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Jennifer Banowetz is a lover of the outdoors and greatly enjoys the KVR in all its seasons. Her teaching experience sprouts from a varied background with WYCC (Wisconsin Youth Conservation Corps) programs, Tracker School classes, apprenticeships, and internships as well as her own dirt time. She enjoys passing on her passion of plants and naturalist skills to future generations. |
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In addition to teaching classes at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, Barbara Duerksen does substitute teaching for the Richland School District, and in summer, does breeding bird surveys for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. She became fascinated with bird songs when she was growing up in Kansas and continues her interest in studying birds and their habitats. She is the Youth Education Coordinator for the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, the Richland County Sandhill Crane Count Coordinator, does volunteer breeding bird surveys for the USGS, organizes the Richland County Big Sit bird event, and leads bird walks. |
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Nicholas Gale wishes he had been born in Wisconsin a few thousand years ago; but at least he was born in Wisconsin, enjoying the freedom to explore the natural world from an early age. His first loves were insects, frogs and snakes but grew to incorporate birds, environmentalism, earth skills and Native philosophy. At the Teaching Drum School in Northern Wisconsin he immersed himself in a year-long course in wilderness skills, tanning, lodge building, wilderness travel, foraging and food storage and bushcraft. Here he became firmly planted in his passions for living close to the land and sharing this connected lifeway with others. He lives with his wife and children in the Kickapoo Valley and with them celebrates gathering edibles, fishing and hunting, and pursuing the art of dressing and furnishing a life from the gifts of the Earth. He shares this world with youth and adults through classes and workshops on wild edibles, wilderness skills, traditional crafts and nature awareness. |
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Meaghan Gustafson has been an early childhood educator for 10 years, teaching primarily preschool, kindergarten, first and second grade students in a variety of settings. She is currently the first grade teacher at La Farge Elementary. She has been leading Jeepers Creepers and Kinder Camp sessions at KVR Summer Camp for the past several years. Meaghan appreciates the diversity of landscapes, vegetation, and wildlife on the Reserve, where she spends a lot of time hiking, paddling, and snowshoeing. Meaghan and her husband live outside La Farge on a small-scale farm. |
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Chuck Hatfield grew up on a farm near Ontario, Wisconsin where he spent most of his spare time hiking and exploring the nearby woods and cliffs. He received a degree in elementary education and science at La Crosse, and later a master’s degree in teaching from Oshkosh. He taught for 35 years in Green Bay, serving in both elementary and middle schools. His second “career” was working with Heritage Hill State Park—locating, moving and reassembling ethnic log buildings. Gwen and Chuck moved to La Farge in 1998 and built a home on Maple Ridge Road. He has taught since 2001 for the KVR, working with students from elementary to graduate school. One of his passions has been to hike and explore all areas within the Reserve, studying the geological and natural history of the area. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Wisconsin Historical Society and Bethel Home & Services of Viroqua. |
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Julie Hoel is a retired educator with a degree in Elementary Education from Iowa State University and a Masters in Professional Development from UW-La Crosse. Julie has taught numerous classes to the younger visitors at the Reserve including Alien Invaders, Camouflage Critters, Animals in Winter, Bat Bonanza, Animal Signs, Learning to Love Herptiles, and Water Canaries. She is a lifelong camper, hiker, canoeist, and biker. She enjoys sharing this love of the outdoors with young people and meeting people who truly care about the environment and the place they live. Although Julie and her husband live on a piece of property that her parents bought in 1970, it was taking the Cultural Tour of the Kickapoo Valley course in 2009 through the Reserve that finally made the Driftless Region feel like home! |
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Bill Humphrey is a professional wilderness guide with over 20 years’ experience who specializes in adventure travel such as rock climbing, canoeing and winter camping with individuals, families and groups. He sees outdoor adventure as a lifetime activity that can be enjoyed at all ages either individually or with others. Bill's mission as a guide is to partner with others to create experiences that encourage growth, promote group bonds and deepen our connection with the natural world so that we may appreciate each other and the environment more completely. Bill is the founder of Essential Skills Outdoor School, www.essentialskills.org, and lives in Viroqua, Wisconsin. |
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Monica Jagel has a degree in Fine Arts and is a certified Botanical Illustrator - reflecting her love for the natural world. She works as an artist in her home studio, and her artwork is represented by local galleries in Viroqua, Baraboo and Middleton. Most recently she has been illustrating farm life and the natural world as she sees it right here in Vernon County. She hopes that her visual interpretations will encourage others to also cherish the countryside. She adores her time working on her little farm or in her studio, but teaching provides her with a healthy balance. She has enjoyed working with students of all ages at the KVR and introducing them to the wonders of creativity. |
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Jonel Kiesau grew up in the Kickapoo Valley and spent her childhood horse-back riding, hiking, cross-country skiing and canoeing the Kickapoo River in what is now the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. She earned a degree in Conservation Biology from UW-Madison in 1995. After working as a field biologist in Alaska and Mexico for several years, she and her husband moved back to the Kickapoo Valley in 2002, where she landed a dream job as the Education Coordinator for the KVR. She is passionate about conservation and sustainability issues and believes that children thrive in the outdoors. She and her husband and two young daughters continue to enjoy the wilderness of the KVR frequently as well as work to keep up with the growing herd of animals and vegetables on their small farm. |
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Don Nelson has been teaching in the Kickapoo Valley Reserve’s Education Program since 2006. He spent his career in education as a classroom teacher, a teacher educator, and the director of a teacher education program. Science and natural history have always been his favorite topics as a learner and so, not surprisingly, comprise his favorite topics as a teacher. He feels the natural world provides compelling content that motivates both students and teachers. Interacting with a wide range of kids who contribute their interests and experiences has broadened his own appreciation for the power of the out-of-doors as a learning environment. Getting to know the KVR staff and the other instructors has provided additional rewards for his participation in the education program. And, of course, enjoying the beauty of the Kickapoo Valley Reserve is more "frosting" on his cake! |
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James Oldenburg has a BS in K-12 Art Education and has been using the outdoor classroom to teach art for the last 15 years. He has spent some time hiking, paddling, drawing, and painting on the Reserve and looks forward to creating outdoor learning experiences with the people he meets and instructs at the KVR. |
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Vicki Ramsay is a state certified teacher in Biology and Environmental Science. She teaches biology at Youth Initiative High School in Viroqua to grades 9 through 12. She has been teaching at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve for the past five years. The best part about teaching at the Reserve, she says, is seeing how inspired students become through exploring the wild, learning something really cool like survival skills, or just by being out in nature. She lives in Viroqua with her two sons, ages 10 and 3. |
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Brad Steinmetz taught social studies classes at La Farge High School for over thirty years. He currently is an Affiliated Professor at UW-La Crosse and teaches courses at the Reserve on the history of the northern Kickapoo Valley including the settlement of the area, flooding problems of the Kickapoo River, the La Farge Dam Project and other topics of human history. He has been writing about various local history projects over the last five years; volume one of his history of La Farge was published in 2010, and the history of the La Farge Dam Project was released in December 2011. Brad says that his favorite part of teaching at the Reserve is working with people who share his interest in the history of this place. |
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Mary Szepi is a retired teacher of Pre-k-2nd grades. She has led an environmental club of 4th-6th graders and been a Girl Scout lead for many years. Since retiring she has taught environmental education as a volunteer for grades K-3 at NOW Schools, has taught as a KVR instructor and led the Jeepers Creepers and Kindercamp summer camps at the Reserve. Since childhood she has loved camping, hiking, canoeing, swimming and exploring the outdoors. She loves spending time with children in the outdoors experiencing the wonders of nature, observing their curiosity and enthusiasm and helping hone their love of nature |
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Kristine Teghtmeyer grew up in Vernon County enjoying the outdoors. She has a degree in Biology and Chemistry from UW-La Crosse. Kristine’s training has also included advanced training from a number of nature-based schools including Earth Heart, Tracker, Inc., Wilderness Awareness School and Tomiki with Bears in the Wilderness. She has been a volunteer for Tracker, Inc. and helped put together a transitional survival class for them here in the KVR in the late 90’s. She has also been both a youth and adult instructor for Wilderness Awareness School, Wilderness Youth Project, and developed a program for Windemere Institute of Healing Arts called “Nature as a Mentor”. She currently spends as much time outdoors as possible exploring, tracking and sharing awareness of the natural world with people of all ages. |
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Dick Wallin is a retired Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Conservation Warden and a member of the Kickapoo Reserve Management Board. He has taught many classes such as hunter education, and boat, snowmobile and ATV safety. The Kickapoo Valley Reserve has always been a place of importance to him. As a KVR instructor he was trained as a National Archery in the Schools Instructor and now enjoys teaching Archery as well as Survival Skills, Rendezvous Games and Pond Study, among other classes at the KVR. He believes that if we are going to have good future stewards of the environment we have to convince young people of the value of outdoor experiences. He hopes that after having a positive outdoor experience at the Reserve, students will want to engage in more outdoor activities in the future. |
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Jo Wenzler taught middle school math and science for 32 years and has retired to go on to work as a volunteer with the Ice Age Trail Alliance and The American Hiking Society. For these organizations he lays out and designs hiking trails, is the technical advisor for state-wide projects and maintenance coordinator for the Ice Age Trail in Sauk County. Along with teaching at the Kickapoo Reserve, he kayaks, hikes, backpacks, bicycles and enjoys retirement! |
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Last Modified: 4/12/2012 9:12:53 AM
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