Curriculum Chair, Land Restoration School

UW-Milwaukee Conservation and Environmental Science Program Director, Teaching Professor, Affiliate Professor (Department of History). Ph.D., History of Science and Technology (he/him)

Chris has been exploring the natural world as long as he can remember, starting on a small farm west of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. He lived and taught in the Pacific Northwest before moving to Milwaukee. He taught biology at small, liberal arts colleges for 25 years and published two books on the history of ecology and environmental science. In 2018, he joined the Urban Ecology Center (UEC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a volunteer and consultant to develop a training program engaging community leaders who would replicate the UEC model in cities across North America.

Throughout his teaching career in higher education, Chris continues to research and write on topics in the history of wildlife biology and environmental science, natural history, conservation biology, science education, and collaboration in science and higher education. These topics inform his approach to teaching in courses that focus on climate change, evolution, natural history, land restoration, and introductory concepts in biology. Chris is particularly interested in the ways that people make connections to the natural world, especially in cities.

Consultant, Land Restoration School

Artist, Master Naturalist, land steward, environmental educator, and community wellness advocate. Certifications in ethnohorticultural practices such as plant pathology and physiology, cultural medicinal herbal wellness, traditional cultural plant usage, and ecological restoration. (she/they)

Through mars’ interdisciplinary art: fiber, and eco-mixed media, she explores, highlights, and reflects the phenology of Nature and the human experience with the intent to grow, inspire, and educate.

Examples of mars’ leadership as an Ecological Restorationist can be seen throughout Milwaukee’s Northwest side in pockets of urban woodlands, mesic prairies, and oak savannas. Numerous galleries have exhibited mars’ mixed media weavings, wearable art, and eco-soft-sculptures. Additionally, ceramic tile murals — created in collaboration with fellow artists and mentors Melanie Tallmadge-Sainz, Hocąk Elder and Founder of Little Eagle Arts Foundation, and Muneer Bahauddeen, master ceramist and Elder — can be viewed throughout Wisconsin. mars is currently serving as a MdW Arts Fellow focusing on connecting people, place, and plants through eco art workshop facilitation, land restoration volunteering, and leading nature ‘healing hikes’ within Milwaukee County. mars earned a BFA from The Illinois Institute of Art and plans to pursue an MA in Humane Education. 

Founding Director, Land Restoration School

M.S.. Engineering; M.L.A., Landscape Architecture; Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner (CERP), Principal, Landscapes of Place (she/they)

Nancy is a licensed landscape architect and principal of Landscapes of Place, offering landscape restoration planning and design, ecological restoration and land stewardship services. She served on the board of the Door County Land Trust and its Land Policy Committee. She has taught college courses and field courses in environmental literacy, landscape architecture, and native plant communities, at the University of Georgia, the New York Botanical Garden and others. Her landscape design and restoration plans for Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley received a 2011 Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. Nancy sketches and teaches with watercolor in the field as a way of building observation skills, and incorporates printmaking as a practice for telling stories of ecological restoration.

Founding Director, Land Restoration School

P.E. (Engineering), Program Manager and Restoration Consultant, Landscapes of Place (he/him)

Dan is a restoration consultant and program manager at Landscapes of Place, where he applies scientific methods to ecological restoration, planning, implementation and long-term management of landscapes as they are brought to higher levels of ecological function. He is honored to have received the 2016 Hawthorn Award from The Clearing for “giving breadth and bigness” to their work; a 2014 Wetland Hero Award from Wisconsin Wetlands Association, and a 2012 state-wide Conservation Leader honor from Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters. Collins presently serves on the board of Midwest Environmental Advocates. Dan uses art to understand and explain ecological function, through monotype prints and works in wire and stone that are inspired by the exuberance, grace and raw beauty of natural places.

Topics: Plant community ecology; ecological restoration principles and frameworks.

Associate Professor, Natural & Applied Sciences UW-Green Bay. Ph.D., Ecology (she/her)

Karen is a plant community ecologist interested in the connections among species diversity, ecosystem processes and human management. Her past and current projects span natural and agricultural landscapes, with a focus on savannas and grasslands. Presently her research addresses questions such as: How does plant species diversity in Midwest grasslands affect the potential for bioenergy production? How might genetic diversity within a dominant species and/or invasion by exotic species affect ecosystem processes? How are mutualistic partnerships (such as those between plants and mycorrhizae) affected by global change? She is also interested in restoration of natural ecosystems, both in terms of the predictability of outcomes and the resulting changes to desired ecosystem services.

Topics: Soils and interactions with plants

Professor, Department of Soil Science, UW-Madison. Ph.D., Forest Science (he/him)

Nick is interested in the remarkable “communication” between plants and soil that control the cycling of energy and materials; studying these interactions in forests, prairies, nurseries, and urban ecosystems. He also studies the scholarship of teaching and learning (K-16) related to environmental education within a variety of settings from the classroom to the very structure of educational systems.

Nick’s work in teaching and learning involves classroom instruction, outreach, and education research that target the “Nature Deficit Disorder” and pedagogical practices that make learning effective and sustained beyond the classroom. His love for teaching comes alive in the classroom and interactions with students. He extends a big thank you to all his students – he learns more from them than they will ever know!

Topics: Wildlife Conservation

Director of Biodiversity Programming, Mequon Nature Preserve. Ph.D., Biological Sciences

Gary has over 40 years’ experience in wildlife conservation and ecology, logging thousands of hours of field time studying animals in their natural environments, focusing on understanding critical habitat requirements and facets of species’ natural history important to the success of habitat restoration projects. Gary served on the curatorial staff at the Milwaukee Public Museum for over 20 years where he launched the Wisconsin Herp Atlas and managed scientific collections. He owns Great Lakes Ecological Services, is an Associate Scientist with the UW-Milwaukee Field Station, an Associate Editor for the Natural Areas Journal and Herpetological Conservation and Biology, a science advisor to area land trusts, and a past Director for the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust.

Gary’s research focuses mainly on wildlife conservation and he has over 100 publications on wildlife distribution and ecology. Gary has participated in the design and implementation of multiple ecological restoration projects in the midwest. He designs and implements wildlife monitoring programs for the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and others. He recently developed a GIS-based Wildlife Tool for planning wildlife habitat restoration in the Milwaukee River Basin; protocols for surveying crayfish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds; and snake and crayfish taxonomy. Gary has pioneered the use of automated bioacoustic systems for monitoring wildlife.

Topics: Hydrology and Wetlands

Nearby Nature Milwaukee, nearbynaturemke.org,
Program Director

With a masters degree in geology and hydrology, plus many years of business experience Detaya brings a scientific and business perspective to her work. Detaya is the founder of Karma Community Garden and takes a serious interest in her community and its culture. She is great at connecting with people and building partnerships. She was a 2022 recipient of a “Rising Star” award in the third annual African American Environmental Pioneer Awards. While a research assistant at UW-Milwaukee and with the Racine Health Department, Detaya conducted extensive studies in water quality. She loves to mentor others as she works for equity and inclusion in environmental sciences.

Topics: Urban Conservation and Community Engagement

Nearby Nature Milwaukee, nearbynaturemke.org,
Youth Educator / Researcher

Makayla is a 2023 Graduate of the UW Milwaukee Ecology and Conservation program. Her passion for the planet has continued to motivate her to begin her Masters in soil and water science at University of Florida. She has worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources as an Environmental Analyst and as a community volunteer in environmental cleanups and invasive plant control. In Nearby Nature's Youth Education program, she is leading kids in 4th through 8th grades in water science and ecology curriculum and helping them navigate the outdoors with confidence. She will also be co-leading the summer internship where she will handle curriculum based on urban conservation and green infrastructure.

Topics: Personal/professional development, client service, navigating conflict, cultivating belonging

Founder, Cream City Conservation & Consulting (she/her)

After a decade of working in the environmental field, August Marie Ball, a woman of color, and citizen of the world, noticed a theme:

Lack of representation of people of color in leadership positions and a lack of knowledge on how to mitigate existing organizational cultures which lead to workforce homogeneity in the first place.

​August helps environmental and community-based organizations address diversity and land stewardship needs through the cultivation of inclusive culture and creation of equitable green career pipelines — she helps them identify (and provides tools) for interrupting unconscious bias and disrupting institutional roadblocks.

Topics: Community development with care of ecological resources; ecological inequities, access to nature, cultural perspectives

Chair, Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, UW-Madison. Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor — food systems, marketplaces, and public policy. Ph.D., Sociology (he/him)

Alfonso Morales is originally from New Mexico and his family has farmed and ranched for more than 100 years. He is interested in applying science to support society and to help produce social goods. His research interests include social science theory and methods, organizations, food systems, public marketplaces, and street vendors. His applied research supports non-profit organizations and he co-created the farm2facts.org toolkit for farmers market managers.

Topics: Vegetation of eastern Wisconsin

Director Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Field Station. Ph.D., Botany (he/him)

Jim has broad research interests in plant ecology, wetland ecology, and evolutionary biology. He has completed two systematic surveys of the vegetation of the 2500-acre Cedarburg Bog, fifteen years apart, at the same 165 permanent sample locations. He has studied how the plant communities of the wetland have changed over this 15-year period.

Jim very much enjoys teaching, and has taught a week-long intensive course on The Vegetation of Wisconsin and other short-courses on The Ecology and Physiology of Plants in Winter, and Vegetation Sampling Methods. He has also taught Biometry (statistics for biologists) and a wide variety of short-courses including, Wetland Ecology and Hydrology, Field Research in Plant Population Biology, Evolution in the Plant Kingdom, Root Ecology, Seedbank Ecology, Ecological Genetics, Evolutionary Ecology, and Surveying Techniques for Ecologists.

Topics: Field methods for ER

Stewardship Director at Ozaukee Washington Land Trust

Ryan Wallin graduated from UW-Stevens Point with a degree in Wildlife Ecology and Management. He has worked for the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society educating and training tribes on wildlife disease sampling, Washington State DNR consulting foresters on timber sale habitat as a Wildlife Biologist, and most recently landed at the Ozaukee Washington Land Trust (OWLT) in early 2016. While working in Washington State, Ryan pursued and earned a Master’s with honors in Environmental Policy and Management with an emphasis in Fish and Wildlife Management. As Stewardship Director for OWLT, Ryan oversees all land, facility, and equipment related activities and stewardship on OWLT’s 2500+ acres of land. He joined the SEWISC Board of directors in 2019. Ryan is a Milwaukee area native, currently lives in Newburg, and takes every chance he can to go up north with his growing family to their place near Mountain, WI.

Topics: Sedges – Identification and Ecology

Curator Emeritus of Vascular Plants, University of Michigan Herbarium, has studied Cyperaceae, especially Carex, and has a special interest in the Great Lakes region. Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (he/him)

Identification of sedges, especially Carex, will stress not only keying skills, but using ecological and vegetative characters to identify species and species groups. In addition to identification we will explore the importance of sedges in a variety of different communities, and gain an appreciation of the dynamics of some of the communities and the role of sedges in these dynamics.

Tony is also conducting research on the biogeography of the northeastern North American flora, concentrating on the Great Lakes region. His primary interests here are plant migration and colonization, the origin and persistence of relict plant species and communities, and the biogeography and conservation of rare species.

Topics: Biotic indices and biotic water quality indicators.

Carmen Ebert: Associate Laboratory Director, Environmental Research and Innovation Center (ERIC) (photo: center, black cap) (she/her)

Becca Klemme: Environmental Scientist, Environmental Research and Innovation Center (photo: red shirt) (she/her)

Carmen and Becca are active in teaching and research through the Environmental Research and Innovation Center, operating community water testing labs among other programs, teaching courses, and engaging in community outreach on water quality.

Topics: Geology and hydrogeology

Director, Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, and State Geologist. Ph.D., Geology (he/him)

WGNHS proposes and carries out geologic investigations (such as tracing natural toxins in our rock formations, building a groundwater model for central Wisconsin, or sorting out the source of contaminants in drinking water). The research lets the Survey bring the benefits of the University to the people of the state—the essence of the Wisconsin Idea.

The main thrust of Ken’s work has been to better understand how to characterize and model fractured aquifers and to determine groundwater flow paths near water-supply wells developed in such aquifers. His areas of research also include studying viruses in groundwater systems, regional hydrogeology of Wisconsin, wellhead protection, and groundwater recharge.

Topics: integrating Indigenous knowledge into climate adaptation

Bazile (buzz-eel) Panek (pawn-ek) is a proud member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, born and raised on the Red Cliff reservation. With a deep connection to his culture, Bazile regularly attends ceremonies and cultural events to honor his ancestors and community.

Bazile recently graduated from Northern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Native American Studies. He is now an Indigenous Consultant for the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP). In his role with ITEP, Bazile is responsible for co-leading the facilitation of the second iteration of the Status of Tribes and Climate Change (STACC) report.

Bazile's passion for promoting cultural revitalization and youth engagement has led him to consult and speak with numerous non-profits, governmental agencies, colleges & universities, and companies across the nation. He is a sought-after speaker on topics such as decolonization, Indigenous knowledges, and cultural revitalization.

Bazile's guiding philosophy in life is to "honor my ancestors and those who came before me, honor my people here today, and become an honorable ancestor for future generations." With his deep roots in his culture and his commitment to making a positive impact, Bazile is a true leader and advocate for his community.

Topics: Photography / photo-documentation of landscapes and habitats

Bio: not a life story; a collage of snapshots.

Two first names: a never ending challenge for receptionists—and others. No, there’s no s on Daniel. That first first name, how do you spell it? Are you sure? Pronounced Eddy, yes, like a gentle whirlpool.

Wau-wa-to-sa: Indian name; means “firefly." But you can say Milwaukee too; close enough. Another Indian name: “meeting of the waters.” One of the waters, the Menomonee (yep, Indian) River is a short walk from my house. Going there can take me a long way from home.

Artist/teacher or teacher/artist. I did both for … well, a long time until I stopped the teaching part in 2011 to devote myself to the artist part. Now it's artist/writer. I taught photography, architecture, graphic design, drawing, ceramics, art history: there’s a lot of art in the world, thank goodness! Creativity is key to teaching as well as art. Like a shark, you have to keep moving forward or you die. Art and teaching have a lot in common: They have no impact if you’re doing them for yourself.

Topics: Place-based writing

Professor Emerita, Department of English & Program in American Indian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ph.D.

Kimberly Blaeser, past Wisconsin Poet Laureate and founding director of In-Na-Po—Indigenous Nations Poets, is a writer, photographer, and scholar. She is the author of five poetry collections, including Copper Yearning, Apprenticed to Justice, and Résister en dansant/Ikwe-niimi: Dancing Resistance. Her photographs, picto-poems, and ekphrastic pieces have appeared in exhibits such as “Visualizing Sovereignty,” and “No More Stolen Sisters.” Blaeser, an Anishinaabe activist and environmentalist, is an enrolled member of White Earth Nation who grew up on the reservation. A Professor Emerita at UW–Milwaukee and MFA faculty member for Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, her accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas. Blaeser lives in rural Wisconsin; and, for portions of each year, in a water-access cabin near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota. Her book, Ancient Light, is forthcoming from University of Arizona Press in 2024.