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SENIOR NATURALISTS
Find out more about becoming a Senior Naturalist.
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Luanne has always been an avid outdoors enthusiast. In her past life, she was a Doctor of Dental Surgery. Currently, she's a potter and the coordinator for an environmental research/education program on the Caribbean island of Saba.
According to Luanne, "I have so much enjoyed both the kids and the staff at DNS; they have all helped me grow by helping them grow!"
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Photo and bio to come.
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Lori is a recent graduate of Fort Lewis College who has fallen in love with Durango. She has been working with Durango Nature Studies as a volunteer for close to a year and has enjoyed working with the creativity of kids in nature.
Her future plans are to receive a masters in education in order to enjoy teaching children.
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Bio to Come
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JJ is a retired aquatic director, day camp coordinator and Red Cross program instructor. She has been an active DNS volunteer naturalist since 2002 and served on the board of directors through 2009.
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“Someday, I want to be a teacher of things like trees and birds, like a Park Ranger” from Erika’s journal, age 10.
Although Erika went to engineering school in Vermont, she always wanted to be in Outdoor Education. She attended nature walks, and watched carefully, learning the ways of Park Interpreters and DOW Rangers. After countless hours in a cubicle while raising her two boys in Seattle, she kept thinking back to her woodsy aspirations. In 2003, she married a Durango man who also had two kids, and made the move to the area. Now back among the trees and working as an independent technical writer, she volunteers for DNS in the Fall, Winter, and Spring.
After four years of volunteering, she is planning to return to school for her degree in the Environmental Sciences. “I hope to take the knowledge from these courses and be a better naturalist for DNS in the future!”
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Bio to come.
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Linda has lived in the Durango area for over 30 years. She graduated from Fort Lewis College with a BS in General Biology and a Natural History endorsement. Linda also received an MA in Environmental Studies from Prescott College. She has been a middle school science teacher (Life and Earth Science) for Durango School District for over 20 years and a Project WILD Project/ Learning Tree facilitator for 12 years.
She helped coordinate the River Watch Network Program in the Durango Schools and worked in collaboration with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado Water Conservation Board to develop an interdisciplinary curriculum around the Animas River watershed, entitled Animas River Curriculum Project. She was awarded Project WILD Project Learning Tree Facilitator of the Year in 1995. Linda joined the volunteer team of naturalists at DNS in the fall of 2007.
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Orien moved to Durango in 2007. Prior to that she lived in Flagstaff Arizona. She loves hiking, skiing, biking, and being on the river with her family. She holds an MBA and works in Institutional Research at Fort Lewis College. She voulunteers at Durango Nature Studies because she wants to share her love of nature with the area children, and because her children are now thanking her for all the forced marches she took them on.
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Estella grew up with an appreciation of nature thanks to her father and has many fond memories of fishing, hiking and observing the outdoors with her family. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Fort Lewis College with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Chemistry and has worked in aquatic ecology for over 5 years.
She is passionate about sharing her love of nature with others and cherishes the sense of place that wilderness and roadless areas provide. In addition to enjoying gardening, backpacking, rafting, telemark skiing, traveling and camping, Estella also plays fiddle in a local folkicanagrass band with her husband, Brad Bartlett, called Wild Mountain.
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Cindy enjoys the outdoors. She has an extensive garden where she collects specimens to use in classes. Her terriers love to hike with her and often find the best things she uses in her demonstrations.
Favorite book is Last Child in the Woods. She believes a child who explores life's possibilities outdoors is a better student all around and becomes a curious adult. To watch the wonderment and surprise on a child's face is very rewarding when teaching children how all thing are connected through the nature around us.
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Kathy moved to Durango in 2010 from northern Arkansas. A former teacher (K-12), she enjoys hiking, canoeing, biking and camping. Besides the outdoors, her passion is music. Kathy is a singer/multi-instrumentalist and plays oldtime, celtic, bluegrass and folk music. She has played with numerous bands in Arkansas and now in Durango. She enjoys sharing her love of nature by volunteering at DNS.
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Terry moved to Durango in 2010 from the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas where he grew up camping and hiking in the Ozark Nat. Forest and canoeing on the Buffalo River. He was active in trail building and numerous outdoor and environmental organizations in Arkansas. He has both DVM and MD degrees and served as medical director of a 7 clinic Community Health Center in northern Arkansas. He now spends time rafting and kayaking on the Animas River, hiking, working part time as a family physician and teaching Wilderness Medicine courses with Wilderness Medical Associates.
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Sandhya is a California native who moved to Colorado six years ago to attend Colorado College. There she received her Bachelors in Environmental Science and began her lifelong love of Colorado. She is passionate about environmental issues and currently works for the Four Corners Office of Resource Efficiency in Durango. She is a senior naturalist with Durango Nature Studies and has volunteered with a rural development nonprofit in India that built wells. Sandhya loves riding her bike, trail running, rock climbing, and exploring the vast wilderness that makes up Durango's backyard.
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Adam is from a small island off the coast of South Carolina. He has had much to explore since moving to Durango in the spring of 09, taking on a Crew leader/trainer position with Southwest Conservation Corps. where he has traveled as far as the Lincoln Nation Forest, NM to the Columbine District bordering Wyoming working on Land Conservation Projects via the Land Management Agencies.
Past lives have included being a kayak guide, Outward Bound Instructor, Special Ed. Instructor k-12, Behavior Managment Specialist, Teen and Young Adult Recreational Program Director, Summer Camp Director,LNT Trainer, Americorps NCCC member, WOOFer. After obtaining a Land/wildlife Conservation & Sport Nutrition Degree from Penn Foster University, he has made it his goal to inspire people of all ages to get outside and see how its all connected.
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Edy moved to Durango in 2000. She was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and also lived in Papua New Guinea for part of her teens. She has bachelors in Biology and Environmental Studies, and an MA in Urban and Regional Planning. She worked in the environmental consulting and urban planning fields for 20 years. Her time is currently spent volunteering, and learning the violin and Geographic Information Systems.
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