Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center - January 10 - January 14, 2020

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.

Kris grew up hunting, trapping and fishing in southern New York State, and continues her passion for those same activities in Mississippi. She has an A.A.S. in Biological Technology from SUNY Cobleskill, a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology from SUNY ESF, and a M.S. degree in Wildlife Management from Mississippi State University. She spent 8 years working for the U.S. Forest Service in a variety of positions and the rest of her current career with USDA APHIS Wildlife Services as the State Director for the Mississippi Program. She is an adjunct assistant professor at Mississippi State University teaching human wildlife conflict techniques. She is past president of the Mississippi Wildlife Federation and the Mississippi Chapter of TWS.

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.

Eric is a retired Vermont Game Warden and Hunter Education Coordinator. His is the past executive director of the International Hunter Education Association and Orion-the Hunter's Institute. He currently serves on numerous boards including Orion, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) and Lamoille River Paddlers Trail. An avid hunter and owner of an eager Brittany bird dog, he has a hard time finding time to do all the wilderness canoe trips, fishing trips to Montana and in Vermont, and the hikes in Norway that he would like to do. Eric has introduced hundreds of folks to the joys of the outdoors thru hunting, fishing and tripping, and touched thousands thru teaching, talks and writing. He is currently coordinating an ethics column in the BHA Outdoor Journal.

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.

Mark D. Smith is a W. Kelly Mosley Environmental Professor/Extension Specialist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension Systems in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences at Auburn University. He received his B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University and a M.S. in Wildlife Sciences and Ph.D. in Forest Resources from Mississippi State University. His extension activities focus on helping landowners and natural resource professionals reduce damage caused by wild pigs. Mark is an active member of The Wildlife Society, serving in various capacities at all levels (student chapter to national) and is also an Alabama Hunter Education instructor and 4-H Shooting Sports coach. Mark’s introduction to the shooting sports, hunting, and fishing began at the age of 6 on a 160-acre woodland in northern Michigan. These early childhood experiences in the woods with family and friends played a key role in developing his insatiable quest for adventure. Over the ensuing years, Mark has hunted and fished through much of the United States, 4 Canadian Provinces, and Africa. Despite these far-flung adventures, his true love is rabbit hunting with a pack of beagle hounds. Labeled a “Damn Yankee” by many (a northerner who visits the South and doesn’t leave), he has since developed an unshakeable addiction to saltwater fishing. Thus despite a having a relatively good paying job, he remains continuously broke.

Misty gained an appreciation for a variety of landscapes and all things outdoors early in life. Her father was a career Air Force man but always found time to take her hunting, fishing, or camping with the family whether they were stateside or overseas. This was time well spent as in doing so she found her passion which led to a career in Natural Resource Management.

She has been a member of The Wildlife Society for over 30 years. Having been taught the value of service/giving back she served as: President of the Southwest Section of The Wildlife Society, Board Member-at-Large and Secretary of the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Chair and member of countless committees and currently serves on TWS’ The Wildlife Professional Editorial Advisory Board. In 2009 Misty was awarded TWS’ Fellows Award and in 2018 she was awarded TCTWS’s Honorary Life Membership for Professional Achievements and Contributions to Wildlife Conservation.

Misty is a certified Huntmaster with the Texas Youth Hunting Program, a Texas Hunter Education Instructor, an official Boone and Crockett Scorer, and an EMT.

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!