2024 Speakers and Workshop Leaders

2024 Speakers and Workshop Leaders

Read about the 13th annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival speakers, workshop leaders, bird walk leaders and more.

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Keynote Speaker  |  Additional Speakers  |  Workshop Leaders  |  Bird Walk Leaders  |  Bird Walk Special Assistants  |  Entertainment

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Liz Smith

Dr. Liz Smith is a native Texan where she encountered her first Whooping Crane family at the age of ten as they wintered within the protected coastal marsh ecosystem. Her motivation to follow a scientific career was based on a love and curiosity of the natural world and how she could contribute to save it. She earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees at Corpus Christi State University and a Ph.D. at Texas A&M University in biology and wildlife sciences. Liz served as Research Scientist at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi for 17 years working with her graduate students on coastal habitat assessment and conservation planning. Liz joined the International Crane Foundation in 2011 as Senior Whooping Crane Scientist as well as the Texas and North American Program Director until her retirement in 2022. She continues working as an ICF Sr. Research Associate using crane behavior to both assess habitat health and educating human communities on ways to share coastal habitat with cranes.

Additional Speakers

Michael Forsberg

Michael Forsberg was born and raised in Nebraska and has been a professional photographer for 30 years. His books, articles and films focus on wildlife and conservation stories in the Great Plains. Mike is a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, co-founder of Platte Basin Timelapse and on faculty with IANR at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In 2017, he received the Ansel Adams Award from the Sierra Club in Washington DC, and his image of sandhill cranes was selected as a U.S. postage stamp for Nebraska’s Sesquicentennial. Mike lives in Lincoln with his wife Patty, two daughters, Elsa and Emme, and a menagerie of animals.

Ted Floyd

Ted Floyd is the longtime Editor of Birding magazine and the author of many essays, articles, and books about birds and nature. Ted and his family have been involved with the Yampa Valley Crane Festival since the festival’s inception, and he’s looking forward to watching cranes and other wildlife with you again in 2024!

Andrew Floyd

Andrew Floyd is a senior at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colorado, and he has been involved with the Yampa Valley Crane Festival for as long as he can remember. When he’s not biking around Steamboat Springs, look for Andrew at festival events at the Yampa River Botanic Park and the Carpenter Ranch.

Meg Karschner

Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition welcomed Megan (Walker) Karschner as its new executive director in April 2024. Meg has lived and worked in the Yampa Valley for the past 15 years, promoting sustainability through education and other nonprofit, community-based efforts. Meg comes to CCCC after serving for the past year as an adjunct faculty member for Sustainability Studies at Colorado Mountain College. Previously, Megan taught at Steamboat Montessori and served both as a Naturalist and as the Director of Youth Programs for Yampatika. A graduate of Colorado Mountain College’s Outdoor Education and Sustainability Studies programs, Megan earned a master’s degree from Western Colorado University in Environmental Management, with a focus on building sustainable and resilient communities.

Over the years Megan has worked as a professional tutor, instructing college students in topics such as sustainability, biology, ecology, and environmental science. She has served as a 4-H leader, taught beekeeping workshops, provided educational and service-learning programming at the Bear Park Permaculture Center, and created a business, Meg’s Eggs, that sells eggs, honey, and jam to consumers.

Noah Strycker

Noah Strycker is a writer, photographer, and bird man based in Eugene, Oregon. He has been called a “Travel Pioneer” by the BBC and “Birdman of Razzmatazz” by Newsweek. In 2015, during a quest spanning 41 countries and all seven continents, he set a world record by finding 6,042 species of birds (more than half the world’s total) in one calendar year. He has written several bestselling books, including Birding Without Borders and is Associate Editor of Birding magazine. Noah also guides in the polar regions for Quark Expeditions and Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, literally spreading the joy of birds from pole to pole.

Paul Tebbel

Paul Tebbel is a true “craniac.” For the last 45 years he has spent as much time as possible around cranes. He did his undergraduate and graduate work on cranes in the northern Midwest in the 1970’s and spent 11 years as director of Audubon’s Rowe Sanctuary, location of the greatest concentration of cranes in the world every spring. Beginning in 1995, Paul started giving presentations on cranes, with a focus on their behavior. When he wasn’t enjoying cranes, Paul worked for Patagonia or managed non-profit organizations. He happily retired from full time work in 2018 and currently lives with his forever mate on seven acres of woods in northern California.

Rebecca Weiss

Rebecca Weiss has been engaging with birders for more than 15 years through the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies where she particularly enjoys helping to facilitate novice birders’ budding interest as it catches fire. As a birding guide, naturalist and writer based in Aspen, Colorado, the Roaring Fork Valley has been her primary birding patch. Rebecca is author of Birds of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley, a guidebook that brings local birds into focus in a format designed to appeal to everyone from the bird-curious to seasoned birders. She has also written articles and content for trailside interpretive signs pertaining to birds and their habitats, and conducted bird banding, ornithological and botanical field work, and natural history education.

Workshop Leaders

Julie Arington

Julie Arington grew up with bird-watching parents in rural Southern Illinois. She studied Wildlife Biology and received a B.S. in Biology from Murray State University. After several field research assistant positions all over the country, Julie was hired as a park ranger by Colorado State Parks (now Colorado Parks and Wildlife) in 1999. She has been the Park Manager at Steamboat Lake and Pearl Lake State Parks since 2006 where she manages people, recreation, facilities, and the natural resources of the Parks.

Chris Becea

Chris Becea of Morning Light Photography will be presenting a Crane photography classroom workshop for the 2024 Crane festival. He has been volunteering for CCCC ever since he fell in love with photographing Sandhill Cranes and realized the importance of protecting this bird and their habitats. Chris’ passion for photography started young, and his love of the outdoors soon found him photographing nature and wildlife, so he chose to pursue a career photography. Although he left photography as a career after the digital revolution, it never left him so in 2015 he decided to pursue his passion as a career once again.  Chris holds a degree in Fine Arts as well as his B.S. in History and secondary education. Visit his online art store to see some of his work – www.morninglightphotography.store

Chris resides in Steamboat Springs Colorado and can often be found in the backcountry hiking, fishing, backpacking, skiing, snowshoeing, and of course taking photographs to share with the world.

Ellen Bonnifield

Ellen Bonnifield’s insatiable curiosity has taken her in many directions. A degree in library science allowed her to use her chemistry and math background while exploring new areas in a variety of library settings. An “accidental” career in teaching took her from preschool story hour to university teaching. As Ellen and her husband collaborated on writing about the twentieth century American west, Ellen considered herself the “research” partner but found that she did much of the editing. Several years ago she started writing poetry about nature and her experiences as a “Ditch Rider.” Combining her love of nature, her curiosity, her experience teaching, and her desire to share the excitement of life with others now leads her to facilitate nature-journaling workshops.

Erin Gelling

Erin Gelling served as program and executive director for Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition, 2021-2023. She currently works as a Rangeland Manager for NRCS. She received her M.S. in Rangeland Ecology from University of Wyoming working with one of her favorite birds, Greater Sage-grouse, and received her B.S. in Ecology. She has a strong background in avian ecology, botany, and environmental education having worked for non-profits, government, and universities. For over 14 years, she has worked with a variety of birds, including plovers, sparrows, shorebirds, sage-grouse, and her other favorite bird, Sandhill Cranes, across the U.S. She loves the outdoors, her two dogs and husband, living in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and getting distracted by birds and plants. She leads the iNaturalist Workshop for the 2024 festival.

Liz Leipold

Liz Leipold, MS OTR, C-IAYT, has a BS in Biology, MS in Occupational Therapy, and is a Certified Yoga Therapist. Liz teaches yoga for “Health and Wellness” to all ages and abilities in the Steamboat community. She interweaves science with an emphasis on education, health, and having fun into classes as well as offering variations to postures and movements so that anyone can participate.

Liz began offering “Crane Yoga” early in the development of CCCC and loves supporting the Rocky Mountain Sandhill Cranes, as well as helping to educate others about these amazing birds and their environment. Come join Liz in an experiential “Crane Yoga” class focusing on the life, culture, body language, and dance of our beautiful Sandhill Cranes. Please bring a mat, blanket, or chair to sit on outside.

Joanne Orce

Joanne Orce loves to paint subject matter front and center, local scenes mainly, welcoming you into the color and texture of her daily life. Working from life, outside painting an old barn, a ski mountain or a moose, is her true passion.

Joanne was voted Best of the Boat Artist 2023 and designed the 2023 SSWSC Winter Carnival poster. Joanne attended Pratt Art Institute in Manhattan for illustration. She has paintings in collections around the world and welcomes commissions.

Joanne is also a mom to 3 children and an athletic coach.

Karen Vail

Karen Vail received a B.S. in Horticulture, with a concentration in Botany from Colorado State University, and earned her master’s degree in Gardening from the Royal Horticultural Society in England. She taught Botany at the community college in Steamboat Springs and introduced people to local wildflowers through summer wildflower walks. She has published two books, For the Joy of Wildflowers: Colorado Creations, and Yampa Valley Visions: Photography and Writing of a Yampa Valley Naturalist. She also co-published the video/DVD A Season of Wildflowers: The Rocky Mountains. Karen runs her own landscaping business and continues to be active in education through Yampatika, a local environmental education organization. She will be leading the Saturday nature walk during the festival.

Cindy Wither

Cindy Wither is a retired art teacher, having taught many forms of art to all ages in Idaho, Colorado, Germany and Zambia. She has a lifetime interest in birds and, when living in Zambia, was a member of the Zambian Ornithological Society, going on many wonderful bird walks. Currently she is a watercolor artist painting both in the studio and outside painting Plein Air watercolors year around. She has worked with all ages teaching them drawing and painting outdoors – helping to see, not just look, as they are drawing and painting. She loves to see the results as someone says “oh I never realized all the shapes, details and colors that are in that flower”. Cindy is assisting Ellen Bonnifield in the nature-journaling workshop.

Nature’s Educators

Nature’s Educators is a 501c3 wildlife education and rehabilitation program licensed by USFWS, USDA, and CPW. They travel the state and surrounding states to give an average 900 educational presentations on wildlife each year. The organization was founded by Devin Jaffe in 2008 in Canon City, Colorado and has since expanded to have facilities in Florence and Sedalia, Colorado. Nature’s Educators is partnered with the Raptor Conservation Alliance in Nebraska. The organization is also partnered with the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park in Canon City, Colorado to provide educational raptor presentations 7 days a week, 4 times a day, Memorial Day through Labor Day in the theater. They are currently constructing a public nature center in Florence that will have herptiles and invertebrates on display, but will also be able to be used as a classroom for field trips.

Bird Walk Leaders

Chip Clouse

Chip Clouse is a ProStaffer for Opticron optics and former General Manager of the Front Range Birding Company. He is also a long-time bird tour leader and Reefs to Rockies’ Lead Naturalist Guide. Originally enamored with tooth and claw predators, his love and fascination with birds started by volunteering with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to monitor Peregrine Falcon nest sites while an undergraduate and was cemented once he saw his first Western Tanager while working for the Peregrine Fund in Oregon. Chip’s experience includes 20+ years of bird research and project management experience in nine states and the Caribbean nation of Grenada, a Masters in Conservation Biology from Colorado State University, five years as Education and Outreach Director with the American Birding Association, and stints guiding at 15+ different US birding festivals. He loves to talk birds and optics, so ask away!

Ted Floyd

Ted Floyd is the longtime Editor of Birding magazine and the author of many essays, articles, and books about birds and nature. Ted and his family have been involved with the Yampa Valley Crane Festival since the festival’s inception, and he’s looking forward to watching cranes and other wildlife with you again in 2024!

Andrew Floyd

Andrew Floyd is a senior at Centaurus High School in Lafayette, Colorado, and he has been involved with the Yampa Valley Crane Festival for as long as he can remember. When he’s not biking around Steamboat Springs, look for Andrew at festival events at the Yampa River Botanic Park and the Carpenter Ranch.

Forrest Luke

Forrest Luke has been a passionate birder for 40+ years (and yes, he is getting a little long in the tooth). He has lived in Craig for nearly 30 years and recently retired from a career in mined land reclamation and environmental permitting and compliance. He serves on the boards of the Colorado Field Ornithologists and Memorial Regional Health. He works as a part time bird guide, leading grouse and other bird tours around Colorado and adjacent states and has served as a regional compiler/editor for various bird-related organizations.

Allan Reishus

Allan Reishus of Craig Colorado has been a resident of the northwest corner of the state for 45 years, and has a passion for birds, bird habitat, and all things outdoorsy and related to wildlife. Now retired from a career in medicine, he has more time for such pursuits.
Allan has a special interest in waterfowl, raptors and cavity nesting birds. He started a string of nest boxes for mountain bluebirds over 30 years ago and continues to build, install, monitor and clean the boxes for his blue friends. He has installed nesting structures for kestrels and Canada geese in the Steamboat/Craig area. Most recently he installed a number of towers and platforms for ospreys, which has been a success story. The outdoors is where Allan wants to spend his days.

Noah Strycker

Noah Strycker is a writer, photographer, and bird man based in Eugene, Oregon. He has been called a “Travel Pioneer” by the BBC and “Birdman of Razzmatazz” by Newsweek. In 2015, during a quest spanning 41 countries and all seven continents, he set a world record by finding 6,042 species of birds (more than half the world’s total) in one calendar year. He has written several bestselling books, including Birding Without Borders and is Associate Editor of Birding magazine. Noah also guides in the polar regions for Quark Expeditions and Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, literally spreading the joy of birds from pole to pole.

Rebecca Weiss

Rebecca Weiss has been engaging with birders for more than 15 years through the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies where she particularly enjoys helping to facilitate novice birders’ budding interest as it catches fire. As a birding guide, naturalist and writer based in Aspen, Colorado, the Roaring Fork Valley has been her primary birding patch. Rebecca is author of Birds of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley, a guidebook that brings local birds into focus in a format designed to appeal to everyone from the bird-curious to seasoned birders. She has also written articles and content for trailside interpretive signs pertaining to birds and their habitats, and conducted bird banding, ornithological and botanical field work, and natural history education.

Lisa and Paul Williams

Lisa Williams moved to the Yampa Valley in 1968 and Paul Williams arrived 6 years later. Birding is second nature to Lisa. She has shared her enthusiasm with Paul and all others who go on walks and hikes with her. Paul helps her spot birds on walks while continuing to learn new identification techniques. Lisa enjoys sharing her knowledge with her fellow bird watchers and continues to try to master the challenge of identifying birds by listening to their songs. She co-led bird walks for over a decade, with Nancy Merrill, at the Nature Conservancy’s Carpenter Ranch property in Hayden. Paul enjoys being part of the support team when he participates on bird walks. He often joins the crane viewings for the early morning fly-ins. He’s in charge of bringing along the spotting scope which comes in handy when birds cooperate and sit long enough to be brought into focus. Both Lisa and Paul have been part of the Yampa Valley Birding Club, CCCC and the Crane Festival since their inception.

Bird Walk Special Assistants

Laurel Watson

Laurel Watson, curator of the Hayden Heritage Center Museum since 2010, will be assisting with the ‘History and Bird Walk’ at Mt Harris. She originally hails from the East Coast coming to the Valley over 30 years ago. She studied at Regis University obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science with an emphasis on history and a minor in secondary education then went on to obtain a Master’s Degree in American History. She wrote the book Yampa Valley Sin Circuit and has written several articles for newspapers and magazines on local history topics. She has served on the Board of Historic Routt County and has taught at both Colorado Northwestern Community College and Colorado Mountain College. She is passionate about our local area history and is currently working on a book about the coal mining towns that no longer exist along Hwy 40 in West Routt County.

Entertainment

Spirit Wind Aerial Arts

Spirit Wind Aerial Arts dancers, led by local aerialist Heidi Miller, will perform elegant high-flying dance in the hammock and silks, suspended high over the Library Lawn.