2024 Festival Speakers
Leia Barnett
Leia Barnett was born and raised in the foothills and arroyos of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. She is thrilled to bring her love and deep reverence for the high desert country of the Southwest to the Greater Gila campaign as the Greater Gila New Mexico Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. Leia graduated summa cum laude from the University of New Mexico’s cultural anthropology program, where she focused on the ways the more-than-human world can be reimagined through anthropological theory and practice. When she’s not endeavoring to understand the complexities of a successful conservation campaign, Leia can be found mountain-side or river-side, praising the feathered and four-legged ones, and planning her next epic snack.
Allison Boyd
Allison Boyd received her initial tracking education through Sky Island Alliance and was involved for several years with monitoring two transects in the Burro Mountains. She also participated in additional training with Bob Ollerton, CyberTracker specialist and received her level 1 certificate in 2021. Tracking is now a part of all her outdoor adventures.
Guadalupe Cano
Guadalupe Cano is currently serving her fourth term as the District 4 Town Councilor in Silver City. She also serves as the Mayor Pro-Tem and is a Certified Municipal Official (CMO). She is also in her second term as Vice President of the board of Outdoor New Mexico. A native of Silver City, her love of the Gila began as a small child, when her late father introduced her to the art of fly-fishing. She uses her elected title to further any work to conserve and protect the Gila River and its surrounding forest. Her main interest lies in finding sustainable ways to make public lands more accessible, especially to those with mobility issues.
Corina Castillo
Born and raised in the Mining District, Corina Castillo has a special connection to the Gila and the surrounding area. She went to school in Arizona and graduated with a degree in Health Sciences from Arizona State University. She is the Development and Communications Specialist with Gila Resources Information Project. She hopes the work she does with GRIP encourages local representation from Hispanics and those from the Mining District in matters of conservation.
Van Clothier
Van Clothier is the owner of Stream Dynamics, Inc. that specializes in turning runoff and erosion problems into water harvesting opportunities with water harvesting earth works, urban stormwater retrofits, and riparian and wetland restoration in both urban and wildland settings. Van has worked extensively in New Mexico and Arizona on a variety of restoration projects. He is the co-author with Bill Zeedyk of the book Let the Water Do the Work: Induced Meandering, an Evolving Method for Restoring Incised Channels (2009).
Phillip Connors
Phillip Connors left his job at the Wall Street Journal in New York City to embrace his new profession as a fire lookout in the Gila Wilderness and as a writer and essayist dealing with environmental and wilderness issues. A Song for the River is his third book, after Fire Season, winner of the prestigious Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award, and All the Wrong Places, a memoir of his brother’s life and death. Phil spends the fire season as a lookout in the Gila National Forest and for the rest of the year he lives in southwestern New Mexico with his wife Monica.
Martha S. Cooper
Martha Cooper provides strategic direction for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in New Mexico’s freshwater conservation priorities, works closely with TNC’s Colorado River Program and collaborates with partners. In Southwest New Mexico, Martha manages restoration, monitoring and stewardship projects with partners on the Gila and Mimbres River Preserves and in their watersheds. An ongoing priority for New Mexico is to protect the natural flows of the Gila River through science and policy.
Michael Darrow
Michael Darrow is the Secretary-Treasurer of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe, and has been the designated Tribal Historian since 1986. He attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in botany, and received an associate degree in Museum Studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He has worked for the Tribe on Native American Grave Protection and Reparations Act and on cultural and language preservation issues.
Dylan Duvergé
Dylan is a licensed professional geologist with a Master’s degree in Applied Geosciences from San Francisco State University. Throughout his career, he has pursued his passions for geomorphology, hydrology, severe weather/natural disasters, and science communication. He is owner of Stratus Environmental, LLC, an environmental consulting business that specializes in GIS/mapping, water resources management, litigation support, soil and groundwater remediation, and environmental impact assessments. He is passionate about the Gila River and its watershed and is excited to share some of what he has learned about the river’s hydrology and the likely impacts from climate change
Tony Estrada
As a Diné filmmaker, Tony Estrada creates his own original docs & feature films on social causes & environmental issues to raise the spiritual awareness of global audiences – inspiring them to make a pro-active change within their own communities. As a production company, Wild Horse Films serves non-profit programs/projects dealing with climate justice, environmental justice or social justice issues to raise awareness of their cause, call to action, and enlist potential allies, stakeholders, and financial supporters in moving their program goal forward.
Carol Ann and Mike Fugagli
Conservation Biologists, Mike and Carol Ann Fugagli have hung up their birding binoculars and instead are peering into a microscope investigating the fascinating world of the soil microbiome. They are keenly aware that carbon drawdown is a necessary component to fixing our global climate crisis and are working with researchers around the world to create ‘smart villages’; places where knowledge is shared to empower communities for food security and where regenerative agriculture practices are observed.
Gregor Hamilton
Gregor Hamilton works for The Nature Conservancy’s New Mexico Chapter as the Southwest Field Coordinator, where he manages the Gila and Mimbres River Preserves. He is a biologist who has studied amphibians, reptiles, and stream ecology in southwest New Mexico for the past 11 years. He received a bachelor’s degree in Forest and Wildlife Biology from Western New Mexico University in 2016 and a Ph.D. in Stream Ecology from the University of New Mexico in 2023. He lives in Cliff, NM with his wife and two old beagles, who are absolutely terrible at helping them find oysters and morels despite much wishful thinking.”
Mike Hasson
Mike Hasson is a 22-year resident of Glenwood. The last 20 plus years of his career was spent as Technical Director for a company providing solutions for eliminating aquatic invasive species from being transported in ship’s ballast water. He is a husband, gardener, woodworker, and aspiring luthier.
Eric Head
Eric was hired by Trout Unlimited in mid-2023 to fill the new Gila Trout Project Manager position. His work focuses on Gila Trout headwater restoration, education, and advocacy primarily within the Gila National Forest. He lives in Silver City with his lovely wife, Heather, and on occasion can be found playing trombone at local jazz jams.
Lisa Johanson
Lisa Johanson is a clinical research scientist studying motor control and neural networks that can restore function to individuals with neurological disorders. Her research focus is restoring neuromuscular control and upper limb function after spinal cord injury by using brain imaging and measures of muscle activation to guide treatment approaches. As a principal investigator at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System she collaborated with core groups of scientists and clinicians to improve the quality of life for veteran patients. Lisa is co-founder of the L&J Ranch, along with Joel Slayton. The L&J Ranch is an art + research venture that explores the relationship between ‘place’ and the life it enables.
Stanley King
In 1969, Stanley King graduated with a BSEE degree from the University of Washington. I spent 10 years working the corporate world of America from Silicon Valley rocket science to implementing environmental reports for Nuclear Power Generation. He retreated to the Gila Wilderness in 1979 to get back to nature and felt a very connected calling to the largest road-less and wilderness area in the continental US. His calling on the western slope of the Gila, one of the most pristine areas left on planet earth, is to be a custodian of this environment and protect it from reckless pollution and abuse.
Luke Koenig
Luke Koenig is a lover of all things wild and so it is only fitting that he finally stumbled into the Gila region. He’s been an Americorps volunteer in southern Utah, worked a brief stint with the NPS in Yellowstone, and was a volunteer coordinator for Wild Arizona before landing his dream job with New Mexico Wild. As a grassroots organizer, Luke seeks to connect people to the wild landscape right in our backyard and elevate community voices as we aim to better protect it. When he’s not working (and sometimes while he is), he’s off exploring the Gila Wilderness, usually with his backpacking gear, fly rod, or a rope. He’s proud to call Silver City home.
Alex Mares
Alex Mares is of Diné and Mexican- American descent. He has served as a Park Ranger and Interpreter for nearly 35yrs in both New Mexico and Texas. He is the former Lead Ranger for the Sacred Site known as Hueco Tanks. He has also served as Tribal Liaison for the NM Wilderness Alliance, where he successfully garnered support from multiple Southwest tribes for the establishment of the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument. He also currently serves on the NM Team for NASA Goddard Space Center’s- Climate Change Public Education project. For nearly a decade, he has participated in the Gila River Festival as tour leader, inter- tribal forum moderator and has helped establish tribal support for this important event.
Carol Martin
Carol Martin completed a tracking seminar given by Arizona Sky Island Alliance. Her field work was on two transects in the Burro Mountains west of Silver City for several years. This tracking knowledge was useful on forest surveys of land for potential expansion of the Gila and Aldo Wilderness’s to be included in the Gila Forest Plan.
Donna Stevens
Donna Stevens is a seasonal botanist with the Gila National Forest. She is the co-author, with Jack L. Carter, Martha Carter, and Jennifer Bousselot, of Common Southwestern Native Plants: An Identification Guide, now in its third edition. Her first Gila National Forest botanical survey took place in 1995, and she’s been learning and loving the Gila’s glorious flora ever since. Donna was also the long-time coordinator of the Gila River Festival before her retirement in 2023.
Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr.
Dr. Wendsler Nosie Sr. is the founder and leader of Apache Stronghold and Director of Gaan Bike Goz aa where he advocates for indigenous religious and human rights. He has led the fight to protect the Apache sacred site of Oak Flat (Chi’chil Biłdagoteel) from a proposal to develop one of the world's largest copper mines. Wendsler is a former Peridot District Councilman and Tribal Chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which consists of nearly 17,000 tribal members on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.
Mónica Ortiz Uribe
Bilingual, binational reporter based on America's southern doorstep. Co-host of @iHeartRadio Forgotten: The Women of Juárez.
Michael J. Robinson
Michael J. Robinson is a senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity and author of Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West (University Press of Colorado). Robinson is also the primary author of the Center for Biological Diversity’s petition-for-rulemaking to reintroduce jaguars to the Gila National Forest.
Monica Rude
Monica Rude, an herbalist and life-long gardener, manages the Gila Valley Library garden, along with a cadre of volunteer weedscapers.
Sharman Apt Russell
Sharman Apt Russell has published some dozen books translated into nine languages. Her Diary Of A Citizen Scientist won the 2016 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Natural History Writing. Her most recent nonfiction book is What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs (Columbia University Press, 2024). Sharman teaches in the MFA program of Antioch University in Los Angeles and is a professor emeritus at Western New Mexico University in Silver City. For more information go to www.sharmanaptrussell.com
Joe Saenz
Outfitter Joe Saenz, owner of Wolfhorse Outfitters, is of Chihe´ne (Warm Springs Apache) ancestry and is part of the Red Paint Tribal Council. He has extensive guiding experience in horseback and backpacking expeditions throughout the American Rocky Mountains including Canada, Mexico’s Sierra Madre, and Alaska’s Brooks Range.
Devyn Scott
Devyn is a passionate second-year Zoology student at Western New Mexico University, where his love for wildlife and conservation started at a young age. Originally from Illinois, he spends his time enjoying the diverse ecosystem the American Southwest has to offer. He is an active member of the Bird Alliance of Southwestern New Mexico and hopes to soon kickstart a conservation alliance at WNMU.
Allyson Siwik
Since 2003, Allyson has served as the executive director of the Gila Resources Information Project. She is also the director of the Gila Conservation Coalition that works to protect the free flow of the Gila River and co-founder of the Gila River Festival. She has over 30 years of experience in environmental protection, conservation. She has worked extensively with local communities in the borderlands to resolve environmental problems, including binational air quality management, mining environmental impacts, water quality and water supply concerns, and community-wide initiatives on climate change and sustainability.
Joel Slayton
Joel Slayton is an artist, researcher, and curator with expertise in using media technology to explore complex systems and networks. He is Professor Emeritus at San Jose State where he founded the CADRE Laboratory for New Media in 1984. Joel Slayton is on the Board of Directors of LEONARDO/International Society for Art, Science and Technology. He was the 2019 Sterling Visiting Scholar in the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Joel Slayton is co-founder of the L&J Ranch, along with Lisa Johanson. The L&J Ranch is an art + research venture that explores the relationship between ‘place’ and the life it enables.
Ray Trejo
Ray Trejo is an avid Montezuma quail hunter and dog trainer from Deming, New Mexico. Ray spent most of his years as a public school educator and administrator. Today, Ray is the Southwest Coordinator for the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and President of Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project which focuses on getting children outdoors and increasing public access to land.
Cynthia Wolf
Cynthia has wondered and wandered about the landscape her whole life and she is an advocate for all things Wild!
Scott Zager
A professional botanist and plant ecologist for over twenty-five years, Scott has surveyed vegetation across large, wild landscapes and has constructed ecological maps using a combination of techniques including GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software, remote sensing (air photo interpretation), and field investigation. As a GIS specialist for Gila Resources Information Project, Scott is providing GIS mapping and conducting biological surveys for its Silver City Watershed restoration work. He is also creating interactive, online maps through which citizens can monitor sensitive environmental sites and record their observations in real time. Such mapping applications can be used to coordinate the activities of volunteer citizen-scientists in efforts to protect our environment.