Roger Semler, Board Chair - Roger Semler retired from the National Park Service in 2004 following a lengthy career in which he specialized in wilderness management and visitor/resource protection. Highlights of Roger's NPS career included serving as the first Wilderness Manager at Glacier National Park and the Chief of Operations at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Roger is currently serving in a "second" career as the Assistant Administrator/Chief of Operations for Montana State Parks. Roger lives in Helena, MT with his wife Eileen Gallagher.
Tom Carlson, Secretary /Treasurer - Tom Carlson retired from his position as the Forest Service Representative to the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center in December 2010. While at the Carhart Center he focused on developing and implementing interagency training courses and workshops, identifying and responding to wilderness information needs, and supporting wilderness education efforts. Tom was also involved with developing content for Wilderness.net such as the on-line "toolboxes," and contributing to the University of Montana Wilderness Distance Education Program training courses. Tom lives in Missoula, MT with his wife Terry.
Board Members
Chad Dawson - Dr. Chad P. Dawson is a Professor Emeritus of Recreation Resources Management and former Chair of the faculty of Forest and Natural Resources Management at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forest in Syracuse, NY. He worked in teaching and research related to the visitor management and wilderness management at SUNY-ESF for 22 years. Previously, he worked 15 years as an educator and researcher at Cornell University and the University of Minnesota. Dr. Dawson is the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor of the International Journal of Wilderness and co-author with John Hendee of Wilderness Management: Stewardship and Protection of Resources and Values (4th edition in 2009), Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, CO.
Bob Dvorak - Bob Dvorak is an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Services Administration at Central Michigan University. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota, and his master's and PhD from the University of Montana. Born and raised in North Dakota, Bob has spend much of his life hiking, camping, and fishing in the Midwest. He gained a great love and appreciate for the outdoors at a young age. In particular, he has a strong attachment to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the north woods of Minnesota. Both are his favorite wilderness and backcountry areas in the country. Bob's professional interests include wilderness and protected area management, examining visitors use issues, and understanding the relationships and attachments people form with wilderness areas. He is a Wilderness First Responder, ACA Canoe instructor, and Leave No Trace Master Educator. In his spare time, Bob enjoys camping, canoeing, hiking, and playing disc golf with his wife Lisa, and three sons Ben, Aiden, and Emmett.
Bobby Grillo - Bobby Grillo is the Missoula area Regional Supervisor for the Montana Conservation Corps. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and his masters degree fro the University of Montana. Prior to his current position Bobby worked with the Flathead Economic Policy Center, Wildwood Wilderness Camp, Northwest Service Academy/Clark Public Utilities, Environmental Middle School, National Park Service/California Conservation Corps, and the Northwest Service Academy. Bobby is enganged in local volunteer activities and enjoys being a dad and spending time in the mountains on foot, skis, and bike.
Dennis Haddow - Dennis Haddow retired in January, 2009 after serving 7 years as the Fish and Wildlife Service National Smoke Management Program Coordinator. Prior to working for the Fish and Wildlife Service he was an Air Quality Specialist for the Rocky Mountain Region of the USDA Forest Service for twenty one years where he also worked as the Regional Wilderness Coordinator for 3 years. Prior to that position he was the Director of the Enforcement Section of the Montana Air Quality Bureau for nine years working on smoke management issues from the State air regulatory perspective. His current emphasis is to work with EPA, States and other land managers in the development of regulations and programs to minimize the impact of wildland fire smoke while supporting the use of prescribed fire as a land management tool. Dennis is holds a bachelor's degree in Biology from Eastern Montana College. When not working, his time is spent hunting, fishing, sailing, volunteering and slowly remodeling his home. He and his wife Molly live in Arvada, Colorado and have four grown children.
Greg Hansen - Greg Hansen has more than 20 years experience with the USDA Forest Service, during which time he served in the headquarters as wilderness management/education training coordinator for the continent of Africa, National Leave No Trace outdoor education program coordinator; and on the Tonto and Inyo NFs as wilderness manager, wilderness staff officer, backcountry ranger, wilderness ranger, volunteer coordinator, partnership coordinator and grants specialist. Greg stated in his application to the board "I began enjoying the outdoors as a child and was fortunate enough to have dedicated my entire 20-year Forest Service career to the quality management of the wildlands I grew up loving. With the inconsistent and inadequate budgets of today, I sincerely believe that the SWS will be an integral part of managing wilderness in the future, and I would be humbled as well as honored to serve on the board of such a worthwhile and necessary organization.
Bob Hazelton - Bob Hazelton is a Citizen Steward and Vice president of the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association (SGWA) and a Board member for the National Wilderness Stewardship Alliance. He has been active in the outdoors from before he could walk and now camping, hunting, fishing, surfing are activities that keep him outside enjoying nature every week. Bob had volunteered with trail organizations on an ad-hoc basis but after moving to California he discovered the National Wilderness Preservation System. Bob volunteered with the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association (SGWA) and the USFS and was soon asked to serve on the board and began advocating for better training of volunteers on topics such as Leave No Trace outdoor ethics. Bob's passion and commitment were recognized and he now serves as vice-president of SGWA. Bob's commitment to Wilderness protection and conservation has continued to grow and through outreach activities via Leave No Trace he works with the Boy Scouts to train adult and youth leaders. Bob believes that "by educating youth we create a lifetime awareness of the issues that constantly confront the Wilderness system." As Edward Abbey said, "The idea of Wilderness needs no defense. It only needs more defenders." Bob is a Software Product Manager and lives with his wife in Redlands, CA.
Linda Merigliano - Linda Merigliano was introduced to wilderness in the Adirondacks. After one season as a volunteer ranger in the Tetons, she completed a Natural Resource degree at Cornell University and headed west. She spent the next 11 years working as a seasonal wilderness ranger and completing a master's degree at the University of Idaho focused on indicators of wilderness quality. In 1988 she was one of six field people who testified before Congress as part of a GAO audit on Forest Service wilderness stewardship. She has been working on the Bridger-Teton National Forest since 1991 and currently serves as the recreation, wilderness and trails program manager for the Jackson District in addition to interagency assignments to help develop wilderness character monitoring and teach wilderness planning. She lives in Driggs Idaho with her husband Mike who is a riparian plant ecologist affiliated with the University of Montana.
Mike Smith - Mike Smith recently completed a 35 year career with the U.S. Forest Service. While assigned to the San Isabel National Forest in Colorado, Mike had the good fortune to manage an array of resource programs during his 20 year tenure on the Forest. For varying time periods, he was responsible for the range, wildlife, timber, fire, watershed, heritage resources, scenic byways, visitor information, environmental education, and wilderness programs. A highlight of his career was being the wilderness manager for the Greenhorn Mountain, Spanish Peaks, and Sangre de Cristo Wildernesses. Since 2007, Mike has been a Land Management Planning Staff for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests; Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Mike also served as the Rocky Mountain regional representative to the National Wilderness Advisory Group (WAG) during 2006 and 2007. He was a founding board member for two non-profit National Scenic Byway organizations and currently serves on the board of directors for the Canon City Area Recreation and Park District. Mike feels that the formation of a professional wilderness stewardship society will surely be one of the major milestones in the wilderness movement. He is particularly passionate about wilderness management because it integrates concepts from many disciplines to maintain or restore nearly pristine landscapes for the re-creation of human beings and the earth itself. It is perhaps the most holistic of all the natural resource disciplines.
Board Liaisons
Carol Miller - Carol is the liaison for the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute. Carol is the Research Ecologist for Wilderness Fire and is located in Missoula, MT. She holds a PhD in Ecology and a master's degree in Forest Science from Colorado State University and an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University. Carol has developed a multi-disciplinary research program in wilderness fire that includes a series of successful grant proposals and completed projects from 2001 to present and several active research collaborations with other FS research stations, The Wilderness Society, Lessons Learned Center, national parks, universities, and the Canadian Forest Service. Carol has also developed a framework for mapping the ecological benefits of fire, as well as the risks and a simulation model to investigate interactions among climate, fire and vegetation in the Sierra Nevada, CA. She has also investigated consequences of climate change and compared restoration strategies and contributed to better understanding of the spatial pattern in fuels and vegetation that is created and maintained by surface fires.
Nancy Roeper - Nancy is the liaison for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
James Sippel - James is the liaison for the Bureau of Land Management. James is the National Landscape Conservation System program lead for BLM, New Mexico State Office in Santa Fe. James earned a BA from Prescott College (AZ), and a MA from Oregon State University in natural resource management, emphasizing wilderness management. He's worked in a variety of natural resource management roles for the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and with the Peace Corps at a National Park in Ecuador. Starting with BLM in 1991 as a seasonal ranger in the Wilderness Study Area and Wild and Scenic River programs, he continued his federal natural resources career in Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada, and now is the lead wilderness specialist for BLM in New Mexico. His professional focus of interest is in wilderness monitoring and restoration. He values collaborative efforts with other agencies, and working on restoration efforts with Friends and Youth groups. James has logged several hundred overnight trips in wilderness areas throughout the west, encouraging friends to come along, and introducing his two sons to wilderness at a young age.
Ken Straley - Ken is the liaison for the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center. Ken is the Forest Service Representative at the Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center and is engaged with all four land management agencies, the University of Montana, the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, and other partners in the development and delivery of wilderness training, information, and education programs. Ken is serving on the SWS Professional Development Committee in the development of its Wilderness Ranger Academy. Since joining the Forest Service as a Wilderness Ranger in 1993, Ken has worked as a Recreation Planner, Recreation Specialist, Wilderness Staff Officer, and Recreation Staff Officer and has acquired extensive experience in all aspects of public lands recreation management. He specializes in wilderness management and monitoring, trails, visitor information and education, recreation fee and permit programs, and watershed stabilization projects in which old reservoirs were returned to naturally functioning lakes in wilderness and backcountry areas. Throughout his 18 year career, Ken has served with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. Ken holds B.S. degrees in Marketing and Natural Resources Recreation Planning and Management from the University of Utah. Ken is an avid backpacker and spends most of his free time exploring the wildlands of the West on foot.
Ralph Swain - Ralph is the liaison for the U.S. Forest Service. He is currently the Rocky Mountain Region (R2) wilderness and wild & scenic rivers program manager. Ralph has a BS degree in Marketing and a MS degree in Natural Resource Management. He has worked in wilderness management from all levels; as a seasonal wilderness ranger, wilderness trails, district wilderness manager, forest wilderness specialist and, for the last 10 years, in his current position. Ralph was the Forest Service's first national program manager for the Leave No Trace wilderness education program. Additionally, Ralph has been involved in international protected areas and has worked on international assignments in Belize, South Africa and Kamchatka, Russia. As the regional program manager, Ralph works with a variety of partners and wilderness friends groups to foster wilderness stewardship. He is also involved in wilderness training and annually conducts a wilderness ranger exchange program with South African rangers. Ralph is active on several SWS Committees including the Professional Development Committee (for the Wilderness Ranger Academy) and the 50th Anniversary Committee Plan team.
Board Members Emeritus
Don Hunger - Don serves as SCA Associate Vice President for Agency Affairs directing strategic alliances and natural resource initiatives for the organization. He provides organizational leadership in agency and congressional affairs related to public lands management. Don also serves as SCA Alaska regional coordinator developing and supporting internship opportunities, partnerships and programs in the state. Prior to working with SCA, he served as wilderness researcher, wilderness planner, trail crew foreman and wilderness ranger in several western forests. Don lives in Bellingham, WA.
Ben Lawhon - Ben Lawhon, a Natural Resources Management graduate of the University of Tennessee, joined the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics staff in 2001, where he serves as the Education Director. His current responsibilities include curriculum development, management of national education and training programs, working on international initiatives and coordinating general outreach efforts. Ben currently serves Appalachian Trail Conservancy's Stewardship Council. Ben is an avid outdoor enthusiast, enjoying whitewater paddling, telemark skiing, fly fishing and backpacking.
Connie Myers - Connie Myers is the Director of the interagency Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center in Missoula, MT. She holds an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Tennessee at Martin and master's degrees in Wildlife Biology and Communications from Michigan State University. Connie is the founding director of the interagency Arthur Carhart National Wilderness Training Center and has dedicated herself to advancing and realizing the vision of integrated and collaborative stewardship of the National Wilderness Preservation System and believes that a critical part of realizing that vision is establishment of a professional membership organization for wilderness stewardship. Connie has worked toward that goal for over a decade with colleagues from within and outside the agencies and academia, formally articulating the idea through a co-authored article in the International Journal of Wilderness in 2003. Connie lives in Missoula with her husband Allan and enjoys introducing her two children and their friends to wild places and things.
Contact Us
Society members may contact Board members using the contact information in the members-only Website.
