High Lonesome Ranch - February 18 - February 22, 2019

Gordon retired as Chief Wildlife Biologist for the State of New York in 2015 following a 35 year career as a wildlife biologist with New York, and now serves with the Northeast Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies as Executive Secretary. Gordon is also very active on various committees of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. An enthusiastic deer and turkey hunter, Gordon especially enjoys taking novice hunters afield, and teaching about our trapping and hunting heritage during the CLfT workshops.

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.

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.

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.

1961-70: BS Fish and Game Management, MS Wildlife Management, Oregon State University. Assistant in Veterinary Parasitology, Dept Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University. 1970-1996: Conservation Officer, Wildlife Research Biologist, Regional Wildlife Manager, Idaho Dept Fish and Game. 1996-present: Wildlife contract and consultant work, fly fishing and hunting guide.

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!