is now the program coordinator for Natural Resources Conservation and Management at Paul Smith's College. She is a certified Hunter's Safety Instructor for both archery and firearms. She has taught courses on Hunting History, Ethics, and Management, and Wild Game Preparation. She lives in NY with her husband, 2 kids, and 5 dogs.

Joli began her career in conservation by volunteering and working seasonal positions in Colorado with the Student Conservation Association, the NPS, USFWS, and the Iowa Conservation Commission while attending and after graduation from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. In 1989, Joli left Colorado to return home to the Midwest to start her 3-decade career as an Iowa Conservation Officer. In 1999, she expanded her role as a law enforcement (LE) trainer with the IDNR, accepting the new position of Training Coordinator and eventually becoming Supervisor of Licensing and Training for fifteen years. Coming full circle, Joli worked her final years back in the field.
Joli’s passions have evolved from LE training and “education through enforcement” to introducing new audiences to conservation and natural resources recreation and appreciation through programs including Outdoor Journey for Girls and Becoming an Outdoors Woman. She also enjoys working with Iowa State University (ISU) in outdoor skills programming, Hunter Education, class presentations, and presenting for over two decades with the Program for Women in Science and Engineering.
Joli enjoys trailrunning, bicycling, and paddling with her partner and dogs. She finds great joy and deep value in bird hunting (especially behind her late, beloved springer, Abbey), firearm and bow hunting deer from a treestand, and sitting in the spring woods calling turkeys. She is excited to spend more time doing all of that--and CLfT!