2008 Yosemite Outdoor Adventures Instructor Biographies Our instructors are a Yosemite resource of vast depth and breadth. Collectively they represent centuries of knowledge, thousands of miles on park trails, museums full of plants and animals studied, huge galleries of photographs and paintings, halls lined with awards, and an army of care for this wild place. They’ve swum the high country lakes, run marathons, fought forest fires, written shelves full of books, produced music albums, rescued lost hikers, performed weddings, won ski races, spent countless nights in the backcountry, opened others eyes with their mastery of their arts. They’re all in love with Yosemite and endlessly eager to share it with you. Karen Amstutz Stephen Botti Chuck Carter Yenyen Chan Pete Devine Moira Donohoe Dick Ewart Mark Fincher Tim Hutchins Emily Jacobs Jack Laws David Lukas Jeff Maurer Lucy Parker Michael Ross John Senser Suzanne Swedo Charles Waldman Keith Walklet Howard Weamer Danah Woodruff Dave Wyman KAREN AMSTUTZ: Karen Amstutz grew up with family trips to Yosemite and after receiving her Master’s in Environmental Education, she settled in here to teach for Yosemite Institute, conduct programs for Delaware North’s Interpretive Services, and work as a ranger naturalist for the National Park Service.  She has trekked in the Himalaya, biked the length of New Zealand, been a ranger in the East Bay Parks, and paddled the Yangtze before the Three Gorges Dam went in. STEPHEN BOTTI spent seventeen years in Yosemite National Park in the re­source management division. Botti graduated with a B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Georgia. A guest lecturer for the California Botanical Society, Botti is the author of An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park. CHUCK CARTER grew up on the edge of the park in El Portal.  After a degree at UC Santa Barbara, Chuck came back to work for NPS in wildlife management and wilderness operations.  He is a well-traveled fly-fisher, backpacker, storyteller, and an accomplished backcountry skier. YENYEN CHAN first came to Yosemite as a student of the Yosemite Institute and later returned to teach for YI.  She has a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s degree from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental studies.  She enjoys traveling and learning from different cultures and has lived in Mexico, Hong Kong and Bhutan.  She has worked several years for the National Park Service and currently works in Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows as a park ranger naturalist. PETE DEVINE never has returned to Colorado like he thought he was going to when he moved to the park twenty years ago. He’s taught numerous YA courses, trained NPS rangers and YI faculty, studied the Lyell Glacier, written a natural history column for the concession newsletter, and knows more about Steller’s Jays than anyone in Yosemite. MOIRA DONOHOE, a member of Yosemite’s pioneer Degnan family, was born and raised in Yosemite Valley. She has painted the mountains since childhood, and has been a pro­fessional artist for over twenty years. Her BFA degree in printmaking is from Northern Arizona University, and she earned an MA in drawing and painting from CSU Fresno. MARK FINCHER is the Acting Wilderness Manager for Yosemite National Park.  He’s a California native, has been a long-time Yosemite Wilderness ranger, has traveled all the park trails and off-trail routes, in all seasons of the year, climbed many of its walls and peaks and skied all the park’s backcountry snow survey courses.  Mark and his family live in El Portal.  TIM HUTCHINS is a licensed fly fishing guide with thirty-five years of multi-species fly fishing experience. He has spent thousands of days on the streams and lakes of Yosemite National Park and the surrounding vicinity. He is active in river restoration and wild trout conservation projects. EMILY JACOBS has worked for DNC Parks and Resorts at Yosemite for two years, in the Interpretive Services office. She is an award-winning interpreter, with a graduate degree in environmental education from a top program in Wisconsin. She’s been a ranger in three other national parks before coming here, and Emily’s passion is exploring Yosemite in all its seasons. JOHN MUIR (JACK) LAWS has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska.  His book, The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada, is an illustrated field guide to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals that includes 2,710 original watercolor paintings.  Jack is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences.  He is also a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. He is currently coordinating efforts to create a curriculum to tie the field guide to the State of California education standards and secure funding to donate sets of field guides to every elementary and high school in the Sierra Nevada and teaching field sketching and natural history classes throughout the state. DAVID LUKAS has lead over 200 birding programs for the Nature Conservancy, National Audubon, Elderhostel, and more.  He is the author of Wild Birds of California and Watchable Birds of the Great Basin but naturalists are most grateful for his updated revision of the classic Sierra Nevada Natural History. JEFF MAURER has been researching raptors in Yosemite since 1988, including surveys for peregrine falcons, great gray owls and northern goshawks. He received his Master's degree from UC Davis in Avian Science on the ecology of the northern goshawk in Yosemite. Jeff has conducted counts of migratory hawks since 1993 in Nevada, Utah, Montana, Florida, and Vera Cruz, Mexico. Jeff has taught with the Sierra Institute, and the Yosemite Institute, and currently lectures at UC Davis, where he recently conducted research on lead poisoning in California condors. LUCY PARKER is a descendant of the Yosemite Indians, and great-granddaughter of Lucy Tom Telles. Brought up in Yosemite in a traditional cradle basket, Lucy worked in the park as an Indian cultural demonstrator for ten summers. She has also performed living history at Bodie State Park, and demonstrated traditions of the Paiute people at the Lee Vining Visitor Center. KEN ROCKWELL has lived in La Jolla for the past 20 years but he travels a lot.  He started taking pictures when he was five years old and has one of the most visited photography websites in the world (www.kenrockwell.com).  He is an engineer by training but is a full-time, award-winning photographer and a photography resource who also surfs, bikes, hikes, volunteers and teaches.   MICHAEL ROSS has taught in Yosemite since 1975 and is the author of over forty books for young people including The World of Small and The Happy Camper Handbook. He also teaches writing workshops for CSU Fresno and other organizations. Ross has a BS in conservation of natural resources from UC Berkeley and a teaching credential from CSU Fresno. This is his 30th season teaching for YA. JOHN SENSER is a landscape and wildlife photographer who has also lived and worked in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon as a naturalist and archeologist. His photography has appeared in books and magazines like Arizona Highways, Sierra Club calendars, and National Geographic special publications. For more than 25 years, he has conducted workshops for UC Santa Cruz Extension and Columbia College, and owns the Golden Oaks Studio located just north of Yosemite. SUZANNE SWEDO has backpacked in the mountains of every continent during her thirty-plus year outdoor career, and claims to have walked more than 5,000 miles in the Yosemite area. She holds an MA degree from CSU Long Beach. She lectures, runs her own outdoor travel organization, and writes (she is the author of Hiking Yosemite National Park, Wilderness Survival, and Adventure Travel Tips, among others). CHARLES WALDMAN’s art training started in 1988, and has included study with Clyde Aspevig and Ted Goerschner en plein air (painting on location). In the fall of 1999, Chuck left his medical practice and opened his life to the art of paint­ing. His work was exhibited at the Pasadena Historical Museum, was featured in “Southwest Art”, and is rep­resented by galleries throughout the United States. KEITH WALKLET lived a photographer’s dream, working in Yosemite for 15 years. Widely published, his credits include Audubon, National Geographic and Sierra Club Books. The Yosemite Association published his books Yosemite: An Enduring Treasure (2001), and The Ahwahnee: Yosemite’s Grand Hotel (2004). HOWARD WEAMER has been visiting the Yosemite backcountry since 1973 and is highly knowledgeable about its ecology and the location and identification of its many flowering plants. He has established a wide reputation for his fine photography and his eye for the unusual details of nature. DANAH WOODRUFF graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University and has dedicated many years to spending time on Sierra trails. She’s one of YA’s all-stars for taking numerous OA courses in botany, history, water chemistry and navigation. Her enthusiasm for backpacking only slightly exceeds her interest in Yosemite history. DAVE WYMAN has conducted outings for YA since 1989, including family camping trips and photography seminars. Dave directed the wilderness outings program for the University of Southern California and has conducted camping trips for families since his own children were infants. Dave is the author of three pictorial guidebooks, including Yosemite in Photographs, and his work has appeared in magazines such as Backpacker, Outside, Outdoor Photographer, and Sierra.