Wyoming Outdoor Council Board of Directors
Kathy Lichtendahl, Clark
President
Originally from Prince Edward Island, Canada,
Kathy moved to the United States after receiving her master’s degree in
International Business Studies from the University of South Carolina in 1990.
She worked as marketing director for several multi-national companies before
leaving the corporate world in 1998. Although her education and employment
history are in international marketing, Kathy has had a lifelong passion for
fiber art and has had several works published as well as having her creations
hang in numerous locations around the world, including the U.S. Embassy in
Asmara, Eritrea. Kathy and her husband Ken purchased land in Clark, Wyoming in
1994 and moved there full time soon after. They spend as much time as possible
exploring the mountains of Wyoming; in the summer with their pack llamas and in
the winter months on backcountry skis. Kathy and Ken have both been active
members of Park County Search and Rescue since 2000.
Janice Harris, Laramie
Vice President
Janice Harris was introduced to Wyoming in the
mid-1950's during a family vacation at the X Quarter Circle X Ranch in the
Tetons. “Who would live in Los Angeles if they could live here,” she
thought. After receiving her bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1965
and her Ph.D. from Brown University in 1973, she and her husband Duncan Harris
moved to Wyoming to join the faculty of UW in the department of English. For
Duncan, it was a homecoming, given his family’s history as ranchers up Owl
Creek, outside of Thermopolis. For Janice it was a return to a place she had
loved since that unforgettable family vacation. At UW, Janice was an
award-winning professor, published widely in her field of modern fiction, held
administrative positions within the College of Arts and Sciences, and served as
chair of the English department and the Women’s Studies Program. She also
chaired the Wyoming Council for the Humanities in 1982-83 and in 2004-05 spent
a year in Japan as a visiting professor of literature. Retiring from the
university in May 2008, she sought an opportunity to serve Wyoming as it faces
the challenges of the 21st century. With its emphasis on balance and
collaboration, the Wyoming Outdoor Council seemed an ideal focus. She joined
the Council's board of directors in June 2009.
Harold Bergman, Laramie
Secretary
Harold is a professor of zoology and
physiology, the J.E. Warren Distinguished Professor of Energy and the
Environment, and a former director of the Haub School and the Ruckelshaus
Institute of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming.
Dr. Bergman earned a Ph.D. in fisheries biology at Michigan State University in
1973 and has been on the UW faculty since 1975. He has authored or co-authored
more than 100 research articles and edited four books on diverse topics related
to his principal research interests in environmental toxicology, fish
physiology, and environmental policy. He has received numerous research and
teaching awards, and has served on a number of national and international
advisory and review panels dealing with environmental and natural resource
policy. In 2009, he was appointed to the National Research Council’s board of
agriculture and natural resources. At the Ruckelshaus Institute and Haub School
from 1998-2008, Bergman along with faculty and staff colleagues, focused on
collaborative approaches to natural resource management and on assessment and
valuation of benefits and costs of natural resource development. Harold also
served on the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council for 3 terms from
1983-1995.
Keith Rittle, Laramie
Treasurer
Keith's love of the Wyoming outdoors traces
back to family trips to the West during his childhood in Pennsylvania. After
completing a bachelor's of science in geology at Indiana University of
Pennsylvania in 1991, he moved to Laramie to conduct graduate studies in
remediation methods for heavy metal contamination downstream from historical
mining operations. Keith completed a master's degree in geology at the
University of Wyoming in 1993, and subsequently joined a Laramie-based
environmental consulting company. As a registered professional geologist, he
has focused his career on the cleanup of active and former petroleum
refineries. He currently directs environmental remediation projects at a
portfolio of former industrial sites in the Midwest and western United States.
Keith joined the Wyoming Outdoor Council board in July 2006 and works to
contribute to collaborative solutions for Wyoming environmental conservation
goals.
Tom Bell, Lander
Emeritus
Tom was born in Wyoming, raised on a ranch
near Lander, and attended one-room country schools in the area through the
eighth grade. He graduated from Fremont County Vocational High School in 1941
as president of the student body. Tom is a decorated, disabled, retired officer
who served in World War II in Europe. He attended the University of Wyoming,
receiving a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1948 and was president of the UW
Student Senate. In 1955, he received his master’s degree in
zoology/ecology/botany. Tom worked for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for
five years, and then taught grade school and junior high school science for 13
years. In 1967, he and several others founded the Wyoming Outdoor Council. He
started High Country News in 1970. Tom has received a number of
national awards, and was named one of 100 of Wyoming’s Distinguished Citizens
of the Twentieth Century in 1999. He was recognized by the National Wildlife
Federation as Conservationist of the Year and awarded the Jay N. “Ding”
Darling Award in 2002; he was chosen as one of six outstanding alumni of the
College of Liberal Arts, University of Wyoming, in 2003; and he was inducted
into the Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame and received a lifetime achievement award
from the Wilderness Society in 2006. Tom has always been interested in Wyoming
and Fremont County history and in 1985 he founded the Wind River Mountaineer, a
county history magazine. He also is involved in the nonprofit Museum of the
American West and is helping develop the museum’s interpretive site in
Lander. He has been active in his church for the past 30 years.
Rich Brame, Lander
Rich came to Lander in 1984 as an
instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School after attending Montana
State University in Bozeman. His ongoing career with NOLS includes seven years
as the school's primary Leave No Trace program architect and
driver---which has included curriculum creation, private and federal
partnership development, and field education. Rich has taught and led courses
in wilderness on five continents with students, land managers, government
agencies, nonprofit organizations, and outdoor industry representatives,
focusing on leadership and conservation skills. He has also supervised the
school's research and public policy departments and served on the Boy Scouts of
America's National Conservation Committee. Rich headed up the National Outdoor
Leadership School's field programs and business functions in Canada's Yukon
Territory from 1999 to 2006. During that time, he and his home-schooled family
split their year between Whitehorse and Lander—perhaps as the only known
people to actually snowbird in Wyoming. Since the fall of 2006, Rich has led
NOLS' alumni-relations efforts. His work includes developing and marketing
benefits, services and networking for the school's nearly 200,000 global
graduates as well as overseeing relevant print publications, electronic media,
and personal contacts. Rich co-authored the revised fourth edition of NOLS'
minimum impact textbook Soft Paths: How to Enjoy the Wilderness Without
Harming It.
Kate M. Fox, Cheyenne
Kate is an attorney and partner in
the Cheyenne office of Davis & Cannon, LLP. She joined the firm after
serving for one year as law clerk to U.S. District Judge Clarence A. Brimmer.
Before going to law school Kate worked on her family's dude ranch near Dubois,
Wyoming; edited a small-town newspaper and a restaurant magazine; and was a ski
bum for several years. She graduated from the University of Wyoming College of
Law in 1989 at the top of her class, was editor in chief of the Land &
Water Law Review, and was inducted into the Order of the Coif. Kate has a
varied practice with an emphasis on litigation, employment law, and natural
resources law.
Terry Jones, Wheatland
Terry was raised on a dairy farm in Henefer,
Utah. He was drafted into the Army and served in the infantry in Vietnam. Terry
worked for Union Pacific Railroad as a telegraph operator and then locomotive
engineer in the southern corridor of Wyoming. There he came to appreciate the
solitude and grandeur of the high desert ecosystem. He retired from Union
Pacific in 2008. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and
was chairman of the Wyoming State Legislative Board, which involved
representing the membership on safety issues, regulations, and legislation at
the federal, state, and local levels of government. In 1992 he bought an
irrigated farm in Wheatland, which he still operates. He is also involved in
the Equality State Policy Center. An avid sportsman, Terry loves to hunt, fish,
and horsepack. He appreciates the mountains and prairies in every corner of
Wyoming and his goal is to preserve wild country, keep water and air clean, and
keep public lands accessible.
Beedee Ladd, Wilson
Beedee Ladd lives in Wilson,
Wyoming and Dover, Massachusetts. She has previously served on several boards
for nonprofit, nongovernmental conservation organizations, including the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition. She is a Wellesley College graduate of
too many years ago to contemplate, and in addition, she has a degree in social
work. She currently serves on the Massachusetts Advisory Board of the Trust for
Public Lands, the Charles River Watershed Association Advisory Board, the Board
of Overseers of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Jackson Hole Land
Trust Open Space Council, and the Board of the Murie Center in Moose, WY. Beedee and her husband, Ted, spend as much time as they can in Jackson
Hole. Both of their children live and work there: Anne Ladd and Len Carlman
live in Wilson with their two kids; and Ted and Laura live in Wilson as
well. Beedee is involved in various community activities in Jackson,
including the Music Festival Auxiliary and the Jackson Hole Council of the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition. She joined the Wyoming Outdoor Council
board in 2011 with the desire to work with the Council's staff and volunteers,
and help further the organization's mission.
John Parr, Cheyenne
John was born in Cheyenne and
he feels fortunate to have spent his entire life in the beautiful state of
Wyoming. He graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1975 after completing
service in the U.S. Army and a tour in Vietnam. He taught school for a brief
time in Cheyenne in 1977 before becoming a locomotive engineer for the Union
Pacific Railroad. He chose his vocation so he could enjoy Wyoming’s outdoor
recreation and beauty. He retired from the National Guard after doing a tour in
Iraq during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He retired from the railroad in 2008.
His 36-year marriage to Marietta, two grown children, Sara and Zack, and
grandchildren make his life busy and happy. John is an avid fly
fisherman and big-game and bird hunter. He enjoys drift-dory boating, shooting
rifle and pistol, and archery. Horse pack trips and day hikes into the wilds of
Wyoming have always been his greatest love. He trains Labrador retrievers as
therapy animals and for hunting. He is a past board member of Hidden Pines
Hunting Retriever Association and a current member of the Cheyenne Rifle and
Pistol Club. He has been a member of Ducks Unlimited, Wyoming Wildlife
Federation, and Trout Unlimited. His ancestors have been in Wyoming for
hundreds of years and he wants his children and grandchildren to be able to
enjoy what he has enjoyed during his life in Wyoming.