Who
We Are
We are the founding members of
Gifts for Conservation, Inc.
Dave Mech
Dave
Mech is the founder of the International
Wolf Center and vice-chair of the board of directors. He has degrees
in wildlife ecology and conservation and is senior research scientist
for the Department of the Interior
and an adjunct professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife
and Conservation Biology at the University of Minnesota in St Paul.
Since 1958, he has studied wolves and their prey on Isle Royale, in
Minnesota, Canada, Italy, Alaska, Yellowstone and elsewhere.
Dave is the author of many books including the recently-published
Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation which he co-edited
with researcher Luigi Boitani. Dave has also chaired the Wolf Conservation
Union's Wolf Specialist Group since 1978.
Please visit his web site: http://www.davemech.org.
Nancy Gibson
Nancy
Gibson works as a naturalist for KARE-TV
in Minneapolis, for PBS and for the Minnesota
Department of Natural Resources. For 13 years she was a host for
the PBS show Newton's Apple for which she won two Emmys. She worked
to obtain legislative, media and funding support to build the International
Wolf Center's interpretive facility in Ely, Minnesota. Nancy also
chairs the state's Citizens' Advisory Committee for the Environmental
Trust Fund. In that capacity, she has helped prioritize millions of
dollars each year for environmental needs.
Her book Wolves was released in 1996. In February 2003, Nancy
was presented with the 2002 Conservationist of the Year - Citizen
Award at the Minnesota Conservation Awards dinner in St. Paul. She
was honored in particular for her role in creating the Legislative
Commission on Minnesota Resources' project "Restoring Minnesota's
Fish and Wildlife Habitat Corridors."
Cornelia (Neil) Hutt
Neil
is from northern Virginia where she taught in the public schools for
over 20 years. In her language arts classes, intensive study of the
biology and ecology of the wolf was the hook to draw students into
involvement with broader conservation and environmental issues.
Neil has developed environmental curricula for major conservation
organizations and for the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service. She serves on the board of directors of
the International Wolf Center.
In addition to chairing the Education Committee, she contributes articles
to International Wolf, the Wolf Center's quarterly magazine. Neil
is on the board of the Red Wolf Coalition in eastern North Carolina
where she is working with the organization and with U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service to build the Red Wolf Center on the Pocosin
Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie
is recently retired Senior Vice President from Marshall
Fields. She is now looking forward to involving herself even more
in her environmental interests, focussing on education and preservation
of habitat.
Debbie is a board member and has been board chair for Milkweed
Editions, a literary non-profit press publishing with the intent
of making a humane impact on society, in the belief that good writing
can transform the human heart and spirit. Her primary focus with this
press has been on promoting Milkweed's World as Home genre-books about
our relationship with the natural world. She has also served on the
Raptor Center board of
directors at the University of Minnesota and has assisted in fundraising
by volunteering her skills as a gift store buyer. She currently serves
on the board of directors of the International
Wolf Center.
