Shane Wellendorf
Shane Wellendorf is the conservation coordinator with Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy, an accredited land trust that works throughout north Florida and south Georgia. Tall Timbers holds over 146,000 acres in conservation easements, including many in the Red Hills region, which conserve some of the best intact longleaf pine and native groundcover savannas in private ownership. Since 2011, Shane has worked on land conservation projects and stewardship of conservation easements. Prior to joining the land conservancy, he worked as a research biologist with Tall Timbers. Shane holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University and a Master of Science Degree in Wildlife Science from North Carolina State University and is a Certified Wildlife Biologist with the Wildlife Society. He enjoys exploring the Red Hills Region and beyond with his wife, 2 daughters, and 4 bird hunting dogs.
TERRY BAKER
Originally from Marianna, FL, Terry Baker is the CEO of the Society of American Foresters. SAF is a 120 year old professional association focused on the advancement of sustainable management of forest resources through science, education, and technology, promoting professional excellence while ensuring the continued health, integrity, and use of forests to benefit society in perpetuity. Prior to his selection as SAF CEO in 2018, Terry served in various roles within the USDA Forest Service. His almost 20 year federal career started in his home state of FL on the Apalachicola National Forest. From there, he held positions on several other national forests in the western and southeastern US. He has been a wildland firefighter, forester, and administrator of over 1 million acres. Baker earned a master’s degree in forest management and policy from Yale University in 2007, a bachelor’s degree in forest resources and conservation at the University of Florida in 2004 and was honored by UF as one of their 40 under 40 alumni in 2019. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural sciences from Florida A&M University.
ROBIN WILL
Once upon a time, I was a young Brownie and Junior Girl Scout in Virginia, excited and proud to complete my badges, go camping with my troop, and learn about protecting the environment. I was fortunate that my mother was my Brownie troop leader and sprinkled interesting facts about birds, flowers, trees, stars and the wild world as I grew up. I love the quote from John Muir; “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” Mom connected verse and wild places in a wonderful way that still resonates for me.
Our family always camped at national and local parks as part of our vacations and we took advantage of the “ranger programs” offered – I especially remember the “tide pool zoo” song we learned at the campfire program at Maine’s Acadia National Park! My parents thought being a ranger would be the perfect career for me. My interest in the outdoors led to a degree in Wildlife Biology from Florida State University, with a minor in Psychology and Chemistry. I was fortunate to be selected as a Student Trainee in Fisheries and Wildlife for the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service while in college and was able to do a work study, collecting fish on the wild Apalachicola River, and prescribed burning and longleaf pine restoration on beautiful St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, both in north Florida. As part of a red-winged blackbird research project, I kept a young male and female, Ozzie and Harriet, in my college apartment. Wildlife intrigued me, but sharing what I learned with others really excited me.
Upon graduation in 1979, an incredible opportunity awaited me as I took the public use position at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge! The program was in its infancy, so I was given free rein (no money of course) to create the visitor services program. The amazing natural resources of the 80,000- acre refuge – marshes, sweeping estuary, fragrant pine forests, crystal clear springs and creeks, and abundant wildlife, attracted visitors in many ways. I have enjoyed sharing my passion for nature through the international environmental education program, Project Learning Tree. For over 30 years, I have taught preservice teachers, students, and classroom educators how we are all interwoven with trees and healthy water, air and soils.
Retiring in 2020, I am most concerned about the “nature deficit disorder” coined by Richard Louv, regarding several generations of American children who are not connected to nature. It is not merely a lack of concern for environmental stewardship, it is now a matter of mental and
Chuck Hess
Chuck Hess, a retired Wildlife Biologist worked primarily on the Apalachicola National Forest where he advised the US Forest Service on land management issues and on how to accomplish their activities with minimal impact on natural communities. He completed his BS (1987), MS (1997), Phd (2014) at Florida State University. He worked and studied the red-cockaded woodpeckers of the Apalachicola National Forest from 1989 to 2013 and was instrumental in the development of the translocation program for this woodpecker to other conservation lands in the southeast. His primary areas of interest are forest management and the importance of fire on the landscape. He is currently in his second term as a Wakulla County Commissioner.
Amy Conyers
Amy Conyers has been the Park Manager at Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park for the last 3 years. She has worked as a Park Ranger, Assistant Park Manager, and Park Manager in several state parks throughout Florida since 2005. Her interest in the outdoors blossomed as a child and then teenager at Michigan YMCA Camp Eberhart where she spent many years as a camper and then a counselor. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Management from Ball State University and spent several years teaching Outdoor Education to students at Ashland Nature Center in Delaware before moving to Florida and working with the Florida Park Service.
Joan Maloof
Joan Maloof is one of our nation’s most passionate voices for forest preservation. She was named by Garden & Gun magazine as one of the “Ten Tireless Champions of Dixie’s Natural Beauty.” Maloof travels the country researching and writing about the remaining remnants of our old-ancient forests. In 2012 she founded the Old-Growth Forest Network, dedicated to creating a Network of never-logged open-to-the-public forests across the country. Her most recent book is, Nature’s Temples: the Complex World of Old-Growth Forests. She is also the author of Teaching the Trees, and Among the Ancients.
Kristin Ebersol
Kristin Ebersol is currently the Park Manager of Ochlockonee River and Bald Point State Parks and interim Park Manager of the recently acquires Bluffs of St Teresa. She’s been with the Florida Park Service for 20 years, starting out as a Park Ranger, moving to Park Services Specialist and eventually to Park Biologist for Talbot Islands and Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Parks. She spent seven years managing Waccasassa Bay Preserve, Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve and the Cedar Key Museum State Parks before moving to the panhandle.
Kristin, a second-generation Florida native, received her B.S. in Biology from the Univ. of North Florida in Jacksonville. Natural resource management is her passion- whether it’s shorebird and sea turtle monitoring, surveying for listed plants and killing exotic ones, or applying prescribed fire- Kristin is happiest when she’s in the field making an impact.
