Our Staff and Board Biographies

Administrative Staff:

Warren Moon, our Executive Director, began working with Wilderness Awareness School in 1995 as Youth Programs Director. He has since served as an instructor and administrator for all aspects of Wilderness Awareness School's programs. Warren has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and worked as an environmental engineer before he quickly realized that nature and mentoring were his true passions. His vision is to help restore people's reverence for life so that we can be better stewards of ourselves, our communities and our planet. Outside of Wilderness Awareness School, Warren is fond of gardening and caretaking his yard, sports, playing guitar, and spending time with his wife M’Liss, their daughters Kylah and Cassidy, and dog Sadie. Contact Warren

Ellen Haas is the Administrative Director for Wilderness Awareness School. From her desk she traces the weather through the office windows as she greets, registers, tracks, and connects visitors, students, and staff. Retired from a 20-year career teaching English, she also edits School publications and everyone’s grammar. Ellen contributed to many of Wilderness Awareness School’s initial projects in Washington -- including its first long-range plan and program catalog, early editions of Kamana, and the Seeing Through Native Eyes and The Art of Mentoring audio recordings. Currently, she is Managing Editor for our book, Coyote's Guide. At large, she loves simply being outdoors; watching her son develop a business; and her grandchildren, dog, and garden grow. Contact Ellen

John Chilkotowsky, Program Director and a staff specialist at the Residential Program, has been with Wilderness Awareness School since 2000. He is in awe of the natural world and sees hope for the future in every child. John is a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and has experience as an environmental educator, public school teacher and business consultant. He is thankful to his wife Troye for understanding when he comes home covered in mud, and to his parents, friends and all relations who continue to share their lives with him. John and Troye live in the Snoqualmie Valley with their baby daughter Maya and their "wild" cats Xena and Puck. Contact John

Laurie Nelson Alexander has been involved with Wilderness Awareness School since 1997 as student, parent, volunteer, and now as our Development Director. She comes to us after having served for twelve years as Executive Director, Volunteer Coordinator and Program Director for Warrior Spirit, a Seattle non-profit organization. Growing up in a theatrical and musical household as a child, and coming from a long lineage of musicians, Laurie worked in the entertainment industry for over 30 years as a creative writer, director, producer, actress, television producer, on-air personality, singer, and songwriter. An intense love of nature, people and our planet has also guided her life-path. She holds a B.A. from the Evergreen State College, where she studied environmental education, botanical medicine and cross-cultural shamanism. Her work with empowerment programs for children led her to the creation and facilitation of educational environmental assembly programs for elementary schools, serving to support the beginning of both the City of Tacoma and Spokane, Washington recycling efforts in the 1980's. Laurie has raised six children, home-schooling every one of them along the way, and now celebrates her first grandchild. Her passions include sitting in the forest, kundalini yoga, meditation, kirtan (chanting) and reading sacred writings from around the world. Contact Laurie

Dan Rain, Outreach Director, has worked with Wilderness Awareness School since 1999, and feels that he has found a true professional calling in helping to share the organization with the rest of the world. Dan has a degree in Environmental Studies and Psychology from Alfred University, and his background includes over a decade of experience in environmental education. He and his wife Sarah are enjoying (surviving?) the adventures of parenting their elementary school-aged son, Cadao Kestrel, and their preschool-aged daughter, Alyra Maple. Dan and his family live in New York State's Capital District; he visits the School in person quarterly, but usually "tele-commutes" across the miles... Contact Dan

Mike Prince serves as Facility Manager for the school. He leads the caretaking of Linne Doran, the school vans and equipment. He also serves as a Community School Instructor and lead instructor for the Earth Mentor Program. As a Delaware native, Mike spent many years exploring the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coast. He earned a BA from University of Rochester in upstate NY. After teaching High School, directing a Boy Scout Camp, and working for the YMCA, Mike traveled west to join the Wilderness Awareness Residential Program in 2004. He followed that up with a second year as a Apprentice Instructor with Community School. Mike is passionate about mentoring and dreams of creating a Wilderness Awareness Academy for teens that would blend nature and modern academic skills. Mike loves tracking, swimming, sailing, pizza, scouting, Inipi, football, and ice cream. Contact Mike

Linda Bittle is a 2007 graduate of the Residential Program and now holds the positions of bookkeeper/ registrar for youth intensive courses/front desk relief person/fundraising assistant. Her 25 years experience as nurse's aide and then storeroom clerk and Purchasing Assistant at a rural Missouri hospital help her juggle all those roles. A long-time hunter, Linda also enjoys shooting skeet, tracking, camping with friends, photography and helping women get involved in the outdoors. She was pleasantly surprised to learn that studying ethnobotany could combine her love of history and of crafts with learning about the edible and medicinal plants native to her new home. Making baskets and cordage from local plants are skills she intends to continue to practice now that her residential year is over. Living in Washington suites Linda, as she likes looking out her window and seeing mountains and even enjoys the rain...it's a good excuse to curl up with a book and a cup of tea. She shares her Monroe apartment with 2 former Missouri strays - Clara, a very nice cat and (Stonewall) Jackson, her not very well-behaved dog. Contact Linda

Stephanie Etley serves as a receptionist at Wilderness Awareness School’s front desk. She is also an apprentice for Roots and Wings this year, works as an instructor at Summer Camps, and is an avid Kamana student! Before coming to Wilderness Awareness School she worked as a Licensed Massage Therapist, was an instructor for another local wilderness school, and has been caring for children (including her own) in a variety of settings for over 20 years. Stephanie is very excited about combining her love for children with her passion for nature. She is also passionate about music, health and healing, birds, soccer, and camping with her family. Contact Stephanie

Residential Program Staff

Chris Laliberte, B.A., M.S serves as a core instructor at the Residential Program. Chris graduated Dartmouth College in 1992 with a degree in Anthropology, and immediately started working in the field of outdoor education, helping to create programs that incorporated wilderness adventure with cross-cultural experiences. Since 1992 he has worked in the education field as an interpretive naturalist and wilderness expedition leader. In 1996 he received a Master's Degree in Education from the Audubon Expedition Institute (AEI), and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Mythological Studies. Chris founded the Community School program in 1996, and has served as its Director and one of the lead instructors through 2002. His passions (aside from exploring the natural world) include poetry and storytelling; studying Baguazhang and other internal martial arts; singing and playing traditional music on the guitar, mandolin, and bouzouki. Contact Chris

Angie Jordan serves as a core instructor at the Residential Program. Angie moved to the Evergreen State in 2000 and is a 2001 Residential Program graduate. She is in her 6th year as core instructor for the Residential Program, and loves working with students as they journey through the many levels of awareness gained through learning the skills of the naturalist! She herself is especially passionate about plant fibers, basketry, and the primitive living side of survival skills, but is also quite excited about animal print and sign tracking. Angie has a BA in liberal arts and worked in youth camps throughout Michigan and Wisconsin before discovering the power and magic of mentoring in the model used by Wilderness Awareness School. She is newly interested in the restorative practices of Permaculture, loves swimming in lakes, rivers & streams, is greatly energized by camping, relishes a good conversation over some home made elderberry wine, and is content to spend time in front of the wood stove with a good book, listening to the rain on the deck with a cat warming her lap. Contact Angie

Alexia Stevens serves as a core instructor at the Residential Program. She is a 2002 Residential Program graduate, and a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program. Alexia also serves as a staff specialist for Wilderness Awareness School's adult programs, and as a Kamana instructor. She has worked as a bird biologist in the North Cascades and Olympic National Parks, and has a degree in Environmental Science with a concentration on bird behavior and communication. In her spare time, Alexia stays busy riding her Bashkir Curly horse, listening to birds, playing the tin whistle, spinning yarns (literally and figuratively), and, best of all, being married to Jeff Stevens. Contact Alexia

Marcus Reynerson serves as a core instructor at the Residential Program. He has lived close to the natural world throughout his life and some of his earliest memories include hunting and fishing in the muggy marshes and pine forests of south Louisiana. Thanks to a childhood of outdoor recreation, Marcus got an early start working in the environmental education field. After leading youth on backpacking trips during college, he earned a degree in Environmental Studies from Miami University in Oxford, OH. Marcus went on to serve as a conservation programs director for Philmont Scout Ranch in Northern New Mexico and then as a lead naturalist at an outdoor education center in Southern California. He was drawn to Washington from Louisville, Kentucky, to attend the Residential Program in 2005 and followed up with a second year as an Apprentice Instructor with the Residential Program. In addition to immersion in nature, Marcus enjoys backpacking, storytelling, fishing, playing music and singing, any time spent near the ocean, and practicing internal martial arts. Contact Marcus

Youth Programs Staff:

Laura Gunion is Assistant Director of Youth Programs, Coordinator of Thursday Youth School, Vashon Youth School as well as Coordinator and Instructor at Community School. She began her work for Wilderness Awareness School after completing our Residential Program in 2002. She has enjoyed teaching at nature camps, leading expeditions, and creating rite of passage programs for children and teens at other outdoor education organizations for 10 years before coming to Wilderness Awareness School. Laura received her B.A. in Child Studies from Tufts University in 1995, and completed the National Outdoor Leadership School's Semester in the Rockies in 1996. In her spare time you may find Laura splashing in the stream at her house, doing yoga, painting, learning how to make local plant medicines, listening to birds, or skiing. Contact Laura

Sol Marie Doran, is a Lead Instructor at Youth School and Roots and Wings, and 'Director of Faery Affairs' at Wilderness Awareness School. She came to Wilderness Awareness School from southern California, where she worked with Wilderness Youth Project, ran an early childhood outdoor program, and earned a B.S. in Ecology. She currently studies naturalist skills with Kamana and herbalist skills at Ravencroft. Her other passions include beekeeping, ethnic dance, and gardening. Contact Sol

Johnny Miller is an instructor at Youth School, Monthly Programs and with Special Programs and Expeditions. He hails from the North Cascades, where he has worked for 11 years for the Forest Service as a Wilderness Ranger, trail builder, and a forest fire fighter. He has also trained with and worked for the Boulder Outdoor Survival School in Utah, taking adults on expeditions from mountains to desert with minimal gear. Johnny has a bachelor's degree from the Evergreen State College in Ethnobotany, and an A.A.S degree in Forestry from Green River Community College. Some of his passions are: rowing his boat amidst the beautiful islands of the Pacific northwest, walking in the wild areas of the world, and growing and gathering food from nature's bounty. Contact Johnny

Kat Koch models many colorful hats at Wilderness Awareness School. She is an instructor for Wednesday Roots and Wings, manages the Product Sales Department and is a Kamana 2 responder. An eclectic blend of experiences brought her out to the Pacific Northwest to study in the Residential Program. She went on to apprentice with the school in tracking and mentoring and finally stepped into an instructing position. This year Kat is participating in the Tracking Intensive, working on Kamana 3 and dancing to her heart's content. One day soon she dreams of going to Ireland! Past experiences include teaching English in China, working for a library, interning on an organic farm and doing community theater. Contact Kat

Cyndi O'Brien found her love for the natural world while attending summer camp as a youngster and being a camp counselor as a teen. After traveling Europe and attaining a University degree in Fine Arts and Crafts with an emphasis in Secondary Education, Cyndi found the work she loved--sharing nature with children. Cyndi has taught Environmental Education in Southern and Northern California for several years before and after graduating from the Residential Program in 2003. In 2006 after having adventures in Alaska, she returned to Washington and joined the Wilderness Awareness School staff to teach Youth School and Roots and Wings. Cyndi is excited about permaculture, canning food, sitting in her sit spot, music, learning more about nature and having wild adventures. Contact Cyndi

John White is an instructor at Youth School and Roots and Wings. As a native of Carnation, WA, he attended Community School, and went on to serve as a lead Summer Youth Programs instructor in 2006. John is a student in the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and completed the first level of the Shikari Tracker Training Program. He is passionate about being a student of nature, mentoring others, primitive living crafts and skills, stone tool construction, and writing and performing music.

Adult Programs Staff:

David Moskowitz is our lead Tracking Programs Instructor and the project manager for the Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project. He joined Wilderness Awareness School in 2005, bringing with him over a decade of experience teaching outdoor and environmental education throughout the United States including at Outward Bound and the North Cascades Institute.

David is a skilled field researcher and has been involved with forest carnivore research and wildlife monitoring in the Cascades for many years as well as avian research in the Puget Sound area. He holds a bachelors degree in Environmental Studies through Prescott College with an emphasis on Field Ecology and Wildlife Tracking. David is an active member of the International Society of Professional Trackers and has given many talks and presentations on wildlife and tracking based on his years of field work and teaching. He holds professional certifications in wildlife tracking, wilderness medicine, avalanche safety and sits on the Board of Directors for Rite of Passage Journeys where he is the chairman of the Safety Committee. His writings on wilderness skills, environmental education, natural history and tracking have appeared in numerous regional and national publications including Green Teacher, Wilderness Way, and the Wilderness Education Association Journal. Along with tracking wild animals, mountaineering, environmental activism and photography are several of his passions. Contact David

Jenn Wolfe has trained with Jon Young and Wilderness Awareness School since 1994 in the Arts of Animal Tracking, Art of Mentoring and Naturalist Training Skills as well as completing a 9 month Animal Tracking Apprenticeship program with Jon Young and Mark Elbroch in California. Jenn has been Lead Instructor for many years on Adult Expeditions, tracking animals in the wilds of Idaho's backcountry as well as working with adults locally through Tracking Club, tracking intensives and other adult programs in the Puget Sound Area. She is also a member of Wilderness Awareness School's Elder Council. As a "free range child" living in many different rural environments she had unlimited access to the woods and fields of her various backyards. Her Dad led her and her 5 siblings on many adventures into the Wilds while her Mom grounded her to the Earth through gardens and family. As an Adult she became a public school teacher with a BA in Education and a BFA in Art. Finding Wilderness Awareness School brought her "Home" with a much deeper experience of the the Natural World. Along with her love for Tracking and the Natural world, Jenn also loves to create works of art and play with her granddaughter. Contact Jenn

Independent Studies Program Staff:

Dan Corcoran is the Director of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and an instructor with our Youth Programs and Adult Programs as well. After receiving his B.S. in Biology from Indiana University in June of 2000, Dan moved to the Pacific Northwest to pursue his love of nature with Wilderness Awareness School. He graduated from the Residential Program in 2003. As a Kamana graduate, he aspires to inspire more people to finish the program. He continues to push his edges with attempts to touch a deer, flintknap a clovis point, and hear a cougar bird-alarm sequence. Dan is also a Wilderness First Responder. Contact Dan

Outreach Staff:

Emily Gibson serves as Outreach Coordinator at Wilderness Awareness School as well as Adult Programs Coordinator, Assistant Summer Camp Director, and Youth and Adult Program Instructor. Emily has spent her life among the cedar trees and winter wrens of Western Washington, where her inner compass is set to orient by the Cascade Mountains to the East and Puget Sound to the West. She loves good literature, music, faraway cities, adventures, mischief, stinging nettle soup, big mud puddles, her daughter, and too many other things to list. Before coming to Wilderness Awareness School, Emily studied Wildlife Science at the University of Washington. She spent two years as a research assistant studying the effects of urbanization on songbird populations in the Puget Sound region.

After graduating from the Residential Program in 2005, Emily participated in the Instructor Training Apprenticeship and was an Apprentice Instructor with the Residential Program. She has also continued her study of tracking through two years of Wilderness Awareness School’s Wildlife Tracking Intensive. She is a team leader for the Cascade Wildlife Monitoring Project, and is certified as a Level II Track and Sign Specialist with CyberTracker International. Contact Emily

John Gallagher, L.Ac., CCH is a marketing specialist for Wilderness Awareness School, and a staff specialist at the Residential Program. Since 1991, John has served in many positions, most notably 10 years as Independent Studies Director. He was also the design editor for the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and has also completed the program as a student. He is a licensed Five Element Acupuncturist, Community Centered Herbalist, and teaches herbal studies with the Residential Program. John is the proud father of his son Rowan and daughter Hailey, and husband to Kimberly. John and Kimberly run LearningHerbs.com, a web site that teaches simple herbal medicine making through products they designed. Contact John

Rees Maxwell, Web & Print Masseur, has been massaging the kinks out of design since the previous millennium. A graduate of the Residential Program and instructor with Roots & Wings, he has finally found a way to combine his geeky nature with a love of nature. When Rees isn't assisting with the design needs of WIlderness Awareness School, he and his wife Matty are creating a new school in Eugene, Oregon. Dancing Sol Nature School will begin full-time preschool classes in the Fall of 2008. Rees currently teaches semi-regular preschool classes with Matty. He also teaches nature awareness and outdoor living skills to high-schoolers at the Network Charter School. And amongst all of this he is a father to two fantabulous boys: Rowen and Aiden.

National Staff:

Jon Young. Inspired by his childhood mentoring with tracker and author Tom Brown, Jr., Jon has pioneered blending Native mentoring techniques from around the world with the tools of modern field ecology. Under Jon's guidance, Wilderness Awareness School, which was originally founded as a high school nature club, has grown to reach students all around the world with its programs that help people reconnect with their native environments.

Jon has created several popular audio training series which can be purchased through the products section of this website, and he is the principal author of The Kamana Naturalist Training Program and Animal Tracking Basics, and co-author with Ellen Haas and Evan McGown of the forthcoming Coyote's Guide to Connecting with Nature - for Kids of All Ages and Their Mentors, a book about our curriculum. Jon is also the director and founder of OWLink Media and the Shikari Tracking Guild, and serves as a guest expert instructor for the Residential Program and certain other Wilderness Awareness School programs. Contact Jon

Board of Directors (bios and photos coming soon!)

Mark Smythe, President
Kathleen Redmond, Vice President
Chuck Newquist, Secretary
Gary Johnson, Treasurer
Annie Thoe
Barbara Russell
Patti Moore
Warren Moon

If you would like more information about volunteering on Wilderness Awareness School's Board of Directors, contact Warren Moon, Executive Director by email using our web Contact Form or by phone: 425-788-1301 x 37.