About Wyoming Wildlife Federation

Joy grew up in Iowa where she gained her appreciation for nature through the backwoods and farms of Sioux City. After studying agriculture at the University of Iowa, she received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming through an inter-disciplinary program in Environment and Natural Resources as well as Political Science. Joy is a policy advisor, analyst, and advocate for wildlife, habitat, and outdoor recreation throughout Wyoming. She has worked for Wyoming Wildlife Federation since 2007, and is dedicated to conserving landscapes and waterways for hunters and anglers. As a sportswoman and a mom, Joy enjoys sharing the great outdoors with her children through hunting, long hikes, camping, fishing, rock climbing, skiing, and relishing in nature’s diversity.

joybannon@wyomingwildlife.org

(307) 335-8633

Jaden Bales is WWF’s new Communications Director. He will be ensuring our membership is up to date on the latest Wyoming wildlife issues and keeping our lines of communication humming digitally and in print. Jaden was raised on farm in rural Northeast Oregon and enjoys having a pocket full of big game tags every fall.

jbales@wyomingwildlife.org

(541) 910-1482

Andrea has been the Federation's Administrator and jack-of-all-trades since 2017. Originally from Wisconsin, Andrea received her BS in Animal Science with minors in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Wisconsin at River Falls. From there, she moved to Iowa to get her MS in Wildlife Biology from Iowa State University working on elk feedgrounds and calving site selection. She did her course work in Iowa, and her field work was in and around Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks in Wyoming. It was a great place to get her feet wet in the field, and, as it happens, a great place to meet her husband. Life after graduation has included work in wildlife and fisheries biology, working with everything from prairie dogs to wolves to cutthroat trout. Outside of work, she enjoys a variety of outdoor pursuits including hiking, camping, rock climbing, and horseback riding.

abarbknecht@wyomingwildlife.org

Cassidy Downing is a runner, artist, and passionate conservationist. She hails from Detroit, but now calls Wyoming home where she actively pursues avenues of conservation science and outreach. Cassidy received her BS in Ecology at Northern Michigan University and was brought to WWF team after a summer internship supporting the Class Outside program. She enjoys wetting some flies on a slow afternoon in the Wind River Mountains ever in pursuit of that perfect cutthroat trout, scouting fields with a wildflower ID book in-hand, and exploring the rich local outdoor culture Wyoming has to offer.

Jess Johnson leads Wyoming Wildlife Federation's efforts to advocate on behalf of wildlife and wild places through policy and local advocacy. She works hard all session long at the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne to help pass good bills for wildlife and ensure those that are not good for wildlife do not become state statute. Jessi grew up ranching in Montana, Northern California and Wyoming. She has a deep appreciation for wildlife and wild lands. Since moving back to Wyoming in her early 20's, she has spent most of her free time exploring our public lands and she is an avid archery hunter. Jess's love for conservation spans beyond WWF, as well. She's a co-founder and advisory board member of the NWF initiative, Artemis Sportswomen, and serves as the policy seat on the board of directors for 2% for Conservation.

jessijohnson@wyomingwildlife.org

(307) 335-8633

A lifelong Wyomingite from Kemmerer and long-time habitat biologist for Wyoming Game and Fish, Sam Lockwood joined the Wyoming Wildlife Federation staff to spearhead our habitat projects in the summer of 2020. If you have ideas for habitat projects around Wyoming, please reach out at slockwood@wyomingwildlife.org

After growing up in Northern New Jersey, Nat attended St. Lawrence University in upstate New York and graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies. He moved to Jackson, Wyoming after college and quickly fell in love with the landscape and wildlife of the mountain west and developed a passion for public lands. He decided to turn his passion into his career and attended the Masters of the Environment program at CU-Boulder where he received a master’s degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Policy. In his free time he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife, Kathryn and son, Redford.

Chris moved to Centennial, Wyo after years of enjoying Wyoming’s vast wide open spaces as a visitor. He earned a BA from Yale University and an MBA from the University of Virginia leading to a career in marketing and financial services. Chris also formed and directed an industry-shaping fuel distribution business aimed at minimizing impact of diesel fuel delivery at environmentally sensitive construction sites. Chris comes from a long line of outdoor enthusiasts and raised three children with these values. His love of outdoor lifestyle began with fresh and salt water fishing adventures, and annual trips to Canada’s remote backcountry wilderness, public land which was later mismanaged by the provincial government and no longer provides the same recreation opportunities. Today, Chris divides his spare time exploring our state’s vast public spaces for fishing, skiing, hunting and camping adventures.

clsimonds56@gmail.com

Rob grew up in Cody with Yellowstone National Park at his backdoor. Summers were spent camping and fishing in the North Absorkas and YNP. He graduated from Northwest College in 2009 and again from the University of Wyoming in 2012. Subsequently he spent four years working in and learning about the oil and gas industry as a production chemical salesman. Rob returned to Cody in 2017 to help his family run Pahaska Tepee Resort. He enjoys fly fishing, skiing of all sorts and exploring the wide open spaces Wyoming affords.

Mark is the Chief Operating Officer for UK Elite Soccer, a company owned by Steel Sports. Prior to joining Steel Sports, Mark was the Executive Director of Aspen Valley Ski/Snowboard Club for 15 years. The non-profit focused on developing “Great Athletes, Great Kids” including many Olympians, Paralympians and X-Games athletes. The club was the United States Ski and Snowboard Association’s National Club of the Year in 2011 and twice during his tenure was recognized as the Aspen area Non-Profit of the Year.

Mark also spent 17 years with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), considered the gold standard in teaching wilderness skills and leadership. Over the years Mark taught backpacking, rock climbing, and winter courses. He oversaw the hiring and training of field staff and also served on the director team for 8 years, as Finance Director and Alumni & Development Director.

Mark holds a BS in Mathematics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an MA in Mathematics from the University of Washington.

Levi was born and raised on a family cattle ranch in south central Montana where clean water, bountiful fish and wildlife, and fresh air were part of his everyday life. He was exposed to fishing, hunting, and the wilderness at a very young age, cultivating a desire to continue gathering those experiences and sharing with others the divine beauty of the outdoors. Levi moved away from the ranch to get an Environmental Engineering degree from Montana Tech in 2005. It was there that he started to appreciate and understand the impact and interaction of the human environment with natural.

Levi has been in Gillette since graduating college, working for several years for an environmental consulting firm, and for the last ten years for the City of Gillette. Even though he and his family live a life in the city, his mind and his passions are on the adventures of the outdoors: hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, climbing, and gardening. Levi has gained an understanding that those things of his childhood that seemed to be just part of life aren't just there; they need people that care to learn about them, to advocate for them, and to literally and figuratively get their hands dirty caring for them.

Barbara Allen moved to Wyoming after graduating from the University of Virginia intent on staying only a winter. Twenty-six years later, she is thankful her original plans didn’t work out and blames the change in direction on learning to fly fish. Subsequent exposure refined her love and appreciation for Wyoming’s spectacular scenery, wildlife, rivers and salt of the earth people. She is a past Teton County Commissioner, past president of Jackson Hole Trout Unlimited, current member of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation and Habitat for Humanity. Professionally, she is a top producing broker with Jackson Hole Sotheby’s International Realty with 25 years of experience. In her free time, she loves nothing more than camping, fishing and spending time with her family, both two and four legged.

Biography coming soon.

Temple is an associate professor at the University of Wyoming with a dual appointment in the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources and the College of Law. Her academic scholarship and teaching focuses on wildlife, public lands, NEPA, and natural resource law and policy. Prior to her appointment at UW, Temple served as a natural resource policy advisor to former Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, worked for Shell International BV at their world headquarters in the Netherlands, and was the Wyoming County Commissioner Associations natural resource attorney. Temple and her family are Wyoming outdoor enthusiasts, enjoying hiking, biking and camping in the summer, and skiing in the winter. She is an expert fishing line knot un-tier, as her two young children are expert fishing line knot makers; sometimes she even gets to toss a fishing line in the water herself.

Diane was born and raised in the beautiful state of Wyoming. She received a bachelor’s of science from the University of Wyoming with a minor in Geology. Diane was raised with a love for the outdoors – the landscape, the backcountry, the hunting, and the fishing. Hunting was a necessity growing up, now it’s a passion she shares with her family, friends’ other women and children. Diane is active in the local chapter of RMEF, has served as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice President of High Plains Archery Club helping to organize shoots, membership and various fundraisers. She is a founding member and instructor of Albany County 4H Survival Club which includes a six-month survival course ending with a survival camp. She is a certified Wyoming hunter’s education instructor, as well as the Wyoming state coordinator for Prois. Her passion is getting women and children involved with the outdoors through hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and to make sure that our beautiful state continues to be passed down and understood for all generations.

diane_s_82070@yahoo.com

Tom grew up in Rock Springs, enjoying the public lands and checkerboard of southwestern Wyoming, chasing cottontails with a bow in the winter, hunting Little Mountain and Pine Mountain for grouse and mule deer, and catching brook trout on grasshoppers wherever possible. As a boy, he worked on Bill Taliaferro’s sheep ranch on Slate Creek for a number of iconic summers—docking, haying, supplying camps and counting sheep (poorly) in the northern Wyoming range. A family medicine physician, he has lived and worked in Casper since graduating from Creighton University School of Medicine in 1999, and now enjoys a career in drug and alcohol addiction medicine. His wife, Tori, grew up in Cody, and together they - now, empty nesters (mostly) - ski, garden, climb, run, hunt, fish, and play pond hockey as much as the regular duties of life allow.

Over a decade ago, Craig was living the Jackson Hole dream—skiing 120 days a year and working service-industry jobs to feed his addiction for deep powder. Then one day, tired of his complaining about the big challenges facing our future, his wife Stacy told him to step up and take action. So he did. To augment his B.A. in Public Policy from Washington and Lee University, Craig enrolled in the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington and secured a Master’s in Public Administration with a focus on environmental policy.

Craig then spent seven years achieving policy change in Washington State. He led a multi-year coalition effort involving more than 60 diverse organizations and hundreds of volunteers to secure nearly $7 million in new annual revenue for bicycling and pedestrian improvements and street maintenance. He also developed and managed training programs to empower citizens with the skills they need to help create a better future. He directed communications on a legislative campaign that successfully reached an agreement to shutter one of the Pacific Northwest’s two remaining coal-fired power plants while investing $55 million in local economic development, coordinated a campaign that secured $20 million to make it easier for people to walk and bike to a light rail station, and much more.

Seeking a home with a sense of community, access to wild places, and abundant wildlife in which to raise their kids, Craig and his wife Stacy moved back to Jackson Hole in 2013. He began working at the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance as its Community Engagement Coordinator and launched the Jackson Hole Conservation Leadership Institute to empower and develop leaders with the skills necessary to help the Alliance achieve its mission of protecting the wildlife, wild places, and community character of Jackson Hole.

Craig was promoted to Executive Director of the Alliance in May, 2014 and during his three years leading the organization the Alliance successfully: secured funding for and advanced the development of a Teton County wildlife crossings master plan, reached a resolution with the Forest Service that reduces the community’s reliance on supplemental elk feeding, backed local resolutions recognizing the value of our public lands and opposing their transfer to state control, advocated for updates to Jackson’s downtown land use rules that prioritize housing the community’s middle class over more new corporate hotels, graduated 106 new conservation superheroes with the skills and knowledge to create a better future from the Conservation Leadership Institute, empowered hundreds of volunteers to engage thousands of their friends and neighbors to participate in the civic process, and much more.

Now, Craig works at a larger scale as a Director of Conservation Partnerships for the National Wildlife Federation helping state affiliate organizations in Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming achieve national and regional conservation victories.

Craig lives in Jackson Hole with his wife Stacy, and their children Piper and Ryder. When Craig isn't working for the National Wildlife Federation you can find him camping with family and friends across the intermountain West, skiing in the backcountry, or trail running on our American public lands.

benjaminc@nwf.org

(206)-713-6204