2025 Speakers and Workshop Leaders

2025 Speakers and Workshop Leaders

Read about the 14th annual Yampa Valley Crane Festival speakers, workshop leaders, bird walk leaders and more.

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

Keynote Speaker

Dr. George Archibald co-founded the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1973, along with Dr. Ronald Sauey, a colleague and friend from Cornell University, as a global center to study and conserve cranes and protect the habitats and flyways they need to survive.

For 27 years, Dr. Archibald served as the President of the Foundation.In 2000, he passed on this leadership, and ever since, he has continued his full-time work to help raise the funds needed to fulfill the Foundation’s mission, while also supporting the many global programs he started. His current focus involves work in Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cuba, China, Pakistan, South Korea, and Russia. Dr. Archibald has always used the charisma of cranes to help unite people from diverse cultures and countries to work together to preserve habitats necessary for the survival of both cranes and people.

For more than 50 years, his visionary leadership and determined optimism have supported integrated programs to conserve all 15 species of cranes worldwide. He envisioned programs developed and implemented using a creative combination of field research, public education, habitat protection, captive propagation, reintroduction, and partnership with local communities living near the cranes. One of Dr. Archibald’s first projects in North America was to save the Endangered Whooping Crane, which was on the brink of extinction.

Dr. Archibald received his undergraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1968, and completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1977. In recognition for his accomplishments, he has received four honorary doctorates and many awards including the Gold Medal from the World Wildlife Fund, a Fellows Award from the MacArthur Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Medal from the Zoological Society of San Diego, the Lilly Medal presented by the Indianapolis Zoo, and the Douglas H. Pimlott Award from Nature Canada. In 2013, Archibald was awarded the Order of Canada on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II and received the inaugural Dan W. Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership from the National Audubon Society.

Dr. Archibald lives in the countryside near the International Crane Foundation’s headquarters, where he enjoys gardening and aviculture.

Additional Speakers

Dr. Dan Collins

Dr. Dan Collins is a Migratory Game Bird Biologist and USFWS Rocky Mountain Sandhill Crane Expert. For the past 10 years, he’s been involved in research and monitoring of the Rocky Mountain and Lower Colorado River Populations of Greater Sandhill Cranes. Dan has been able to trap and mark close to 1000 cranes, fly fall surveys, conduct recruitment surveys, and be involved with many aspects of western greater sandhill crane management and conservation at local, regional, and Flyway scales.

Sue Riffe

Sue Riffe is the owner of She Flew Birding Tours, a Colorado-based birding company. With over 30 years of birding and 20 years as a band director, Sue has some unique skills in teaching bird sounds. She also is an avid bird sound recordist with over 2,000 published bird sounds that have been used in presentations, documentaries, and short films. Let me help you hear bird sounds in a different way!

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.

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 2025!

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.

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.

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.

Stevi Quate

While growing up, I had two dreams: to become a ballerina or to teach. Teaching won out.  Most of the 25 years that I spent in the classroom were in a suburb north of Denver. My love was teaching students how to write and how to see themselves as writers.

Little did I know that I would become a published writer myself.  A few years ago, my colleague, John McDermott, and I wrote Clock Watchers and The Just Right Challenge. In addition, my published writing includes a short story, multiple journal articles, and a few chapters about professional development for teachers.

I never imagined that I would leave the classroom, but when I was encouraged to be the literacy coordinator at Colorado Department of Education (CDE), I thought I would give it a try. At the same time, I co-directed Colorado Writing Project. During this time, I was president of CLAS (Colorado Language Arts Society) and a few years later president of CCIRA (Colorado Council on International Reading Association). After CDE, I moved to the teacher education program at the University of Colorado at Denver. Since I officially retired from UCD, I’ve worked as a staff developer with PEBC (Public Education and Business Coalition), a consultant with international schools, and facilitator of workshops focused on writing.

At this point, you won’t find me in a school but working on my own writing, getting lost in a book, or finding a new place to hike.

Jeremiah Psiropoulos

Jeremiah Psiropoulos is a professional wildlife biologist with 15 years of experience. After more than a decade with a federal land management agency, he decided to go into business for himself sharing his passion and enthusiasm for wildlife with others, and Antigone Wildlife Tours was born. Originally from Oregon, he now lives on a ranch in northwest Colorado, along with his wife Emily, her mother Penny, and their dog, Cricket.

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.

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!

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

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 2025!

Sue Riffe

She is the owner and guide of She Flew Birding Tours, a Colorado based bird watching tour company. Sue has been birding for more than 30 years and has led tours to most of the major hotspots around the U.S and even Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica. She spent 20+ years as a band director and professional musician, which gives her a unique understanding of bird songs and how to teach them to others. With nearly 2,000 bird sound files uploaded to Xeno-Canto and Macaulay Libraries, her work encompasses six countries and has been featured in documentaries, small movies and presentations. She has given back to the birding community by serving on the boards of Babson Park Audubon in Florida and Fort Collins Audubon in Colorado, leading workshops and trips for Denver Field Ornithologist’s Master Birder Program, and most recently as the field trip chair for Colorado Field Ornithologist. A crazy goal she has is to participate in every Christmas Bird Counts in Colorado with fifty-one down and only seven to go. All of this started with her spark bird, an American Kestrel male, in a spotting scope at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Florida. What a journey that beautiful bird started!

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.

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.