WOC Welcomes Three New Staff Members
by Nancy Debevoise
Christine Lichtenfels
In mid-June, attorney, conservation activist and outdoor
leadership instructor Christine Lichtenfels joined WOC's staff as associate
director. Her responsibilities include membership development, grant-writing,
program oversight and administration.
"I first met Christine in 1984, when we were both
instructors for the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)," says WOC
executive director Dan Heilig. "I was immediately impressed with
her keen intelligence, leadership skills, easy-going nature and her talent
for juggling multiple tasks and responsibilities. Christine has been
one of WOC's most dedicated and generous supporters for many years, and
we're extremely lucky that she's agreed to join the staff as our associate
director."
Born in Rhode Island, Christine earned her B.A.
in history from Yale University, graduating cum laude in three-and-a-half
years. The summer after her sophomore year, she visited Wyoming for
the first time, working at the Bitterroot Ranch near Dubois.
Smitten with Wyoming, Christine spent the spring
of her junior year at NOLS' Semester in the Rockies. The summer after
graduation, she returned to Wyoming to take a NOLS instructor's course
and work as a field hand at a ranch near Lander. In 1986, after working
full-time as a NOLS instructor for two years, she entered law school
at the University of Denver.
"A year in Denver made it absolutely clear to me
that I wanted to live in Wyoming, not Colorado," she says, so she transferred
to the University of Wyoming College of Law. At UW, Christine was
comment editor of The Land and Water Law Reviewand graduated second
in her class.
After graduation, she went back to the mountains
for the summer as a NOLS instructor, then worked for two years as a staff
attorney for Idaho Legal Aid Services and a law clerk for Federal District
Judge Alan B. Johnson Casper. Disillusioned with practicing law,
Christine returned to NOLS once again, working as an instructor for the
next five years in Lander, Idaho, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, Alaska,
Canada, India and Mexico. In 1996, she was named NOLS' Instructor
of the Year. From 1997 through 1999, she served as NOLS'
field staff coordinator, managing more than 450 instructors for courses
all over the world.
In 1995, Christine married fellow NOLS instructor
Marco Johnson, who spends half the year in the back country, leading instructor
courses and student mountaineering and climbing courses in Wyoming, Idaho,
Alaska and Canada.
An active member of a number of state and regional
conservation organizations, Christine is also an avid outdoorswoman who
spends her spare time rock and ice climbing, mountaineering, running and
battling weeds in her yard.
"WOC is clearly the state's leading environmental
advocacy organization working to protect the land that I love," says Christine.
"I’m excited to be a part of that work, especially to be more directly
involved with the many land-management decisions that affect Wyoming.
I look forward to helping WOC continue its role as the chief guardian of
Wyoming's wildlands and environmental quality."
Michele Barlow
In May, former WOC board vice-president Michele Barlow
joined the staff as director of the Environmental Quality and Justice Program,
replacing Steff Kessler, who has taken an indefinite leave to spend more
time with her family.
Michele's primary responsibilities include watchdogging
state environmental regulatory agencies, tracking the ongoing debate between
EPA and the state over the Brownfields law, working on coalbed methane
issues, monitoring the cleanup of the Amoco refinery in Casper, scrutinizing
new hog factories, and lobbying the Wyoming legislature on a host of environmental
issues. For the time being, Michele is working from her home office
in Laramie.
"I'm very excited that such a gifted and dedicated
conservationist has joined our staff," says Dan Heilig. "Michele's energy,
commitment and knowledge of Wyoming politics and the array of environmental
challenges we face will greatly strengthen WOC's ability to monitor, challenge
and reform industry practices that threaten Wyoming's environmental quality."
Michele's parents own and operate an 18,000-acre
ranch west of Gillette, homesteaded by her grandfather. Raised on the ranch,
Michele's interest in environmental protection was sparked by her conservation-minded
mother and father, who helped found the Powder River Basin Resource Council.
She graduated from Colorado College in 1990 with
a B.A. in biology, and earned an M.S. in biology from the University of
Minnesota-Duluth in 1996. For the next three years, Michele worked
as a research associate for the University of Wyoming's Department of Botany
and Department of Renewable Resources. Her projects included using
satellite images remote-sensing techniques and Geographic Information Systems
to analyze changes in plant communities over time, researching the historic
vegetation of the F.E. Warren Air Force Base, and using Geographic Information
Systems to identify relict vegetation sites on buttes.
Last year, Michele left the university to join
the staff of the Equality State Policy Center, where she researched the
coal industry, campaign financing, the state's tax system and bills introduced
in the Wyoming State Legislature.
Michele is an avid runner, biker, hiker, skier,
rider, gardener, and cook. She and her husband, Phil Polzer, are also Ultimate
Frisbee fanatics.
"I want to be the most responsible and giving advocate
for the environment as I can be, both as a volunteer and as a professional,"
says Michele. " Although replacing the amazing Steff Kessler is impossible,
I'm honored that WOC has invited me to head up this important program and
I will fully dedicate my efforts to protecting Wyoming's environment and
its communities from inappropriate and harmful industrial development."
Amy Beatie
Amy Beatie, a recent graduate of the University of
Denver College of Law, will join the WOC staff in August as a special
project attorney for a year before beginning a judicial clerkship with
the Colorado Supreme Court. At law school, where she was ranked
in the top 10% of her class, Amy was the editor in chief of the university's
Water Law Review, president of the Public Interest Law Group and the recipient
of the Outstanding Student Leadership Award. At Dartmouth College,
where she earned a B.A. in religion, she was a member of the varsity women's
ice hockey and women's rugby teams and The Decibelles, a women's a capella
singing group.
Since January, under the auspices of the University
of Denver's Natural Resources Law Clinic (run by Jay Tutchton and Mark
Hughes of Earthlaw), Amy has provided WOC with detailed legal research
and analyses critical to our efforts to reform coalbed methane (CBM) development
in Wyoming. Although she received numerous job offers from
prestigious law firms, she decided that WOC's work on CBM was more important.
Through her work with WOC program director Tom Darin over the past six
months, Amy has developed special knowledge and expertise in this area
which will be invaluable in our ongoing campaign to bring order and environmental
responsibility to CBM development.
"I am delighted that Amy has chosen to work for
WOC for the next year," says Dan Heilig. "WOC and the residents of
the Powder River Basin need someone with Amy's impressive legal and technical
expertise to help fight the environmental battle of the decade." |
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