EMCEE: Cimmaron Craig (he/they)
Born and raised in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley, now living on the Big Island in Hilo, Hawaii, Cimmaron is no stranger to the great outdoors. Combining his love for nature and his experience working in various positions in the caring industry, from summer camps for inner city youth from disadvantaged homes, to working with children with developmental disabilities and mood disorders in a wilderness and adventure setting to his current position as a mentor at a Therapeutic Wilderness program. Cimmaron brings a unique, fun, and effective approach to empowerment, joy, love for self, and connection. In his spare time he enjoys dance, yoga, theatre, gardening, traveling, art, and cooking.
Jessica Loya (she/her) is cofounder of Rooted & Reimagined Strategies, a women of color owned and operated consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. where she helps her clients, community-centered nonprofits, create policy and legislative campaigns that present solutions to our most pressing environmental and conservation issues.
Most recently, she had the honor of serving on the Joseph R. Biden Presidential Transition Team where she helped to identify diverse candidates to serve in the areas of Climate, Energy, and Natural Resources across the federal agencies.
In the past, she served as Director of Policy & Programs at GreenLatinos, Government Affairs Director at Hispanic Access Foundation, and Public Engagement Specialist at the White House Council on Environmental Quality during the Obama Administration.
Her passion for public service stems from her community and family roots in East Los Angeles, CA. She received a degree in Economics from University of California Santa Cruz.
Megan E. Springate (she/they), Post-Doctoral Associate, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland
Megan Springate came out as a teenager in 1987 in a small town in Ontario. Remembering how hard it was to come out in a world where any representation was largely negative, she's been out of the closet mostly more than less since then. Megan moved to the United States in 1999, and became a citizen in 2010. They are an historical archaeologist by training, and received her PhD in 2017 from the University of Maryland. But their passion has always been telling the stories of the under- and un-represented -- everyday folks, folks left out of the history books, the stories you wish you'd learned in history class. Megan is the editor of LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer History published in 2016 by the National Park Foundation and the National Park Service. She has also written, co-written, and co-edited works on LGBTQ place, queer archaeologies, and coffin hardware. Megan has a long and varied work history, with experience spanning academia, government agencies, museums and archives, non-profit organizations, self-employment, and a little of this and that including short stints as bar security, a roadie, book designer, newspaper copy entry and layout, and art dealer
Justin Bubenik (he/him) is an attorney, a fly fishing instructor with the Mayfly Project, Trout Unlimited and Fly Fishers International, and a hunter education instructor with Colorado Parks & Wildlife. A resident of Denver, he still lays claim to his Oregon roots where he grew up chasing trout with his fly rod, mushrooming, hunting upland game and waterfowl and cultivating his green thumb. Now Justin can typically be caught somewhere out West, in the river, field, kitchen or classroom - finding that empowering new folks with the skills to connect with nature on a new and deeper level brings greater reward than the self-satisfaction of landing “the big one” alone.
[photo ID: Bri wet wades in the Bitterroot River, stolen ancestral lands of the Bitterroot Salish, Ktunaxa, and Pend d’Oreilles. Photo credit: Julie Ellison]
Bri Dostie (she/her) is a Maine Recreation and Fishing Guide, Founder of Confluence Collective, and avid fly fisher. She guides and recreates in the woods and waters of Maine, unceded Wabanaki Confederacy lands. When not facilitating community outdoor experiences, you can often find her foraging for mushrooms, listening for birds, wading in a river, or creating art inspired by nature.
Luke Warner (he/him) is a certified Nature & Forest Therapy Guide, trained by the ANFT, and a Natural Mindfulness Guide, an independent researcher and a man of trans experience.
Luke worked and volunteered with various environmental, Indigenous-led or LGBTQ-led nonprofits and found a calling at the nexus of these. Through his project Queer on Earth he crafts connections between LGBTQ+ folks, our wholeselves and our environments.
He guides outdoor & online workshops for groups and organizations serving LGBTQ+ youth and adults. Informed by his MSc in Risk Analysis, he designs evidence-based approaches to strategically deepen a sense of belonging, perspective & agency which are shown to counter risks disproportionately impacting LGBTQ+ people including depression, anxiety and ADHD.
He’s joining Brave Trails’ 2022 California summer camps and facilitating their new nature connection program. He is moving to Joshua Tree to start a queer retreat space with his wife and their two one-eyed cats.
Kelly Teale (she/they), Park Ranger at Stonewall National Monument
Kelly has been a park ranger since 2013 working at different sites around the continental US. From a castle in Pennsylvania to a fossil bed in Nebraska; from the badlands to a battlefield; from a volcano to a giant hole in the ground; and then from the 10th most visited NPS site to the first LGBTQ+ site for the National Park Service, Kelly has lived, worked, and adventured in some of America's best ideas. While sometimes only getting paid in sunsets, Kelly has worked in interpretation, education, and museums for a variety of age groups. They have experience with distance learning, classroom visits, hour/day/week long education groups, stationary/walking/hiking/bussing tours, trailing roving, archiving and cataloging, search and rescue, and so much more. Kelly is interested in telling minority stories and reaching new audiences. While they aren't working, Kelly enjoys cooking, yoga, gardening, learning, and adventuring with her fiancé, Ian Harvey, who is a Lead Ranger at Pipe Spring National Monument.
Julie Burna (any pronoun), Park Ranger at Stonewall National Monument
Currently based out of Jersey City, Julie has enjoyed career highlights such as animal rehabilitation with the Wild Bird Fund, coordinating special events for Major League Baseball, venue managing the Tribeca Film Festival, supervising a corn maze at the Queens County Farm Museum, and now as a Stonewall National Monument park ranger. Committed to embracing urban life, Julie champions community gardens, biking, the 8 Rs of sustainability, queer history, oddities markets, performing arts, tea culture, and being a tourist of your own town, but also traveling--usually to other cities!
Michelle Dannehy (she/her) was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, where she spent much of her childhood playing in the outdoors. After graduating from Western Washington University with a BA in Environmental Justice and Education -- and a few coffee shop and deckhand jobs later -- she discovered there were ways to get paid to play in the outdoors and became an sailing expedition guide at YMCA Camp Orkila in the San Juan Islands. Since, she has found a great fulfillment in the magic of leading wilderness expeditions for teens and has continued to grow her guiding repertoire to include backpacking and canoeing.
Along with playing in the outdoors, Michelle has spent her life exploring dance as both a student and a teacher. She studied ballet, jazz, and modern growing up, and discovered the joy of social dance in college. She fell in love with the playfulness of Cuban Salsa and is always seeking opportunities to share the joy and community of dance with others. As a queer individual and teacher in the social dance community, she believes in dismantling gender norms in dance and queering up the social dance scene.
Sean Binninger (she/her) is Latine and genderqueer. She is a Diversity Strategist in the Office of Diversity and Inclusive Workforce Management (ODIWM) at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Sean loves working on justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility at FWS. She gets to be creative and make positive change through her conversations, and that brings her joy. Sean has been with FWS for 5 years and in her current role for over a year. Before joining ODIWM, Sean's first position with FWS was as a Visitor Services Specialist at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum in Philadelphia. Sean learned to dance salsa in high school and continued learning and started teaching students in college. Sean's bachelor’s and master’s degrees are in biology, with a focus on plant ecology. Her love for birdwatching came during the pandemic when she had lots of time to go outdoors. Sean also loves to travel, having visited 43 US states and 16 countries. She plans to visit the last states she hasn't visited in the contiguous US on her upcoming road trip to Portland, OR. Sean's other hobbies include yoga, swimming, watching queer films, and playing basketball.