Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center - December 9 - December 13, 2019

Laura is a Certified NRA Shotgun,Rifle, Pistol, Personal protection in the Home, Personal Protection outside the Home, Conceal Carry instructor, and a Certified Volunteer Hunter Safety/Tree stand Instructor for both Illinois DNR and Texas Parks and Wildlife. A Texas Master Naturalist. Besides the shooting sports she enjoys teaching archery, fly fishing, cooking, beekeeping. She is a big and small game hunter, and has traveled extensively to hunt and fish. She is a Certified Master Gardener in Illinois and Florida, a beekeeper and a Nationally Certified Medical Technologist. Was an elected Trustee for the Village of Campton Hills, IL, former instructor at Country Garden Cuisine cooking school. In 2018 She transitioned to Texas. She is a member of Corpus Christi, Texas Pistol and Rifle club, NRA, Mid-Coast Chapter as a Master Naturalist, South Texas Beekeepers,and Sisters on the Fly.

Amber Barrow has been working for the Department of Natural Resources since 2011 as an environmental educator at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield, GA. She also is a hunter education instructor who teaches at day programs and overnight youth hunting events. She has a bachelor's degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Berry College. Amber grew up fishing with her family but started out learning about hunting at the age of 14. Her grandfather taught her about small game hunting for rabbits and squirrels. Later in college, her boyfriend (later to be husband) taught her about falconry and using hawks and other birds of prey to hunt squirrels, rabbits, and other small game. She fell in love with sport and continues to learn more each and every day about the hunting and its history. She loves to cook all kinds of wild game recipes and loves trying new things while outdoors. She currently goes small game and bird hunting with her husband, loves fly fishing and is licensed falconer in Georgia. She currently flies 3 harris hawks.

I am the Chief Conservation Officer for the Mule Deer Foundation and owner/principal of Beartooth Strategies, a private environmental consulting business focusing on public policy, public lands, energy development and conservation of fish and wildlife resources. Previous positions include Executive Director for the North American Grouse Partnership, Partner in Conservation First Enterprises, Senior Energy Advisor for The High Lonesome Ranch, Senior Policy Advisor for the Mule Deer Foundation, and Director for the TRCP Center for Responsible Energy Development. I spent 16 years working for the BLM and Forest Service as a wildlife specialist in Wyoming, New Mexico, and Oregon.. I earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Wyoming emphasizing on environmental policy and B. S. degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from the Pennsylvania State University. I am a TWS Certified Wildlife Biologist, TWS Fellow, Past President of the TWS WY Chapter, and the past Chair of the Editorial Advisory Board for The Wildlife Society’s magazine, The Wildlife Professional. I am former board member of the North American Grouse Partnership and I am a fellow of the National Conservation Leadership Institute. I reside in Red Lodge, Montana with wife, 2 kids, and 1 lab.

Jarred Brooke is an Extension Wildlife Specialist with Purdue University. His hunting and wildlife conservation journey started by chasing northern bobwhite and ring-necked pheasants behind his family's Weimaraners in the farm country of Indiana. His passion for hunting and wildlife conservation led him to Purdue University where he graduated with a BS in Wildlife Science. Building on his love of upland gamebirds, Jarred completed an MS in Wildlife Management at the University of Tennessee where he conducted research on the ecology of northern bobwhite on reclaimed surface coal mines. Jarred completed a brief stint in Kentucky working for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and Natural Resources Conservation Service as a Farm Bill Biologist before returning to his alma mater in 2016. As an Extension Specialist, Jarred works with landowners, land managers, and various state and federal agencies to provide resources related to applied habitat management - with a focus on game species. Jarred also teaches a course at Purdue University on the role of consumptive use in wildlife conservation. Jarred has been an instructor with CLfT since 2018.

I grew up in Northern Ontario, and spent most of my time outdoors. I complete my Masters in Wildlife Science at Mississippi State. I am currently the Director of Conservation Programs, in the northeast, with Ducks Unlimited, Inc, a 501-C-3 not for profit. I have extensive professional experience in wetland and waterfowl ecology have have worked for DU since 2010 successfully writing and delivering of on-the-ground conservation projects that restored and protected >20,000 acres of critical wetland habitat in the Northeast Atlantic Flyway. I help deliver our conservation programs in 12-states in the northeast where I am part of a conservation delivery team of biologists, engineers, and fund-raising staff that cooperate to meet the goals of conservation partners. In addition to my experiences with DU, my prior work history and partnerships are diverse throughout the Central, Mississippi and Atlantic Flyways and include Bird Studies Canada, Delta Waterfowl, Mississippi State University, USDA- NRCS, Long Point Waterfowl, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. I have worked with a multitude of federal, state, provincial, non-government, and corporate partners in the Atlantic Flyway.

I am an avid waterfowl, upland game, turkey and deer hunter and spend a lot of time in the field with two yellow labs and working on our hobby farm in central NY.

Rusty Garrison served as the Director of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division from 2016-2020.
Rusty was with DNR for 20 years having served most recently as the manager of the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Mansfield, Georgia. He served in numerous other capacities, including Assistant Chief of Game Management, State Coordinator of Project WILD, and Chief of the DNR Mountain Search and Rescue Team. Before his career with DNR, Rusty worked for the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service for nearly nine years.
Rusty has served as a CLfT instructor since 2012. He has assists with classes mostly at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Georgia; but also teaches at Max McGraw in Illinois and at facilities in Colorado and Idaho.
Rusty holds the degrees of Bachelor of Science in Animal Sciences and a Master of Science in Wildlife Biology, both from the University of Georgia. He is active in his local community, having previously volunteered as a fire fighter and first responder for his county EMS. Rusty has traveled to over 75 countries while on mission trips and remains active in his local church. He is married to his wife Sue, has three daughters, and is a proud grandfather.

Dr. Wes Neal received his B.S in from Virginia Tech, and both his M.S. and Ph.D from North Carolina State University. He specializes in research on topics ranging from farm pond management to tropical fish ecology and management to sport fish genetic selection. Wes served as state Extension fisheries specialist in Arkansas for 4.5 years before joining the faculty at Mississippi State University in 2008 in the same role. He is an Extension Professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture at MSU. Wes is an avid angler and hunter, with a primary focus on connecting with nature and securing healthy natural meats for the freezer.

Bruce Thomas has been with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA-DNR) since August of 2019. He currently serves as the Hunting and Shooting Education Specialist for the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center (CEWC) in Mansfield, Georgia, the site of several CLfT workshops each year. He works with any and all programs related to hunting and shooting at CEWC, ranging from “Hunt and Learns” for new hunters, to Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) activities to summer shooting sports camps. He became a CLfT instructor shortly after joining GA-DNR. He is a certified NRA Instructor for Rifle, Pistol, and Shotgun as well as a certified Hunter Safety Instructor for Georgia.

Prior to joining GA-DNR, Bruce enjoyed a 32-year career in public education, first as a county extension agent with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, followed by a stint as a high school agricultural education teacher and finally as K-8 school library media specialist. He earned his BSA and MS in Animal Science from the University of Georgia as well as an EDS in Agricultural Education.

He grew up on a small, diversified farm in Georgia and began hunting and shooting at a very early age. Some of his best hunting memories are chasing rabbits and squirrels with a single shot .410 shotgun when he was about 11 years old.

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!

I taught at Purdue University in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources of 35 years, teaching several courses, including Habitat Management and Wildlife Techniques. Research interests were broad, and included white-tailed deer food relationships and avian breeding biology.
I have taught participants at Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow workshops since shortly after its inception, and try to bring my broad background and eclectic interests to the program.

I taught Dendrology, native shrub, and herbaceous I.D. at Purdue University for 30 years in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources. My classes were taken by sophomores to Graduate students studying Wildlife and Forestry. My goal was always to impress upon students the value of understanding the importance of plant identification in managing habitat.
My role in Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow is to teach and educate our participants to the best of my ability about wildlife conservation in our country. Every single workshop is a treat and I look forward to next season.