Home > 2010 Summit > Faculty

The following staff teach both adult and youth classes.

To read about the staff who manage the youth programs, logistics and volunteers, please read the Summit Handbook.

To read about the hike faculty, please read the Class Handbook (starting on page 32).

Judy Arledge has been creating pine needle baskets since 1980. Her work has been accepted for museum shows in a number of major American cities—one piece was selected for a journey to Latvia, representing "Artists for Peace." Recently her signature basket "Spirit Bear" was chosen to be a part of a collection of special pieces of Montana art to represent Missoula in their New Zealand sister city, Palmerston-North. Several galleries have shown her work and she has been featured in Sundance Catalog. As an educator, she has presented programs for schools, to share the important history and tradition of basketry for all nations and people. She states it has been an honor to share her passion for basketry as a staff instructor for participants in Family Summit events at various international locations.

Brian Barton is a State Park Ranger. He will be speaking about birds and doing early morning bird walks. In addition, on Friday morning, join Brian for “Breakfast With a Ranger”, where you can enjoy an informal breakfast with Brian and ask any questions that you would like answered about a modern day ranger’s life in the Lake Tahoe Basin as compared to their job historically.

Laird Blackwell is a published author on wildflowers of the region. He is also skilled in interpreting how wildflowers fit into the general ecology.

When not working on Family Nature Summits Chris Blank is a private practice attorney based in Newport Beach, California. His firm's focus is business litigation, business law, and bankruptcy. In addition to his law practice he sits on the board of a local educational non-profit organization and founded a political action committee to support local candidates. He has been coming to the Nature Summits since 1994. This is the highlight of the year for he and his sons. He has been a committed environmentalist since the 1970s and is excited about continuing the Summit mission.

Kathy Blank is a graduate of Northwestern University and was a junior high school teacher until her first child arrived. She has three children, one of whom is the Summit’s own Chris Blank. In 1978 she again entered the classroom as a junior high school math and English teacher. When her youngest came to her school she took accounting classes and became a bookkeeper/accountant. She served as Controller of Plaza Communications and publisher of “Registered Representative” for nine years, then opened her own bookkeeping business which still serves clients today. Retirement? Not Now!!! Her hobbies include Scrabble and this year, she will be the facilitator for the Summit Book Club which will be reading My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir and The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown.

Matt Blank was 7 when he attended his first summit in New Hampshire. He has been attending them ever since and is excited to have added a rock climbing class to the program. He has been instructing and guiding rock climbing for the last 5-1/2 years. Matt enjoys many thrill-seeking activities and always stresses safety first so he can keep enjoying them.

Carla Brown is originally from Atlantic Canada - she was born in Newfoundland and her parents live in Nova Scotia. She became acquainted with Family Nature Summits when they were run by the National Wildlife Federation, where she has worked on the internet team since 2000. She taught at the Summits in Montana, Maine, Colorado, New Brunswick, Oregon and Silver Bay. She taught crafts such as hand quilting, crazy quilting and rug hooking, as well as classes in green lifestyles, global warming solutions and raising children as global citizens. Her daughter said her first "word" at a Summit (a bear's roar in Colorado) and now her parents come to Summits as well.

Gloria Brown is a Decorative Artist from Nova Scotia, Canada, who taught acrylic painting for 18 years. She has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education. She also paints in oils and watercolors. Her original designs are often inspired by scenes in Atlantic Canada and have been featured on several Decorative Art catalogue covers. She is also a Folk Artist, creating with wood, tin, glass, buttons and fabric. Her passion is especially rewarding when she can resurrect something which has been discarded and make it functional and attractive. As in previous years, her classes continue to use recycled materials. This year, she adds old cutlery to her list. This is her fifth Summit. Gloria is married to Summit Logistics Coordinator, Carl Brown, is the proud mom of Summit instructor, Carla Brown and grandmother to Nora and Russell Welland.

Josh Burnette is a 2006 graduate of Pennsylvania Culinary Institute in Pittsburgh. After a six month externship cooking at  Disneyworld, he moved back to Washington, DC and has worked at several of D.C.’s finest restaurants including 2941, Le Paradou and Adour by Alain Ducasse. He is currently a chef de partie at The Oval Room which was recently ranked the eighth best restaurant in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. He is part of the Young Adult group and this will be his 13th summit.

Annie Tiberio Cameron is a fine art nature photographer with a special emphasis on teaching. She brings to this Summit (in 2009, her 28th Summit) over 32 years of elementary school teaching, coordinating environmental education programs for Massachusetts Audubon Society, and teaching photography for the National Wildlife Federation, University of Massachusetts Continuing Education, Bay Path College and many other institutions.  Her photos have been exhibited in galleries and museums, received awards and have been published in numerous calendars, magazines, newspapers, and other publications, including a two editions of a top-selling Sierra Club book entitled: Mother Earth -- Through the Eyes of Women Photographers and Writers, as well as its accompanying postcard book. Annie also tours a narrated photographic slide adventure entitled “Death Valley, Okefinokee and Beyond,” a retrospective of 15 years of Annie’s solo wilderness travel to wild and remote places to photograph.

Among the many interests that have occupied Paul Cameron’s attention over the years -- outside of his professional career as a physician -- is beekeeping.  He enjoys sharing this passion which has successfully captured his attention and allowed a measure of relaxation from stresses inherent in being a psychiatrist.  Paul had three beehives in the ‘80s for 5 years, and has started up again in 2010 with the new challenges of mites and increased bear activity. (He has personally checked the electric charge on the bear fence he recently built, and states that it works rather well!) His and Annie’s bees have come from a mite-resistant strain of bees developed by a well-known Vermont bee researcher. There will be honey this fall!

Dr. Tina Carlsen is the Natural Resources Program Manager for the California Tahoe Conservancy, working to enhance forest resources in the Lake Tahoe Basin through a more comprehensive forest management approach.  In her field oriented class, she will introduce class members to the concept of a “dichotomous key”, use a simple key in the field to identify local conifers and also introduce participants to the associated shrubs and other plants found within the coniferous forests of the Lake Tahoe basin. In addition, Dr. Carlsen will discuss the ecology of the coniferous forests found in the Lake Tahoe Basin, how human activity has greatly modified the natural forest, and how land managers and conservationists are trying to reverse this trend.

Jeff Cowen is the Community Liaison with Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. He will present at our opening program to give an illustrated orientation to Lake Tahoe.

Carolyn Duckworth experienced Summit instructor with more than 19 years experience teaching about field journals, field sketching, and writing about nature. Her essays and field journal pages have been published in numerous national magazines such as National Wildlife, Orion Afield and several anthologies, and in Nature Journaling: Learning to Observe and Connect With the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles Roth (1998, Storey Books). She has also written for Ranger Rick magazine (where she was an editor for many years), and currently works for Yellowstone National Park as a publications manager.

Dave Egan got his undergraduate degree in the Valley and Ridge Province of central Pennsylvania at Bucknell University and then his graduate degree in the glacial plains of the Miami River Valley at Wright State University in Ohio. Dave has been involved with geologic studies nationwide as a geologist supporting cleanup of soils, groundwater, streams and estuaries at Superfund sites and other industrial or former industrial facilities.   He has also helped to interpret geology for hikers and other enjoyers of the outdoors for the past 20 years.  In his spare time, you may find him biking, hiking, kayaking, swimming or playing ultimate Frisbee.

Brete Griffin has been passionate about birds since his early teens when he drove around the back roads of central West Virginia looking for Screech Owl families after dark. He still gets excited finding birds for people while leading birding outings. Ask anyone who went out in Utah when the 3-toed Woodpecker was found! He has assisted in bird fieldwork projects in California, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia; He has conducted his own field work for a Master of Science degree by studying Gary Vireos in Big Bend National Park in Texas. He continues to lead birding groups on trips in the field and also teaches a community education birding course through a school board in the Toronto area in Ontario, Canada. He is also very active in bird education and conservation programs and does a Birdathon every year to help support and promote various bird conservation projects and campaigns. One of his dreams is to head back south to help study and learn more about the rediscovered population of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker!

Susan Grove is a Regional State Parks Supervisor. She will give tours at local Sugar Pine Point State Park (on waterfront) with a historic house.

Jim Halfpenny is an author, scientist, educator whose interest in COLD (altitudinal, latitudinal, and seasonal) has taken him to all seven continents and Greenland. Jim's specialties include environmental ecology, animal tracking, and carnivores; his greatest academic love, bears, led to 20 years studying black, grizzly and polar bears. He also works with wolverine, lynx, cougar and wolves. Jim has written over 25 books and videos including his latest, Yellowstone Bears in the Wild and Track Plates for Mammals. He led the American East Greenland expeditions in 1975 and 1976 and is a Fellow of the Explorer's Club and received the Antarctic Service medal. Jim is past Chairman of the Board of Directors, senior instructor, and administrative liaison officer of the National Outdoor Leadership School.

Currently Jim is President of A Naturalist's World, an ecological education company. A past Research Fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Jim was Director of the Mountain Research Station and the Long-Term Ecological Research program in the Alpine. He is listed in Who's Who in the World 1989-1993, Who's Who in Emerging Leaders 1989-1996, Who's Who in Western America 1987-1997 and Who's Who In Science. A Vietnam veteran, Jim received the Navy Achievement Medal with Combat "V" and Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm. Jim received his Ph.D. in 1980 in Biology, Ecology, & Mammalogy from the University of Colorado. His B.S. in 1969 and M.S. in 1970 both in Botany & Ecology from the University of Wyoming. At the University of Wyoming, Jim was on the President's Academic Honor Roll, University of Wyoming and a four-year letterman in diving, swimming and water polo.

Marilyn Hartness is a naturalist/artist from Monroe, N.C.  She enjoys using the beauty found in nature to inspire art projects.  She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Wingate University and she encourages her students to use earthy designs which are prevalent in the immediate surroundings to make unique art projects. Participants will find the class a lot of fun while they learn to examine the flora and fauna around them.

Steve Houser Jr. is an award winning teacher of gifted children at Providence Spring Elementary School in Charlotte, NC. He uses the natural world as a gateway for instruction in all areas of the curriculum. Hands-on and experiential learning are his main instructional strategies. In the past, Steve was selected to receive the Governor's Award as North Carolina's Environmental Educator of the Year, and he has been the recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (a program of the White House and the National Science Foundation).  He is a North Carolina certified Environmental Educator and has been named an "Educator of Excellence" by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. He was selected as the 2009 US Earth Science Teacher of the Year by the American Geological Institute. One of Steve's goals is for his students to be happy, stimulated, and learning. He also strives to help children learn to be good stewards of the earth, and encourages them to go outdoors often. 

Carl Lackey is a wildlife biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.  He graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1990 obtaining a degree in renewable natural resources with an emphasis on wildlife management. He has been with the Nevada Department of Wildlife since 1993. From 1996 to present he has been the predator and furbearer biologist for the western Nevada region, and has conducted research on black bears and mountain lions in their geographic range in this part of the state. He is a member of several sportsmen’s conservation organizations involved with augmenting numerous species of wildlife in the state and conducting habitat improvement projects. Carl is married with two sons and they enjoy hunting, fishing, camping and hiking together.

Bruce Lampright currently serves as the Naturalist for Brays Island Plantation in Beaufort County, South Carolina. Originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Bruce has lived in coastal South Carolina for the past 34 years. After graduating from the University of South Carolina (with a degree in Marine Science) he conducted research at USC’s Baruch Marine Lab and served as Education Coordinator for the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, both near Georgetown, SC. Lampright also served as the Director of USC-Beaufort’s Coastal Zone Education Center and is a founding member and former President of the South Carolina Marine Educator’s Association. In 1999 Bruce and two others started the South Carolina Master Naturalist Program, now administered by Clemson University, with programs training naturalists throughout the Palmetto State. Lampright has been involved in environmental education for over 30 years and was the 2004 recipient of the South Carolina Marine Educator of the Year Award. This will be his seventh summit as a faculty member.

Dave Linthicum is a recipient of the 2000 Jug Bay (Md.) Environmental Award. He used mapping to help save the last 2,200 acres on the Potomac near Washington, D.C. and 1,200 unique acres on the Patuxent from becoming a 4,200 unit town home development and a gravel pit respectively. In Pakistan in 2006 he helped bring an endangered snow leopard cub ("Leo") to safety after its mother was killed. Trekking for weeks in snow leopard habitat on the world's longest glacial traverse outside of the Polar Regions, he found that a GPS and map could be handy (staying out of crevasses, for example.) This is his 33rd Summit.

Mark McLaughlin is a highly acclaimed local author, speaker and expert on history and weather. He will present on managing water runoff in the Sierra Nevada and Latke Tahoe, the history of Donner Pass and the history of Lake Tahoe.

Spencer Pelton lives and works close to the Tahoe area during the archaeology field season (April through October). In his class, he will clearly explain what it is that archaeologists do while causing class participants to reexamine the things we throw away every day.

Sue Sabo first contracted the Conservation Summit Virus (CSV) about 17 years ago when her parents invited her to join them at the Blue Ridge Summit and she has been infected with it ever since! Since the CSV is so contagious, she has managed to infect the rest of her family and a few others along the way! The symptoms of CSV include an intense desire to collect scarves of differing colors, greet others infected with the same virus, and see parts of this country that un-infected people never get a chance to experience! About 6 years ago she developed a new symptom--an uncontrollable desire to become even more involved in the Summit experience. Thus, I have now entered the "Faculty" phase, working with the Adult Adventure Class and eventually leading the Family Adventure class on her own.  Two years ago the CSV mutated into a new but very similar virus known as the Family Summit Virus (FSV), and hopes to remain infected with this new virus for many years to come! When not indulging her viral symptoms, she is a media specialist in an elementary school near Columbus Ohio, and also a member of the Improv Comedy Troupe, Squishy! www.getsquishy.com

Alison Stanton is a local research botanist who has lived in the Lake Tahoe basin since 2002. A transplant from San Francisco, she did her undergraduate work at Mills College and then earned her M.S. in Plant Ecology from UC Davis. She is the second half of a two-person consulting firm that specializes in rare plant management and conservation strategies. Alison is also involved in several research and monitoring projects looking at the effects of fuels reduction treatments on the ecological health of the forest on the west shore. Her work on Tahoe yellow cress enables her to call her frequent trips to several beaches around Lake Tahoe "going to the office" and she feels extremely lucky and fortunate to work in such a beautiful place. Alison will have just given birth to her first child in May, so make sure you tell her how beautiful and rested she looks.

John Svahn is a local land trust expert. He will lead a hike to historic Donner Lake and present roving lecture on Land Trusts and how they affect the general ecology and how they can aid in preservation of an area.

Betty Trummel is a long-time Summit faculty member. She is a specialist in environmental education. She graduated from the University of Illinois and received a Masters in Outdoor Education from Northern Illinois University. She has always professed to be "A Lifelong Learner" and loves the outdoors and the wonders that the natural world offers. She constantly works to deliver this experience to both her students and the students in her entire district. She is mother to four boys and two girls. She hikes, backpacks, skis and kayaks. In addition she is an avid photographer and has published two orienteering maps.

Ron Wahl is a computer scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey. He received a Geophysical Engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and a Master of Science degree in geophysics from Stanford University. He has taught geology, computer science, physics, and astronomy for Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado, and astronomy for the Jefferson County, CO Schools Adult Education Program. Ron has taught various classes at a number of summits across the country since 1973.

Steve Walloupe is a full-blood Miwok Indian with years of experience presenting programs to adults and children. He is also a local State Park Ranger. He will speak about California Indian tribal history, culture and life ways.