Desert Institute Instructors
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THOMAS COYNE is the modern founder of Survival Training School of California. His experience working in outdoor leadership in all four seasons and extreme weather conditions, when lives were on the line, has led to him forming Survival Training School of California’s results oriented approach. Navigating with Map & Compass & Desert Survival |
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PAT FLANAGAN has a B.A. degree in Biology and for over 30 years has worked as a naturalist educator leading tours and teaching classes in the deserts of the southwest, including Baja California. Currently she is designing and writing science and history curriculum for 4th through 6th grade students in the Imperial Valley and the Salton Basin. The curriculum focuses on the ecology of the Colorado Desert and the explorers that experienced this desert during the opening of the West. Desert Discovery Quest for Families & Walk Lucky Boy Vista to Split Rock |
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CRAIG FUCILE, B.A., Physical Geography, teaches photography for University of California, Riverside Extension. A long time instructor, Fucile has taught numerous photography workshops in western landscapes that he enjoys photographing including: Joshua Tree, Death Valley, Eastern Mojave, Owens Valley, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Anza-Borrego, Kings Canyon, Sequoia. He received the Fall 2010 Instructor Excellence Award from UC Riveside Extension and the 2007 distinguished Instructor Award from UC Irvine Extension. Photographing the High Desert |
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WILLIAM HAYES, Ph.D, Zoology and Physiology, Professor of Biology, Loma Linda University. Hayes specializes in the ecology of venoms and venomous animals, behavioral ecology and conservation of lizards, and behavioral ecology, taxonomy, and conservation of birds. He has published numerous works, taught and organized conferences and workshops, and has given multiple television contributions. Hayes currently teaches classes in behavioral ecology, herpetology, ornithology, and conservation. Desert Snakes: Fangs, Rattle and More |
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LIZ HILE is the Curator of Animals at The Living Desert and holds an MPS and MSC from Cornell University in Animal Nutrition and a BS in Wildlife Management from Purdue University. She has been in the zoo field for approximately 30 years and has managed a wide variety of taxa at several different facilities. Animal nutrition and operant conditioning and its application to captive management have been a primary focus throughout her career. The Trickster: Coyotes in Joshua Tree National Park |
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ANAHITA KING, B.F.A., Visual Communications, has taught art for over twenty years, and teaches pottery and watercolor locally in her Joshua Tree studio. She loves to spark another person’s inner drive to create something they may not have known could come out of their hands and imagination. As a graphic designer, she is the principal of King of Arts, and has worked for Disney and Baskin-Robbins. King exhibits her art nationally and abroad. www.anahitaking.com Watercolor Painting in Joshua Tree National Park |
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CYNTHIA KING graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art from the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds a master’s degree in painting from California State University, Northridge. She also holds a clear California teaching credential in art. She has taught art in both college and high school settings. kingarts.com Botanical Drawing with Ink on Clayboard |
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LEW KINGMAN is a retired fire fighter and worked for the Palm Springs Desert Museum as a hike leader for 8 years. He volunteers with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Search and Recue for over 19 years, Joshua Tree National Park as an archaeological site steward, and a “lead” field representative for the Desert Institute. Campfire Cuisine, Gourmet Cooking in Joshua Tree National Park |
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DEBORAH P. KOLODJI is primarily interested in short poetry forms. A member of the Haiku Society of America, the Science Fiction Poetry Associaion, and the Southern California Haiku Study group, her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Eclectrica, Ginbender Poetry Review, and many other places. Desert Haiku Writing in Joshua Tree National Park |
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KERRY KNUDSEN is a mycologist and lichenologist. He is the curator of the Lichen Herbarium at the UCR Herbarium. He is a taxonomist, a world expert in Acarosporaceae, who has described over 50 species, a majority from California. He recently completed an extensive inventory of Joshua Tree National Park, comprising 239 sites and 1,954 specimens, reporting over 145 taxa, including 6 new to science. From the biotic soil crusts of Joshua Tree he recently described with Jana Kocourkova and Bruce McCune a new species, Sarcogyne mitziae. Cryptobiotic Soils and Lichens of the Joshua Tree National Park |
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LAUREEN LENTZ is a retired NPS Interpretive Ranger and Volunteer Coordinator at Joshua Tree National Park. She has conducted tours at the Keys Ranch for 12 years and personally knows Bill Keys 92 year old son, Willis Keys. She is a board member of the Twentynine Palms Historical Society. Desert Queen Ranch and the Keys Family |
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KURT LEUSCHNER, M.S., Wildlife Ecology, is a Professor of Natural Resources at College of the Desert. Leuschner’s specialties include: ornithology, entomology, and desert ecology. He has led hundreds of field trips both locally and as far afield as Africa. He teaches natural history courses for the Bureau of Land Management, UCR Extension, the Desert Institute, the Living Desert, California State Parks, Riverside County Parks, and many other conservation organizations. Insects and Arthropods of Joshua Tree National Park. | |
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DIANE MCCLARY graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington with a major in teaching and art and studied with the well-known impressionist artist Sergei Bongart. Her paintings are distinguished by her unique use of color. She has taught workshops nationally as well as demonstrated for various art groups. Her studio/gallery is located in La Quinta, California. Light & Color: Oil Painting in Joshua Tree National Park |
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DAVID JESSE MCCHESNEY has photographed America’s National Parks for 38 years. He is the author of The Mojave Desert: Miles of Wonder and Muir Roots: At One with the Wild.He has been published around the globe and is the recipient of over fifty awards for his photographic work. David captures the life and color displayed in the Mojave Desert and uses his imagery to help preserve and celebrate the beauty found here. He travels the country offering visual presentations, tours and lectures related to nature, wildlife and bird life photography. www.outmywindows.com Advanced Photography Workshop |
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DENNIS MAMMANA, M.S., Astronomy, has delivered the wonder and mystery of the cosmos to audiences for over three decades. A nationally syndicated newspaper columnist with Creators Syndicate and author of six books on popular astronomy, Mammana is also an accomplished night sky photographer and invited member of TWAN—an international team of the most highly acclaimed sky photographers on the planet. Mammana photographs the heavens from around the world, but mostly from his desert home in Borrego Springs. www.dennismammana.com Night Sky Photography |
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CHRIS METZGER, M.A., is a retired teacher of 32 years. He has taught elementary school and middle school and high school mathematics. Since moving to the desert 10 years ago, he has carried on a study of the biographies of pioneers, homesteaders, cattlemen, miners, entrepreneurs, criminals, and “saints” that make up the history of Joshua Tree National Park and surrounding communities. He has hiked and backpacked throughout the Park and greatly enjoys stretching out tentless under our clear skies and starry nights. Hike Wall Street Mill to Barker Dam & Hike Lost Horse Loop |
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MICHAEL MOURA has been an avid backpacker, hiker, and camp food enthusiast since he was young. Cooking food outdoors was always a passion of his and he went on to become the assistant head cook for a summer camp in the southern Sierra’s for three years, where he created meals from scratch and brought his love of cooking to campers of all ages. His enthusiasm for cooking didn’t stop there, as an avid backpacker and car-camper he strives to bring gourmet cooking to the great outdoors where he believes that with a little ingenuity, fresh gourmet food can be made without all of life’s modern kitchen conveniences. In his daily life he works for a mortgage broker in Arcadia, CA where he processes mortgage loans, but behind the suit and tie is renegade foodie always searching for the next gourmet meal to be made under the stars. Campfire Cuisine, Gourmet Cooking in Joshua Tree National Park |
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RUTH NOLAN is a professor of creative writing and a scholar of desert literature at College of the Desert. She is a widely-published poet, writer and editor of “No Place for a Puritan: the literature of California’s deserts”. Her haiku poetry has appreared in the Southern Californa Haiku Anthology each year from 2010-2013. Desert Haiku Writing in Joshua Tree National Park | |
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RALPH NORDSTROM’s philosophy on photographic workshops is simple: they are successful when the attendees return home with a few great photographs and feeling that they have expanded what he likes to call their “Creative Vocabulary“; that is, their ability to express themselves through their photography. www.ralphnordstromphotography.com Fine Art Photography in Joshua Tree National Park |
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NICOLE PIETRASIAK received her Ph.D. in the Soil and Water Program at UC Riverside. Currently she is a post-doctoral fellow at John Carroll University, Ohio. Her research interests include soil science, botany, algal biodiversity, and desert ecology. Ms. Pietrasiak has conducted extensive research on cryptobiotic crusts across the western U.S. and has made major contributions to the study of abundance, distribution, and diversity of cryptobiotic crusts at Joshua Tree National Park. Cryptobiotic Soils and Lichens in Joshua Tree National Park |
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JOAN SCHNEIDER, Ph.D., Associate State Archaeologist, California State Parks, Colorado Desert District, has extensive experience in the archaeology of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and has been a principal investigator/project director for ongoing research in Joshua Tree National Park since 1991. Her interests are focused on geoarchaeology as well as settlement patterns and subsistence practices of early arid land peoples.Archaeology of Joshua Tree National Park. Archaeology of Joshua Tree National Park |
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| JIM SMART developed an interest in photography some fifty years ago when he took a high school course and made a pinhole camera, shot with a Speed Graflex, and took surfing photographs in Hermosa Beach with a 35mm Pentax. Jim teaches university courses in Communication Studies and English, including basic and college-level English courses, journalism, journalistic photography and online journalism. Desert Queen Ranch and the Keys Family |
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D.D. TRENT, Ph.D., Geology, Professor Emeritus, Citrus College. Trent has been an oil company geologist and involved in other geological projects since 1955. He has carried out extensive field research in Alaska, Utah, Arizona, and California, taught geology at Citrus College for 28 years, and served as adjunct faculty at the University of Southern California. He appears in the PBS telecourse series, The Earth Revealed and has been active in the National Association of Geoscience Teachers for 30 years, serving as chair for the Far Western Section and an officer at the national level. He is a recipient of the National Association of Geoscience Teacher’s Robert Wallace Webb Award and is author of numerous professional articles and co-author of the JTNPA publication, Joshua Tree National Park Geology. Geology: Creating the Joshua Tree Landscape |
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THERESA WALSH has a B.A. in Recreation Administration with an emphasis in Outdoor Education and has been teaching desert and mountain environment programs since 1991 to youth. She has worked with the National Outdoor Leadership School and Pacific Crest Outward Bound as an instructor and course director teaching youth and adults wilderness travel skills. Theresa has extensive experience leading groups through remote areas on 7 to 31 day trips focusing on backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing and natural history. Map and Compass for Families & Poop and Paws: Tracking for Families |
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CLAUDE WARREN, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Warren is considered to be one of the foremost archaeologists working in the Mojave Desert today and has contributed syntheses of the prehistory of the desert regions to both the Smithsonian Institution’s Handbook of North American Indians, vol.11 and California Archaeology. Archaeology of Joshua Tree National Park |
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MARK WHEELER has an M.S. in Education and a journeyman’s degree in natural history, having spent most of thirty years hiking and studying the mountain and desert landscapes of the west coast. Wheeler has worked extensively with wilderness-adventure programming groups such as outward Bound, training both students and instructors in wilderness travel skills and group dynamics. A working writer, he has focused on subjects about the natural world. Discover the Wonderland of Rocks, Explore Eagle Cliff Mine & Trekking to Lost Palms/Victory Palms |
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