2022 Festival Speakers
Jeff Arterburn
Jeff Arterburn has loved native trout since his childhood and has a special passion for Gila trout and the wild and scenic streams where they live. He’s been a Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at New Mexico State University since 1992 and is the founder and president of the Gila/Rio Grande Chapter of Trout Unlimited. Working with TU volunteers and agency partners, he has led the effort to monitor and improve stream habitat conditions in the Willow Creek watershed.
Skylar Begay
Skylar Begay is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and has Mandan and Hidatsa ancestry as well. He is the Tribal Outreach Fellow at Archaeology Southwest where he works on the Respect Great Bend campaign. As a young Indigenous person passionate about conservation, Skylar bring a perspective that incorporates his ancestry and his western education. He hopes to find effective ways of bridging these two worlds.
Michael Berman
Michael P. Berman’s classically executed black and white photographs participate in and extend the tradition of western landscape photography. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2008 to photograph the remnant grasslands of the Chihuahuan Desert. His photographs are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Amon Carter Museum and the Museum of New Mexico. In 2013, he received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in New Mexico and has also been a recipient of Painting Fellowships from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the Wurlitzer Foundation; his installations, photographs, and paintings have been reviewed in Art in America, and exhibited throughout the country.
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.
A.T. and Cinda Cole
A.T. Cole and his wife Cinda attended the same Scottsdale, Arizona high school, but didn’t know one another. They met as A.T. started law school, later marrying and moving to Casa Grande, Arizona where Cinda taught elementary school and A.T. practiced law for 32 years before retiring to the Pitchfork Ranch in 2003. They have realized 14 government grants to help restore the ranch and repair one of the few remaining Southwest arid land ciénagas - of which there were likely thousands before European arrival.
Martha S. Cooper
Martha S. Cooper manages restoration, science and stewardship projects on The Nature Conservancy’s Gila River Preserve. The Conservancy works with partners 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.
Allen Denoyer
Allen Denoyer has been working as a professional archaeologist in the Southwest and Rocky Mountains since the early 1990s. A skilled replicator of ancient artifacts, his replicas are used in classrooms, colleges, and universities, and his work has appeared on the television show Mythbusters.
Dylan Duvergé
Dylan is a licensed professional geologist with a strong interest in geomorphology, hydrology, and weather/climate. He currently works as an environmental consultant with a specialty in water resource management, and has had several previous jobs as an environmental educator. A relatively new resident in Silver City, he is excited to share all he has learned about the geologic story of the Gila River and its surrounding wilderness.
Claudia Elferdink
Claudia Elferdink has been active in river advocacy work since 1977, including producing TV documentaries and festivals on the Connecticut River and the Mill River in Massachusetts. She is a Unitarian Universalist minister who retired to Silver City to be with her children and grandchildren. Claudia is committed to the sacred power of water and multi-faith events to build community.
La Escuela de Curanderismo
La Escuela de Curanderismo has been operating in Grant county for almost seven years to enrich the community and our world with the healing systems of the Maya and Naga Maya. Through these ancient healing systems people deepen the Beauty in our world and our awareness of Nature.
Athena Wolf founded this international school for healers after studying curanderismo from the medicine man of the Yaquis in Tecate, Mexico and; studying Ayurveda (Naga Maya), in an ashram for 26 years. Norma Santos is a third generation curandera who graduated from La Escuela and now practices in Grant County; and Daniel Hernandez is a current student of La Escuela.
We are of the same Body as other people, animals, fish, plants, water, stones, the Earth, and all life in the Universe. This body is a manifestation of Spirit. Illness occurs when one does not live in balance with all these aspects of Self. The curandera/o sees illness in this framework and helps bring balance to individuals and this good Earth.
Neil Fuller
Neil was raised on his grandfather’s cattle ranch, a property of approximately 95,000 acres that encompassed 7 miles of the Lower Gila River Box. Retired from the USDA Soil Conservation Service/Natural Resources Conservation Service, Neil brings history to life as a volunteer with the NM Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. One of the characters he enjoys portraying is his grandfather so he can share his experiences as a homesteader and rancher along the Gila River.
John Gorey
John Gorey has been a field biologist since 2008 with expertise in birds, insects, and plants. He moved to the Silver City area in 2017, and since 2020 he has been surveying for Willow Flycatcher and Yellow-billed Cuckoos along the Gila River for the Nature Conservancy. He is an avid birder and butterflier and spends hundreds of hours a year walking along the Gila River in search of the wonderous things it provides.
Don Graves
Don Graves has spent the better part of his adult life in education, both informal and formal. He taught Biology at the community college level for over thirty years. In 2007, he was awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Working with youth has always been a special focus and Mr. Graves has worked closely with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and the Student Conservation Association.
Wendel Hann
Wendel is a rancher in Southwest New Mexico and national-level ecological consultant. Through a 30 plus-year career with the U.S. Forest Service, Wendel provided national leadership in fire and natural resource ecology for the Departments of Agriculture and Interior. Raised on a farm, he has always paralleled his professional travels with owning a local farm or ranch. Wendel is committed to imple-menting and expressing the values of holistic agricultural and wildland management. His lifelong wildland adventures, combined with mule packing and outfitting skills, have provided unique observations of landscape processes across North America.
Jay Hemphill
Jay Hemphill is a transplant from the Kansas City area. He moved to Silver City, NM in 1999 on a tennis scholarship to Western New Mexico University. It was at WNMU that he reluctantly enrolled in his first art course, photography! After the first semester in photo, he changed his degree to a BFA in photography, and the rest is history. After graduation he continued to backpack and photograph the Gila with his Toyo 4x5 View Camera and Mamiya 7ii. Those years of working with film cameras, especially the 4x5, taught him how to see 'LIGHT'. With a limited number of shots to work with, he was forced to take his time and compose shots rather than spray and pray. He failed many times, but it was an invaluable experience in his growth as a photographer. When he made the jump to digital in 2009, he was quickly blown away by the results. He remains constantly amazed by the possibilities that today's cameras have opened up for the creative artist. He believes that we are living in the most exciting time to be a photographer.
Karen Hymer
Karen Hymer earned her BFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Tufts University, and her MA and MFA in Fine Art Photography from the University of New Mexico. Karen actively exhibits her work both nationally and internationally. Her work is in several public collections, including the Center for Creative Photography and the Polaroid International Collection. Dark Spring Press released the first book of her work in April 2018. Karen is the owner of Light Art Space at 209 West Broadway in Silver City. The space features galleries, wet darkrooms, a sculpture garden, a printmaking studio, and teaching space. Karen offers workshops and private sessions in Photopolymer Gravure and alternative photographic processes.
Gwendolyn Lacy
Gwen is an attorney specializing in land, water, natural resources, and historic preservation law. Before moving to New Mexico, Gwen lived on the White Clay Creek Wild & Scenic River in Southeastern Pennsylvania. A member of the Gila Friends Meeting, Gwen is honored to participate in the Gila River Blessing.
Barnaby Lewis
Barnaby V. Lewis is the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Gila River Indian Community since February 2009. THPO consults with federal and state agencies regarding the religious and cultural significance of historic properties. Mr. Lewis supervises all aspects of cultural resource consultation in connection with federal, state, and tribal laws.
Theresa Lewis
Theresa Lewis is a certified Forest Therapy Guide through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. She helps others find peace and healing in the Forest and other natural environments. Social and environmental justice are important pieces of her identity, and she believes that access to natural, living spaces is a human right that helps communities and individuals to flourish. Her personal experiences with how stress can manifest—physically, mentally, and spiritually—drives her commitment to helping others find peace within themselves through Nature. The ripple effect of self-healing is so powerful, and she believes that forest therapy is a way she can facilitate positive, collaborative change in our world for individuals, communities, and our Nature Relations.
Alex Mares
Alex Mares is of Dine' and Mexican-American descent. He has worked professionally for over 30 years in conservation, protection and interpretation of both Natural and Cultural Resources in both Texas and New Mexico. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition, sits on the El Paso Museum of Archaeology Accession Committee and is certified by the National Association of Interpretation as an Interpretive Guide. He is the former Lead Ranger of the Sacred Site known as Hueco Tanks State Historic Site, where he still serves as a Certified Volunteer Guide. Recently, he was selected to join a team of educators, scientists and interpreters, representing the State of New Mexico at the Annual Earth to Sky Academy at Goddard Space Center, in Maryland - hosted and sponsored by both NASA and the National Parks Service to increase public awareness and education about Climate Change.
Marilyn Markel
Marilyn Markel is a Mimbres archaeologist, the education coordinator at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site, and the southwest New Mexico Chapter Coordinator for the New Mexico SiteWatch site steward program. In 2020, Marilyn received the prestigious Crabtree Award from the Society for American Archaeology for "outstanding contributions to archaeology."
Elysha Montoya
Elysha Montoya, Education and Outreach Coordinator for Heart of the Gila. Ms Montoya was born and raised in Bayard, New Mexico and comes from a long lineage of Gila River lovers. She is working towards her Social Work degree from Western New Mexico University. Elysha has been leading and teaching education workshops with Heart of the Gila since 2020 and loves to adventure in the Gila with her son, Kaylub.
Patrice Mutchnick
Patrice Mutchnick, Botanist, and Founder of the organization, Heart of the Gila. Ms Mutchnick has a Master's Degree from the School of Environmental and Plant Biology at Ohio University, and has lived and worked in the Gila for more than 18 years. She is currently assisting in completing the Floral Inventory of the Gila Cliff Dwellings, and oversees an Invasive Species Survey of the Gila Wilderness for the U.S. Forest Service.
Ron Parry
Ron Parry is a retired biochemist with a lifelong interest in natural history and environmental issues.
Bart Roselli
Bart is the Director of the Silver City Museum. He began his career more than 30 years ago in a recreated 19th Century village museum in his hometown of Middletown located in the Hudson Valley of New York State. He studied museum education and management at Bank Street College of Education in New York City and at the Getty Institute of Museum Management in Berkeley, California. He has plied his trade in museums of history, art, natural history, science and even a zoo. He has served on state, regional, and national museum associations and other community non-profits.
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.
Karen Schollmeyer
Dr. Karen Schollmeyer’s archaeological research includes studying long-term human-environment interactions, and food security. She is also interested in how archaeologists’ long-term insights can be applied to contemporary issues in conservation and development.
Nathan Small
Nathan first joined New Mexico Wild in in 2004, after graduating with dual degrees in Philosophy and English from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Nathan is a third generation New Mexican who comes from a family of ranchers and educators. Nathan was a key team member working to secure and then safeguard National Monument protection for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. Now there are 10 new wilderness areas in the OMDP, and Nathan’s focus on community conservation partnerships are a key part of recovering and rebuilding from the twin challenges of Covid-19 and the climate crisis. You’re as likely to see him riding horseback out in the OMDP wilderness areas as you are to see him walking on Las Cruces’ Main Street.
Elise Stuart
Elise Stuart, Poet Laureate of Grant County from 2014-2017, is the author of a collection of poems, Another Door Calls, and a memoir, My Mother and I, We Talk Cat. She facilitates an open poetry group, River Poets, that is still alive and growing, and hosts the monthly poetry event at Tranquil Buzz Coffeehouse in Silver City. She has led numerous poetry workshops with youth and supports their voices being heard. She is at work on a new book of poetry.
Leeanna Torres
Leeanna T. Torres is a native daughter of the American Southwest, a Nuevomexicana who has worked as an environmental professional throughout the West since 2001. Her essays have appeared in publications including Blue Mesa Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Eastern Iowa Review, Minding Nature, and High Country News. More recently, she has work in two anthologies by Torrey House Press including First and Wildest: The Gila Wilderness at 100 (2022).
Katherine West
Katherine West lives in Southwest New Mexico, near Silver City. She has written three collections of poetry: The Bone Train, Scimitar Dreams, and Riddle, as well as one novel, Lion Tamer. Her poetry hasappeared in journals such as Writing in a Woman's Voice, Lalitamba, Bombay Gin, New Verse News, Tanka Journal, Splash!, Eucalypt, Writers Resist, Feminine Collective and Southwest Word Fiesta. New Verse News nominated her poem “And Then the Sky” for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. In addition she has had poetry appear as part of art exhibitions at the Light Art Space gallery in Silver City, New Mexico, the Windsor Museum in Windsor, Colorado, and the Tombaugh Gallery in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is also an artist.