Public Lands Speakers

Dr. Greg Cawley is Professor of Policy at the University of Wyoming.

Nancy Langston is a Distinguished Professor of Environmental History at Michigan Tech. She is the author of Where Land and Water Meet: A Western Landscape Transformed (and 4 additional books) and she now works in the Lake Superior watershed.

She was trained both as an environmental historian and as an ecologist. Langston is a former president of the American Society for Environmental History and a former editor in chief of the field’s flagship journal, Environmental History. She spent 17 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies and the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology. She served as the King Carl XVI Gustaf Professor of Environmental Science at Umeå University, Sweden from 2012 to 2013, and has received an honorary doctorate from Umeå University, and fellowships from the Fulbright Program, the Mellon Foundation, the Marshall Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Council of Learned Societies.

View Nancy Langston’s website

Jim Lyons has worked in conservation for nearly 35 years as a Professor and lecturer at Yale, as USDA Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment under President Clinton, and as Deputy Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management in the Department of the Interior for President Obama. He has had the unique opportunity to oversee the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service and helped lead efforts to address critical conservation issues affecting the Nation’s private and public lands including the spotted owl/old-growth forest issue in the Pacific NW, President Clinton’s roadless rule with Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck, and the sage grouse conservation strategy with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. Though he grew up in the East, Jim’s career has focused largely on the West. He currently serves on the boards of the Sawtooth Society and the Sun Valley Institute.

Jolie Pollet is the Fire Planning and Fuels Management Division Chief at the Bureau of Land Management’s national Fire and Aviation office in Boise, Idaho, where she provides leadership for BLM’s national programs such as fuels management, fire ecology, wildfire reporting and data management, fire planning, and community assistance. For the past 24 years, Jolie has worked in federal fire and resource management – from wildland fire crews to managing essential national programs. Jolie holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of New Orleans and a master of science degree in Forestry from Colorado State University.

Mackenzie Case is a PhD Candidate in Public Policy and Administration at Boise State University’s School of Public Service.

Mike Dockry is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Forest Resources. His research and teaching focus on tribal sovereignty, incorporating Indigenous knowledge into forestry, and natural resource management.

Bruce Reichert is Executive Producer of Outdoor Idaho. Peter Morrill is Former General Manager of Outdoor Idaho.

Bruce, a former Oregon Duck, now roots for the Broncos when they play each other. Modestly accepting his many awards over the years for his accomplishments at Outdoor Idaho, he returns to his cabin near Idaho city, which he built. Referred to as “The Icon of Idaho” by Representative Maxine Bell, the former Co-Chair of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee of the Idaho Legislature.

Peter has served on several boards of directors and has chaired on various committees to include: chairman of the executive committee for the National Educational Telecommunications Association, and chairman of the board of directors for the Idaho State Broadcasters Association. Beginning his role as General Manager for Idaho public Television in 1996, Peter served 16 years and retired in 2013. Peter has received many distinguishing awards during his 30 professional years in media after graduating from Bowling Green State University, including the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Northwest Chapter (2008).

Mike Ferguson worked for BLM for 34 years in the field offices, district offices, state offices and the Washington office. He started out a a wildlife biologist and retired as the Chief Financial Officer. Since his retirement in 2009, Mike has been active in the Public Lands Foundation, primarily in the planning and conducting of four Student Congresses.

Ed Shepard is the President of the Public Lands Foundation. After a 38-year career, he retired from the Bureau of Land Management in June of 2012 as the State Director for the states of Oregon and Washington. Prior to the position of state director, Ed served in several positions in field offices, districts, state offices, the Washington Office, and the National Interagency Fire Center. Before moving into managerial positions, he worked as a soil scientist, forester, and fire manager. He also served two Congressional Fellowships with a U.S. Congressman and a U.S. Senator. Ed is a Fellow and Certified Forester with the Society of American Foresters and a life member of the Public Lands Foundation.

Shauna Hanisch-Kirkbride attended University of Montana, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife Biology. Shauna went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Boise State, with an environmental and natural resource policy emphasis.

Shauna went on to work for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Arlington, Virginia. After 10 years working in the federal government, Shauna then went on to graduate school at Michigan State University, where she earned a PhD in Fisheries and Wildlife, with an emphasis in Human Dimensions. She became a professor of environmental science at a small private college in Midland, Michigan, until she relocated back to Vancouver, Washington in 2018. Shauna now works in the non-profit sector as the Managing Director of the Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group, where she works with a staff of five to restore salmon habitat in watersheds across the Lower Columbia River region.

Scott Martin has spent the last twenty five years working to conserve and create systemic public parks at the edge of the American urban landscape in Idaho, Virginia, Kentucky, and now Indiana. He is presently Executive Director of River Heritage Conservancy, Inc. and is serving as North American Director for World Urban Parks. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Boise State University.

Dr. Craig Jones

Kelli Badesheim received her bachelors in Psychology and her Masters in public administration from Boise State. She has been involved in public administration and public transportation for 25 years.Kelli is the executive director of Valley Regional Transit, which is the regional public transportation authority for Ada and Canyon counties in Idaho. Kelli works for a 29-member board of directors and oversees a public authority with 44 employees who support the administration, planning, and oversight of the public transportation services in the region. She also serves on the board of the United Way and the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative.