About Us » Our Philosophy : Staff : Trip Leaders
Ethan Aumack is our Director of the Kane and Two Mile Ranches. His work is primarily focused on efforts to initiate or accelerate recovery of natural landscapes and processes, and native plant and animal species in the region. Ethan earned a B.A. from Swarthmore College and an M.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from Northern Arizona University.
Christine Albano is our Restoration Program Coordinator and wrangles research and restoration projects on the Kane and Two Mile Ranches. Christine has 7 years of graduate research and professional experience in ecological assessment and monitoring stream and riparian systems in the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and on the Colorado Plateau. She has a B.S. in Biology from Westminster College and an M.S. in Ecology from Colorado State University.
Dustin Berger is a Rangeland Management Specialist for the USDA Forest Service, Kaibab National Forest, North Kaibab Ranger District. His program involves work with livestock grazing permittees, non-native invasive weed control, watershed management, fire rehabilitation, and understory vegetation management. He is also involved with wildlife habitat projects, wilderness management, wildland fire, and water quality.
Jan Busco is Horticulturist at Grand Canyon National Park and author of Native Plants for High Elevation Western Gardens. She studies horticulture and ecological restoration and has worked with wonderful native plants and equally wonderful volunteersat the Theodore Payne Foundation, California Native Plant Society, Grand Canyon National Park, The Arboretum at Flagstaff, and Mountain Meadow Farm.
Brett Dickson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Education at NAU and Post Doctoral Fellow with the Grand Canyon Trust. Brett's research interests include using spatial models in ecology, avian ecology, carnivore biology, and quantifying the effects of disturbance, fragmentation, and urbanization on wildlife communities. Brett received a Ph.D. in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from Colorado State University and M.S. in Forestry from NAU.
Wynne Geikenjoyner's heart is now where it belongs?in conservation. Studying and working in ecology during the ?90s, she became passionate about protecting and restoring natural communities. After a several year hiatus she returned to conservation, volunteering for the Grand Canyon Trust's Utah program in 2007 and the Paria Canyon tamarisk removal project in 2009. She joined our staff as a field technician in 2008. Wynne also serves as conservation officer for the Colorado Plateau Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology, and runs a small Colorado business with her amazing husband, Mark. She is thrilled to join this inspirational team!
Wendy Hodgson has lived in the Sonoran Desert for nearly 40 years. She is the Director of the Herbarium and Research Botanist at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, where she has worked for nearly 35 years. The Colorado Plateau and Grand Canyon are focus areas for her studies, especially the documentation of flora and new species. She wrote Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert, which won the Society of Economic Botany's Klinger Book Award in 2001.
Hillary Hudson is currently a graduate student in Environmental Sciences and Policy at NAU where she devotes more of her life to the world of weeds. She loves spending time outdoors getting dirty and tired. A child during the 70s, her fate as a conservationist was sealed by the National Advertising Council's crying Native American on horseback ad urging people to not litter.
Lori Makarick is the Vegetation Program Manager for Grand Canyon National Park. She has spent most of her adult life living and working in the Grand Canyon area and is committed to protecting its diverse natural resources. Lori grew up in New Jersey but began a steady, determined migration west as soon as she could drive. The co-author of River and Desert Plants of the Grand Canyon, she is currently learning to capture the intricacies of plants through digital macro lenses, so you might find her crawling on the ground somewhere in Grand Canyon.
Melissa McMaster is currently a graduate student at the School of Forestry at NAU. The seed of her graduate work started as she was employed as a field ecologist for the Trust for two summers. Through a great partnership with the Trust and NAU, she was awarded funding from the Joint Fire Science Program to study the effects on vegetation in the Warm Fire. She enjoys dancing with Canyon Movement Company, boating on western rivers, and playing house.
Steve Monroe is a hydrologist and aquatic ecologist with the National Park Service, working on water issues in national parks throughout the Southern Colorado Plateau. He previously worked for more than 15 years with the U.S. Geological Survey. Steve has hiked extensively throughout the Grand Canyon, researching the hydrology and ecology of its springs and seep. Based in Flagstaff, Steve is an avid explorer of the Four Corners region, hiking and skiing in the areas spectacular mountains, and wandering endless canyons by boat and on foot. Steve holds an M.S. in Forestry from Northern Arizona University.
Lauren Mork is an M.S. student in Environmental Sciences and Policy at NAU. Her thesis research, set against the backdrop of the 2006 Warm Fire on the Kaibab Plateau, focuses on the effects of grazing post-fire on plant community regeneration. Lauren earned a B.A. from Earlham College in 2001, and prior to beginning grad school worked as an Outward Bound instructor for 7 years. She loves running rivers and climbing rocks.
Mary O'Brien joined Grand Canyon Trust in 2003 as the Southern Utah Forests Project Manager. She co-coordinates the Three Forests Coalition's efforts to obtain greater care for native wildlife, vegetation, and ecosystems on southern Utah's three national forests. Since earning a B.S. in Sociology, a Masters in Elementary Education, and a Ph.D. in Botany, Mary has worked as a staff scientist for toxics reform, environmental law, and conservation organizations for 25 years.
Steve Rice earned his M.S. in Geology from Northern Arizona University. He is currently the Hydrologist, Cave Resource Manager, and Abandoned Mineral Lands Coordinator at Grand Canyon National Park. Since moving to Flagstaff in 2004, he has studied springs and groundwater hydrology in the Verde Valley, Escalante Basin, Grand Canyon and the surrounding plateaus. His current research interests include the groundwater hydrology of the Kaibab and Coconino Plateaus. He has extensive backcountry hiking experience and enjoys exploring the far reaches of Grand Canyon by foot or boat.
Steve Till is a mad field botanist who has spent many years of his life roaming the Southwest reading vegetation transects and leading volunteers in the removal of invasive species. Steve spent his early years in the sky islands of southern Arizona and graduated from the NAU with a degree in Biology.
Kassy Theobald is the Crew Leader and Volunteer Coordinator for the Vegetation Program at Grand Canyon National Park. She started as a volunteer with the Veg Program in 2004 and was hooked. Kassy loves to explore the Grand Canyon while climbing, hiking, rafting, and canyoneering.
Mindy Wheeler joined the Trust in January of 2010 to get the new year going in a fresh and exciting direction. Before coming to the Trust, Mindy was principal of her own Salt Lake City environmental consulting firm for 11 years. Her company concentrated on the vegetation component of projects such as rare plant surveys and vegetation community mapping, but also included NEPA documentation, land management plans, ecological restoration plans and implementation, and wildlife habitat assessments for a variety of clients. Previously, Mindy worked for a small consulting firm in Boulder, Colorado. She earned an M.S. in Rangeland Ecosystem Science from Colorado State University, and a B.S. in Biology at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. When she is not in the field, Mindy enjoys backcountry skiing, music events, traveling, and friends.
