Who We Are

Director: Dr. Robin Reid is the Director of the Center for Collaborative Conservation, an initiative of CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources. She comes from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, where she led research, education and outreach on conservation and development issues in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the western United States. Robin has also been a senior research scientist at Colorado State's Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory since 2002, and is on the faculty of the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. She is a CSU alumnus, having received her PhD in Rangeland Ecosystem Science here in 1992.
Office Staff: Becca Balsley is a student administrative assistant for the Center for Collaborative Conservation. She is a sophomore at Colorado State and a Colorado native who grew up just outside of Boulder. She is studying Real Estate and International Business at Colorado State and enjoys spending time with friends and family, going to concerts and hiking in Colorado's beautiful mountains.
Ch'aska Huayhuaca is the Administrative Assistant for the Center of Collaborative Conservation. Her background in protected area conservation has gradually melded with her interest in cognitive science, and in the fall of 2010 she will begin a PhD in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department researching adult cognition as it pertains specifically to environmental training programs, and more broadly to environmental attitudes and behaviors.
Jill Lackett is a part-time Program Coordinator for the Center for Collaborative Conservation. She has an MA in Anthropology with a specialization in human ecology. Her thesis research involved interviewing farmers and ranchers in Weld County, Colorado about land use and conservation practices they chose to adopt on their farm/ranch.
Stacy Lynn is a part-time Program Coordinator at the Center for Collaborative Conservation and a PhD Candidate in the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE) at Colorado State University. Her dissertation research explores the implications of increasing cultivation by Maasai livestock herders for both Maasai livelihoods and migratory wildlife in Simanjiro, Tanzania. Stacy also received her MSc in Rangeland Ecosystem Science at CSU, studying conservation policy and human welfare in Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Loliondo Game Controlled Area, Tanzania. Her research interests are focused on finding balance between conservation and livelihoods in arid and semi-arid systems of Africa through multi-disciplinary approaches and collaborative processes.
CCC Executive Committee and/or Design and Development Team: Gillian Bowser is a member of the CCC Design and Development Team. She is the Assistant Dean for Sustainability and Strategic Planning in the Warner College of Natural Resources. Her responsibilities include sustainability issues for the College, working on outreach and internships. She was previously based at Texas A&M University as the National Park Service's Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit leader. In that capacity she worked with parks throughout the Gulf Coast area from Florida to Texas. Gillian has over 20 years of National Park Service experience at parks as a wildlife ecologist.
Kevin Crooks is a member of the CCC Design and Development Team. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology in CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources, and an advising faculty member of the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology.
Maria Fernandez-Gimenez is a member of both the CCC Executive Committee and the Design and Development Team. She is an Associate Professor in Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship at CSU. Maria’s research interests include both ecological and social dimensions of wildland ecosystems, focusing primarily on rangelands. Recent research focuses on understanding and evaluating the ecological and social outcomes of community-based management of rangelands and forests, focusing on the roles of different types of knowledge and collaborative adaptive management. Her current research focuses primarily on Colorado and Mongolia.
Kathy Galvin is a member of both the CCC Executive Committee and the Design and Development Team. She is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, and Senior Research Scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory. She is also an Advising Faculty member for the Department of Sociology and the Graduate Degree Program in Ecology at CSU. Trained as a biological anthropologist, she has conducted interdisciplinary human ecological research in Africa for the past 20 years. She is interested in issues of African pastoral land use, conservation, climate variability and resilience and adaptation strategies of these populations. Her current research explores looking at the dynamics of the coupled natural and human system of the Greater Serengeti Ecosystem. She is also looking at the importance of spatial complexity and the costs of fragmentation of pastoral ecosystems around the world. Finally, she is currently leading a group to investigate household decision-making under uncertainty across sites around the world with NSF funding. Dr. Galvin has been a member of a National Academy of Science/National Research Council (NAS/NRC) group to assess Research Needs and Modes of Support for the Human Dimensions of Global Change. Kathy was an Aldo Leopold Fellow in 2001. More information about her research can be found at http://www.nrel.ColoState.Edu/people/kathy.html
Perry Handyside is a member of the CCC Design and Development Team. He has been the Manager of the Blue Valley Ranch in Kremmling, Colorado for 15 years. The 25,000 acre Ranch is managed for agricultural production, recreation and fish and wildlife habitat conservation. Perry’s ranch management and planning approach focuses on the integration of land, animal, financial and human resources for long-term sustainability, ecological stewardship, and quality agricultural production for the benefit of the ranch and the surrounding community. Perry and the Blue Valley Ranch received the Ranching Conservationist of the Year Award from the Colorado Association of Conservation Districts in 2007.
Jeff Jahnke is a member of both the CCC Executive Committee and the Design and Development Team. He has been the Director of the Colorado State Forest Service since 2005, and has more than 35 years of experience in state forestry organizations. As Colorado State Forester, Jeff oversees 135 full-time employees and 17 field offices across the state, and is responsible for improving the forest resources of Colorado through partnerships, interagency collaboration, and grant assistance to fire departments and landowners across the state. Jeff previously served as state forester in Alaska, currently chairs the National Association of State Foresters' Forest Fire Protection Committee, and holds a leadership position with the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition. He has more than three decades of wildland firefighting experience, which includes managing firefighting operations at all levels and functioning as a Type I Incident Commander. Jeff received his master’s degree in Forest and Range Management from the University of Washington, and his bachelor’s in Forest Management from Michigan Technological University. Jeff and his wife, Karen, have two children.
Heather Knight is a member of both the CCC Executive Committee and the Design and Development Team. She is the Laramie Foothills Project Director for The Nature Conservancy of Colorado. Heather and her husband, Rick Knight, live and work with private landowners and public land managers to conserve and restore the natural and cultural heritage of the North Fork of the Poudre watershed. Heather grew up in Australia and immigrated to the US in 1991; her education background is in natural resources management and education.
Rick Knight is a member of the CCC Design and Development Team. He is interested in the ecological effects associated with the conversion of the Old West to a New West. A professor of Wildlife Conservation at Colorado State University, he received his graduate degrees from the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. While at Wisconsin he was an Aldo Leopold Fellow and conducted his research at Aldo Leopold's farm, living in "The Shack." Before becoming an academic he worked for the Washington Department of Game developing the nongame wildlife program. Presently, he sits on a number of boards including the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust, the Quivira Coalition, the Science Board of the Malpai Borderlands Project, the Diablo Trust, and The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado Council. He is on the Board of Editors for both Conservation Biology, and for Ecological Applications, and is a Contributing Editor for Working Ranch magazine. Rick was selected by the Ecological Society of America for the first cohort of Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellows which focus on leadership in the scientific community, communicating with the media, and interacting with the business and corporate sectors. In 2007 Colorado State University honored him with the Board of Governors Excellence in Teaching award. He is a three-time recipient of the students’ choice for Outstanding Faculty Member in the Warner College of Natural Resources. In 2008 he was a recipient of the Colorado Book Award for an anthology.
Carol Kruse is a member of the CCC Design and Development Team. She is a Project Coordinator at the United States Forest Service.
Lee Scharf is a member of both the CCC Executive Committee and the Design and Development Team. She works with tribal nations through her company, MESA, LLC (Mediated Environmentally Sustainable Action) in Fort Collins, Colorado, and with local community members developing community gardens through her non-profit, Bring it On Home. Ms. Scharf has mediated environmental issues for almost 20 years. She worked at USEPA for most of those years, bringing collaborative processes to EPA's Brownfields program, designing the collaborative process and evaluation protocols for EPA's Mine-scarred Lands Initiative, and mediating cases where tribal nations were at the table with federal agencies. Ms. Scharf is a member of the Native Dispute Resolution Network, part of the U.S Institution of Environmental Conflict Resolution.
Peter Taylor is a member of the CCC Executive Committee. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Colorado State University. Pete has had extensive international field experience over the last 25 years in research and applied work related to cooperative organization, rural development and natural resource issues in Mexico, Spain and Bolivia. His current research deals with community-based forestry and conservation in Mexico and Guatemala, and with forest tenure changes in Latin America and related grassroots community movements.
Jessica Thompson is a member of the CCC Design and Development Team. She is an Assistant Professor in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources Department at Colorado State University. Her current research and teaching is focused on communicating and managing environmental conflict and organizational change in the face of complex ecological issues such as global climate change. She is teaching two new courses: Group Decision Making in Natural Resources and Environmental Conflict Management. She is also the PI on a series of National Park Service research projects related to developing and integrating climate change communication and organizational change within the National Park Service.
Ed Warner is a retired geologist. He currently 'works' as a volunteer devoting himslef to science education and conservation issues. He holds honorary faculty positions at Colorado State University as a Faculty Affiliate to the Department of Geosciences and as a Professor practicing Cooperative Conservation in the Warner College of Natural Resources.