2017 Trails Conference BREAKOUT SESSION PRESENTERS

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1 2017 Trails Conference BREAKOUT SESSION PRESENTERS Osama Abaza Osama Abaza is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). He is a graduate of Brigham Young University for his doctoral degree and University of Toledo/Ohio for his master s and undergraduate degrees. He worked in the academic circles and industry for the last 33 years in the field of civil/transportation engineering as it relates to traffic and traffic safety, pavement structures, pavement management, and highway engineering and materials. He published more than 62 refereed publications in civil/transportation engineering. His current research are focused on cold region transportation and traffic safety issues like the use of steel fiber-reinforced rubberized concrete for roadway/intersection rutting mitigation, calibration of National Highway Safety Manual for cold regions applications, frequency and potential severity of red light running, accident reduction factors relating to moose-vehicle collision, etc. He is a member of Institute of Traffic Engineers, ASCE, IEEE, ACI and other national and international professional organization. Katie Abbott Katie Abbott is the Executive Director of the Serve Alaska Commission, which assists in starting and funding AmeriCorps programs across Alaska. AmeriCorps members help to get things done in their community in six focus areas including environment stewardship. Before coming to Serve Alaska, Katie was the Senior Manager for Education Impact Partnerships at United Way of Anchorage, where she led strategic action for the 90% by 2020 Partnership to increase educational outcomes in the Anchorage School District. She also has experience working with rural communities across Alaska on economic and community development, as well as national service from the ground level as an AmeriCorps member. She is excited to work with communities in Alaska to help them use service as a means of creating solutions for local issues.

2 Nathan Belz Nathan Belz is an assistant professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Assistant Director of the Center for Safety Equity in Transportation, and coordinator for the UAF Beyond Traffic Innovation Center. He also serves as the faculty advisor for the UAF Community Garden and Green Bikes program. Nathan grew up in rural Maine, spent some time in Vermont, and moved to Fairbanks, AK in He is an avid cyclist, much preferring to be in the saddle than behind the wheel of a car, and has been bike commuting almost exclusively for 12 years. Nathan is often recognized as that "crazy bearded guy being pulled on his bike by a Springer Spaniel." While a road may get you from A to B, a trail can take you anywhere. On this concept, he spends much of his time enjoying the wilderness and wonderful trails that Alaska has to offer with his four-legged adventure comrade. You can follow their many adventures (some trail-based, some not) at and Tom Bickauskas Tom Bickauskas works for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - Alaska State Office as the program lead for Recreation and Visitor Services. Beginning in 2001, Tom's interest in trails and the outdoors led him to a join Forest Service Enterprise Team, seamlessly working with BLM - Arizona and Arizona State Lands to map roads and trails. After three years, and having driven 30,000 miles of dirt roads by government motorcycle, he began managing projects for travel management planning where he helped to create hardcopy and digital maps. Tom's recent work for BLM-Alaska on the Digital Public Information Maps project builds on the BLM's goal of using more digital media. Erik Boraas Erik is a life long Alaskan, born and raised in Soldotna. He has worked as a wilderness ranger, fisherman, and archeologist. He has traveled extensively around the world and adventured all over Alaska. He settled in Juneau and spent a season as the field coordinator for Trail Mix, Inc., a trail building non-profit.he acceded to executive director in Erik is a board member of Alaska Trails.

3 Darcy Bromley Harris Darcy has managed the Alaska State Trails Program for the past 5 ½ years and as the Recreational Trails Program and the Snowmobile Trails Program manager, assists the public with grants for trails projects that not only improve quality of life, but mental and physical well-being. A native of Southcentral Alaska, Darcy was inspired by her parents love of wild places. After attending college outside, she returned and choose Alaska for herself. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and an M.S. in Project Management. She and her husband Chet embrace the outdoors in Alaska, spending time gardening, hiking, camping, flying, fishing, skiing, and berry picking at their cabin. Christine Byl Christine Byl, co-owner of Interior Trails, is a writer and a trail builder for over 20 years. After 12 years working on federal trail crews in Glacier NP, Chugach NF and Denali NP, in 2008 Christine and her husband Gabe Travis founded Interior Trails, specializing in sustainable trail design, layout, construction, consulting and training. Christine is also on the board of the Professional Trail Builder's Association. Christine's first book, Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods is about trail crews, tools, wilderness, and labor, and was selected by Backpacker Magazine as one of 20 Great Books for the Trail. She lives on a few acres of tundra off Stampede Road north of Denali National Park and spends as much time as possible in wild places by foot, bike, ski, boat and dog. For more information on Interior Trails, visit Tom Callahan Tom Callahan is the Executive Director of the Alaska Huts Association, a nonprofit working to create new recreational opportunities in Southcentral Alaska. Prior to coming to Alaska Tom managed the Appalachian Mountain Club's backcountry hut system in New Hampshire. When not working on hut projects he can be found whitewater kayaking, backcountry skiing or running up and down mountains with his retired sled dog, Bliss.

4 Paul Clark Paul is the National Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program Leader for the Alaska Region, where he supports community-led outdoor recreation and natural resource conservation projects. From , he served as an outdoor recreation planner and trails program manager for the Chugach National Forest. Paul loves to get out on urban and backcountry trails to run, hike, ski and explore nature with his wife and two sons. He is professionally and personally motivated by getting people of all ages and abilities to stay healthy through outdoor recreation and citizen stewardship of public lands. Mark Gronewald got his start in the trail world as a trail crew member in Along the way he spent 20 years as a wildland fire fighter in the summers and a back country ski guide in the winters. He was an early pioneer and manufacturer of fat-tired snow bikes. He founded Valley Mountain Bike Alliance (now Valley Mountain Bikers and Hikers) in 1999 where he worked on numerous volunteer trail projects. Since 2005, Mark has served as a trails designer and crew leader for Alaska State Parks and the Mat-Su Borough. He is currently the owner of Trailwerx, a private trails consulting and contracting firm. Lee Hart Lee Hart is the Executive Director of Levitation 49, a non-profit sports commission in Valdez dedicated to economic diversification through outdoor adventure. Lee brings more than a decade of experience and connections from the outdoor, snow sports, bike and adventure travel industries to her work with L49. She is particularly fond of singletrack trails for mountain biking and is the founder of the Chugach Fat Bike Bash. Eileen Kazura Eileen Kazura is the Risk Management Coordinator for Alaska Geographic, and manages youth and young adult teams serving across the state of Alaska. She has been involved with youth and young adult engagement through conservation work 6 years. She desires to help young people develop critical thinking skills and strong work ethic through trail and restoration projects, and enjoys celebrating each person s unique connection to the non-human world, with the ultimate goal of youth co-leadership in programmatic decision making. She lives in Anchorage with her partner.

5 Maya Kocian Maya Kocian has over a decade of experience valuing natural capital across multiple ecosystems. Her work has informed legal cases in Latin America, supported Alaska s largest recreation bond, and justified the nomination of a national marine sanctuary. At Earth Economics, she oversees organization-wide project delivery, directs the Ecosystem Services Valuation program, and is the lead economist for Alaska-based projects. Maya believes that valuing natural capital is essential for business. Fully accounting for nature leads to better decision making. Don Kostelec Don Kostelec, AICP, is a Senior Planning Associate with Alta Planning & Design in Boise. Don has applied Health Impact Assessments and other various integrated health/planning efforts in North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, Utah and Idaho. This includes Health Impact Assessments on Parks & Recreation Plans, greenway system plans, trail design/feasibility studies and active transportation plans. Don has also led design efforts for greenway studies, on-street bike lanes and ADA compliance. Prior to joining Alta, Don led his own company Kostelec Planning for six years, where he worked in more than a dozen states with numerous local, state and federal clients. He began his career in Boise as a Transportation Planner and Planning & Programming Manager for Ada County Highway District. Maeve Nevins Lavtar Maeve Nevins Lavtar is the Senior Park Planner for the Municipality of Anchorage Parks and Recreation Department. For the past five years, she has been the project manager on several complex, large-scale trail rehabilitation projects including the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, the Lanie Fleischer Chester Creek Trail, and the replacement of 7 greenbelt trail bridges. Currently, she is managing the first phase of improvements on the Campbell Creek Trail. Her experience also extends to managing the design and development of single-track mountain bike trails, playgrounds and other recreation facilities. With roots in Colorado, Maeve received her B.S. in Landscape Architecture from Colorado State University. She is active in the outdoor community as a volunteer Mighty Bike coach, steep skiing coach and singlespeed mountain bike racer. When the snow flies, you ll find her heading to the backcountry with her fur-baby springer spaniel and husband.

6 Stuart Leidner Stuart Leidner is the Executive Director of the Mat-Su Trails and Parks Foundation. Stuart migrated north to Alaska just over a year ago, as his wife embarked on a new career path. He has worked for more than a decade for a wide range of nonprofits; spanning land trusts to economic development. He has explored trails from the Appalachians to the North Cascades in all seasons and has eagerly sought out new adventures here in Alaska. When not managing the Mat Su Trails and Parks Foundation s grant programs and The Chalet at Government Peak, you will find him out and about on the trails, wading a river fly rod in hand, working on the next project to enhance our vegetable garden production, or just hanging out with Nina and their dog Colter. Ann Mayo-Kiely The Program Director for Alaska Geographic and the Chugach Children s Forest, Ann has worked with outdoor education and public lands since the early 1990s, for National Forests, National Parks, universities, and nonprofits. From her first positions volunteering with trail crews and field projects to being an environmental educator in the Boundary Waters and the Wilderness Coordinator for Isle Royale National Park, Ann has loved connecting people with inspiring wild places. She has a Master of Science in Wilderness and Recreation Management from the University of Montana. Ann moved to Alaska in 2008 to join the Chugach Children s Forest crew, and since then has most loved exploring new places to camp, ski, paddle, harvest, hike, and learn with youth involved in Children s Forest programs and her own 3 kids. Marcheta Moulton Marcheta Moulton has been with DOT&PF since 1994 and is the Manager of Small Federal Programs with the Division of Program Development at the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF). As the Manager of Small Federal Programs, she is responsible for facilitating and overseeing grant programs such as Transportation Alternatives, Federal Lands Access and the Bicycle/Pedestrian Program. Growing up in Southeast Alaska, she spends most of her free time outside with her dog Musket. She is most frequently found hiking the extensive network of Juneau trails, on her boat wrestling a fish, paddling thru Alaska s pristine waters or on the front porch of her cabin admiring the wilderness of Southeast Alaska.

7 Brad Muir Brad Muir joined Anchorage Parks and Recreation in October He is originally from Washington D.C., but after a ski trip to Utah in high school, he fell in love with real mountains and the West. Since then, he has lived in Utah, Montana, Arizona, Washington State, and Ecuador before moving to the great state of Alaska. With degrees in Environmental Studies and Communications, Brad worked for the Bureau of Land Management in Anchorage as an Outdoor Recreation Planner and an Environmental Educator from 2002 to 2015 with a five year break as a Ranger in the Washington State Parks system. He is excited to be part of an energetic team that is focused on improving Anchorage Parks and Trails, and Anchorage as a whole. Beth Nordlund Beth is a third generation Alaskan park user. Born in Anchorage, she lost her first tooth at Russian Jack Springs Park. Beth was raised in Juneau and earned a double-major in Environmental Studies and Political Science from Baylor University, and a Master s in Public Administration from The George Washington University. Beth was the first staff hired for the Anchorage Park Foundation in Starting from scratch, she has helped shape the work plan and she enjoys working with volunteers to help them obtain grants, promote projects, build projects, and celebrate community achievements. One of Beth s proudest accomplishments is helping to create and fund the Youth Employment in Parks program, which won the prestigious Partners in Conservation Award from the US Department of the Interior. Her community awards include Anchorage ATHENA Society and Top 40 Under 40. Beth lives with her husband Jim and child Ella next to a great sledding hill at Balto Seppala Park. Jeff Samuels Jeff Samuels first trail work experience was in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, serving as a volunteer crew member under Pat Hart, where he spent the summer logging out and maintaining most of the trails in Boundary County. Jeff first came to Alaska in the early 90 s to participate in a NOLS course that introduced him to the wild lands of the state. Since then, Jeff has worked in tourism for many years, mostly with Alaska Wildland Adventures on the Kenai Peninsula where he started as a bus driver and most recently ended his career there as a co- manager of Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge. Jeff currently works as the Partnership Director for the Student Conservation Association in Alaska. In this role, he works with new and existing partners to find opportunities for youth and young adults to serve in land stewardship positions. He also serves on the state Serve Alaska AmeriCorps Commission. He has a bachelor s degree in Recreation Management from Western State University in Gunnison, Colorado. Jeff and his wife, Sharon, live in Girdwood where they volunteer as groomers for the Girdwood Nordic Ski Club and spend their free time skiing, hiking, camping and exploring Alaska.

8 Andy Schroeder Andy has dedicated his career to conservation of Alaska's natural resources. Originally from the Little Miami watershed of Ohio, he earned a bachelor of science from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a 200-ton Captain's license and served two tours in the Coast Guard. Andy left the service in 2005 to start a small business and make Kodiak his permanent home. He founded the nonprofit Island Trails Network in 2006 and in 2010 became its full-time executive director. Andy and his wife Betsy have a son Haakon and a daughter, Dory. Mike Shields Mike Shields started working on trails in 1960 at Olympic National Park, in the days of axes, misery-whips, and 90-lb loads in a Trapper Nelson pack. A graduate of the University of Idaho, in his NPS career he s been a Crew Leader, Ranger, Roads Foreman, Maintenance Mechanic, Trails Foreman, and Facility Manager, but primarily and always a trailman, and has worked trails in Olympic, Big Bend, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, North Cascades, Kings Canyon, Rocky Mountain, and Denali. Two of those parks (Canyonlands, North Cascades) were brand new and he helped invent the trail systems in both. He became adept at timber felling, log and rock construction, mule packing, rigging, using explosives as a precision tool, disposing of unstable explosives, suspension bridge and tram design, and contract administration. Since his retirement as Denali s Chief of Maintenance in late 1996 he has been a small contractor providing training, trail layout, and technical consulting services from Alaska to West Texas and California to Ohio. In 2010 he received American Trails State Trail Worker Award (Alaska) for his efforts at training and mentoring younger folks, and in 2015 the Professional Trail Builders Assn R.H. Bell Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in trail design and construction.

9 Jayson Smart Jayson Smart serves as a Senior Program Officer for the Rasmuson Foundation, a private family foundation based in Anchorage Alaska. Jayson provides oversight of the foundation s portfolio in arts and culture, and also works on special topics in health and education. Jayson brings unique experience from the public and nonprofit sectors to his role advancing partnerships between the foundation and Alaska organizations. He formerly served as deputy director with the Municipality of Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services, and has a background in social service agency management with a focus on disability advocacy and policy. Jayson holds two degrees from the University of Alaska Anchorage: a master's degree in public administration with an emphasis in public management; and a B.A. in psychology. He has spent the last 30 years in Southcentral Alaska. Jessica Smith Jessica Smith, AICP is the Matanuska Susitna Borough s Transportation Planner based in Palmer, Alaska. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering, Transportation Systems from North Carolina State University. Over the last 10 years in the transportation construction/engineering/planning industry, Jessica has divided her experience between public and private sector, including transportation research, planning, construction, and engineering projects in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alaska. Jessica s Alaskan work has included evaluation and implementation of Anchorage and FMATS non-motorized plans, development of the public education and outreach effort for Anchorage s first Bike Boulevard (10th Avenue), and organization of Alaska s first walkability assessment workshop for planners. Jessica is an active participant in Alaskan running and biking and maintains that the Kluane-Chilkat Bike Relay is Alaska s best kept secret. Throughout each of her roles, Jessica has been a consistent voice for active transportation implementation in her community.

10 Blaine Smith started doing trail work with Chugach State Park in 1976 as a Boy Scout. Working with the Rangers and several other scouts Blaine opened the Turnagain Arm trail between McHugh Creek and Rainbow Valley just to the southeast of Anchorage. From that point on, Blaine has maintained an active interest in trails, particularly those in Chugach State Park where he has worked for eight years as the coordinator for the trails program before retiring in the fall of Gabe Travis Gabe Travis, co-owner of Interior Trails, has been a professional trail builder since Gabe has led trail crews in Glacier National Park, Chugach National Forest, and Denali NP, and in 2008 Gabe and his wife, Christine Byl, started Interior Trails to address the need for specialized trail expertise in Alaska. In addition to design and layout, assessment and prescription, and hand and mechanized construction for clients statewide, Gabe has taught introductory and technical trails courses for the past decade. An avid skier, biker, and runner, Gabe is also a visual artist who brings his eye for design and detail to the trail layout and construction process. He lives in a yurt north of Denali National Park. For more information on Interior Trails, visit Paul Twardock Paul Twardock is a Professor of Outdoor Studies at Alaska Pacific University, where he has worked since He is the author of Kayaking and Camping in Prince William Sound. At APU he teaches the graduate class Environmental Literacy, and a variety of undergraduate classes included Wildland Ecosystems and Human Impacts. Paul's research includes continuous monitoring of campsites in Prince William Sound, trail use in Chugach State Park, and the Alaska Recreational Boating Safety Incident Database. Jon Underwood Jon Underwood has had a life-long fascination with trails as a biker, skier, runner, walker, and ATV rider. In 2006 Jon started Happy Trails, Inc. to provide trail design and construction in Alaska. Since then he has designed and built trails all over the state, having so much fun he is astonished when it is sometimes profitable. Jon is Vice President of the Professional Trail Builders Association. Find Happy Trails on Facebook or to see more.

11 Presenters to Add: Randy Goodwin Fred Young Alicia King Joe Hall Sam Severin Lynn Brandon - Tentative Nicolette Dent Dale Wade Keynotes Pat Pourchot, Rory Renfro, Blaine Smith