KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
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Dr. Richard Beilfuss
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Dr. Richard Beilfuss has served as the International Crane Foundation President & CEO since 2010. Rich helped launch many of ICF’s signature projects and provides leadership to ICF conservation programs across Asia, Africa, and North America. He has 30 years of experience worldwide at the forefront of community-based conservation efforts and landscape-scale restoration for cranes, other wildlife, and people. From 2006-2009, Rich lived in Mozambique and served as Director of Conservation Services for Gorongosa National Park under the Carr Foundation. Prior to that, he served as ICF’s Africa Program Director/Wetland Ecologist from 1992-2005. Rich has a PhD in Land Resources, an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and an MS in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a Licensed Professional Hydrologist and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Rich lives with his wife, Katie, and their two sons in Madison. He is an avid unicycle rider, dart-thrower, and birder–but not all at the same time.
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Kenn Kaufman
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A lifelong naturalist, Kenn Kaufman did not really focus on birds until the age of six, but since then he has tried to make up for lost time, pursuing birds in all fifty states and on all seven continents. Kenn is a field editor for Audubon magazine, and writes a regular column for Birder’s World magazine. Most of his energy currently goes into book projects, including his own field guide series, Kaufman Field Guides, published by Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston. This series now includes volumes on North American birds, butterflies, mammals, insects, a field guide to Advanced Birding, and a regional guide to Nature of New England and Field Guide to the Nature of the Midwest, which was published in April 2015. In spring 2005, Kaufman Field Guides published the first Spanish-language guide to North American birds. Kenn’s other books include Lives of North American Birds, Kingbird Highway, and Flights Against the Sunset. His latest book, A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration, was published in spring 2019. He has also written scores of magazine articles and columns on I.D. topics, and has taught I.D. workshops all over the U.S. and Canada.
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Dr. Drew Lanham
J. Drew Lanham, PhD, (Clemson B.A. '88; MS '90; PhD '97) is an author, poet, public speaker, and scientist, from Edgefield and Aiken, South Carolina. He is an Alumni Distinguished Professor and Master Teacher of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University, whose work addresses the confluence of race, place, and nature. A conservation and cultural ornithologist, he has mentored nearly fifty graduate students, published extensively in the scientific literature, and taught courses in conservation biology, forest ecology, wildlife policy, ornithology, and environmental literature/nature writing.
Drew is the Poet Laureate of Edgefield County, SC and the author of Sparrow Envy - Poems (Holocene 2016, Hub City 2018), Sparrow Envy - A Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts (Hub City 2021) and The Home Place - Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature (Milkweed 2016/Tantor Audio 2018). His memoir is a past winner of the Reed Environmental Writing Award (Southern Environmental Law Center), the Southern Book Prize, and a 2017 finalist for the Burroughs Medal. It was named a memoir and scholarly book of the decade (Lithub & Chronicle of Higher Education, resp). He has contributed chapters to a number of anthologies including Carolina Writers at Home, Literary Dogs, Bartram's Living Legacy, The Colors of Nature, and Outdoor Adventures in the Upcountry.
Drew's creative work and opinion appears online and in print in Orion, Vanity Fair, Oxford American, High Country News, Bitter Southerner, Cutthroat, Terrain, Places Journal, Literary Hub, Newsweek, Slate, NPR, Story Corps, Audubon, Sierra Magazine, The New York Times, American Bird Conservancy, Leopold Outlook, Flycatcher Journal, Patagonia, "This is Love," "Threshold," and "On Being" podcasts. His online presence on YouTube as well as social media is extensive. Drew has been featured in Garden and Gun Magazine and Clemson World. He teaches writing workshops in creative non-fiction for Bread Loaf Environmental Writer's Conference, Bemidji Writer's Conference, Chico Writer's Conference, and Orion. He is a contributing editor for Orion Magazine. His work is in the Sowell Archives at Texas Tech University.
Dr. Lanham is the winner of the Dan W. Lufkin Conservation Award (National Audubon Society ), Rosa Parks and Grace Lee Boggs Outstanding Service Award (North American Association for Environmental Education), and the E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation (Center for Biological Diversity). He is a Fellow of the Clemson Parks Institute and Safina Center and serves as an advisor to Georgia Audubon. Dr. Lanham is a public speaker, and past board member of the National Audubon Society, Audubon South Carolina, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Aldo Leopold Foundation, Bird Note, and The American Birding Association.
Drew is an eco-social advocate/activist and progressive rural southerner intent on making a difference for his homeplace by bending hearts and minds towards a more progressive region, where lost cause will be remanded to memory and museums as nature stewardship expands through prisms of multiple ethnic hues. He'll accomplish this mission by practicing robust science, while writing and speaking artfully towards recognition, reckoning, and reconciliation of all the region has wrought and brought to the lives of its people -- bitter and sweet.
Drew is at heart "...a man in love with nature."; a lifelong bird watcher, with speaking engagements and tour leading at The Biggest Week in American Birding, The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, Tucson Birding and Nature Festival, Alabama Audubon Black Belt Birding Tour, Cape May Fall Birding Festival, Santee (SC) Birding Festival, and Niagara Bird Festival (virtual). Drew has led or co-led national and international birding expeditions to South Africa, The Peruvian Amazon, Costa Rica, and Cuba. He's been a "camp" counselor at Hog Island, Maine, and co-leader of the New Jersey Audubon sponsored "Birds of the Land of Leopold," a tour across Wisconsin with Dr. David LaPuma. Dr. Lanham is the founder and long-time instructor of the SC Wildlife Federation sponsored, Palmetto Pro Birders, a community-science endeavor to appreciate and promote the conservation of South Carolina's wild spaces. Drew is an avid hunter - gatherer - conservationist and works to bridge the two passions among the nature-loving public. His favorite birds are the ones with feathers.
Drew is the Poet Laureate of Edgefield County, SC and the author of Sparrow Envy - Poems (Holocene 2016, Hub City 2018), Sparrow Envy - A Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts (Hub City 2021) and The Home Place - Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature (Milkweed 2016/Tantor Audio 2018). His memoir is a past winner of the Reed Environmental Writing Award (Southern Environmental Law Center), the Southern Book Prize, and a 2017 finalist for the Burroughs Medal. It was named a memoir and scholarly book of the decade (Lithub & Chronicle of Higher Education, resp). He has contributed chapters to a number of anthologies including Carolina Writers at Home, Literary Dogs, Bartram's Living Legacy, The Colors of Nature, and Outdoor Adventures in the Upcountry.
Drew's creative work and opinion appears online and in print in Orion, Vanity Fair, Oxford American, High Country News, Bitter Southerner, Cutthroat, Terrain, Places Journal, Literary Hub, Newsweek, Slate, NPR, Story Corps, Audubon, Sierra Magazine, The New York Times, American Bird Conservancy, Leopold Outlook, Flycatcher Journal, Patagonia, "This is Love," "Threshold," and "On Being" podcasts. His online presence on YouTube as well as social media is extensive. Drew has been featured in Garden and Gun Magazine and Clemson World. He teaches writing workshops in creative non-fiction for Bread Loaf Environmental Writer's Conference, Bemidji Writer's Conference, Chico Writer's Conference, and Orion. He is a contributing editor for Orion Magazine. His work is in the Sowell Archives at Texas Tech University.
Dr. Lanham is the winner of the Dan W. Lufkin Conservation Award (National Audubon Society ), Rosa Parks and Grace Lee Boggs Outstanding Service Award (North American Association for Environmental Education), and the E.O. Wilson Award for Outstanding Science in Biodiversity Conservation (Center for Biological Diversity). He is a Fellow of the Clemson Parks Institute and Safina Center and serves as an advisor to Georgia Audubon. Dr. Lanham is a public speaker, and past board member of the National Audubon Society, Audubon South Carolina, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Aldo Leopold Foundation, Bird Note, and The American Birding Association.
Drew is an eco-social advocate/activist and progressive rural southerner intent on making a difference for his homeplace by bending hearts and minds towards a more progressive region, where lost cause will be remanded to memory and museums as nature stewardship expands through prisms of multiple ethnic hues. He'll accomplish this mission by practicing robust science, while writing and speaking artfully towards recognition, reckoning, and reconciliation of all the region has wrought and brought to the lives of its people -- bitter and sweet.
Drew is at heart "...a man in love with nature."; a lifelong bird watcher, with speaking engagements and tour leading at The Biggest Week in American Birding, The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, Tucson Birding and Nature Festival, Alabama Audubon Black Belt Birding Tour, Cape May Fall Birding Festival, Santee (SC) Birding Festival, and Niagara Bird Festival (virtual). Drew has led or co-led national and international birding expeditions to South Africa, The Peruvian Amazon, Costa Rica, and Cuba. He's been a "camp" counselor at Hog Island, Maine, and co-leader of the New Jersey Audubon sponsored "Birds of the Land of Leopold," a tour across Wisconsin with Dr. David LaPuma. Dr. Lanham is the founder and long-time instructor of the SC Wildlife Federation sponsored, Palmetto Pro Birders, a community-science endeavor to appreciate and promote the conservation of South Carolina's wild spaces. Drew is an avid hunter - gatherer - conservationist and works to bridge the two passions among the nature-loving public. His favorite birds are the ones with feathers.
Corina Newsome
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Corina Newsome is the Community Engagement Manager for Georgia Audubon and a biology Master’s student at Georgia Southern University. Corina, who began in the field of wildlife conservation as a zookeeper, currently conducts research to conserve the MacGillivray's Seaside Sparrow and connects people with birds across the state of Georgia. Having experienced the hurdles faced by Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color interested in wildlife careers, Corina works to encourage young people from underrepresented demographics to consider careers in wildlife sciences. Her mission is to center the perspectives and leadership of historically marginalized communities in wildlife conservation, environmental education, and exploration of the natural world.
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Audrey Peterman
Audrey Peterman is a national award winning conservationist and a leader in the movement to engage more Americans of color in the enjoyment, care, and protection of our National Parks and public lands system and our environment. Mrs. Peterman has the unique advantage of knowing the story of America told in national parks from the US Virgin Islands to Alaska, showing that every racial and ethnic group played a vital role in the development of our country. She strives to share these stories as a way of enlightening others and healing our country.
An avid birder, Mrs. Peterman’s passion for “the Great American Outdoors” was sparked after she and her husband Frank drove 12,500 miles around the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in 1995 and “discovered” the National Park System. Finding that only a miniscule percentage of Americans of color know about or feel comfortable utilizing public lands, they formed the consulting company Earthwise Productions, Inc. to help connect land managers and the public. In 2017 President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Our National Parks, National Forests, and Other Public Lands and Waters at the urging of Mrs. Peterman, as part of The Next100 Coalition. It provides guidance to managers of publicly owned lands and emphasizes the need to engage communities of color that have historically been overlooked.
Mrs. Peterman is the co-founder of the Diverse Environmental Leaders Speakers Bureau. The “one-stop shop” provides easy access to experts including birders and an ornithologist; a mountaineer who has summited the highest peak on four continents; a sailor who solo circumnavigated the globe; the Queen of the Gullah Geechee Nation on the Sea Islands; and many other distinguished authors, scientists, historians, and former land managers.
A prolific writer, Mrs. Peterman’s new book, From My Jamaican Gully to the World tells the story of her carefree childhood in Jamaica that set her up for life as an advocate for Nature. She is author of the travel guide, Our True Nature: Finding a Zest for Life in the National Park System (2012) and co-author with her husband of Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Everyone Should Care (2009).
She has visited more than 185 units of the National Park System along with scores of forests and wildlife refuges. Her achievements have been recognized with awards including the Environmental Hero Award 2000 from Vice President Al Gore and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Outstanding Citizen Advocate Award from the National Parks Conservation Association (1998); and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Outdoor Afro (2017).
An avid birder, Mrs. Peterman’s passion for “the Great American Outdoors” was sparked after she and her husband Frank drove 12,500 miles around the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in 1995 and “discovered” the National Park System. Finding that only a miniscule percentage of Americans of color know about or feel comfortable utilizing public lands, they formed the consulting company Earthwise Productions, Inc. to help connect land managers and the public. In 2017 President Barack Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Our National Parks, National Forests, and Other Public Lands and Waters at the urging of Mrs. Peterman, as part of The Next100 Coalition. It provides guidance to managers of publicly owned lands and emphasizes the need to engage communities of color that have historically been overlooked.
Mrs. Peterman is the co-founder of the Diverse Environmental Leaders Speakers Bureau. The “one-stop shop” provides easy access to experts including birders and an ornithologist; a mountaineer who has summited the highest peak on four continents; a sailor who solo circumnavigated the globe; the Queen of the Gullah Geechee Nation on the Sea Islands; and many other distinguished authors, scientists, historians, and former land managers.
A prolific writer, Mrs. Peterman’s new book, From My Jamaican Gully to the World tells the story of her carefree childhood in Jamaica that set her up for life as an advocate for Nature. She is author of the travel guide, Our True Nature: Finding a Zest for Life in the National Park System (2012) and co-author with her husband of Legacy on the Land: A Black Couple Discovers Our National Inheritance and Tells Why Everyone Should Care (2009).
She has visited more than 185 units of the National Park System along with scores of forests and wildlife refuges. Her achievements have been recognized with awards including the Environmental Hero Award 2000 from Vice President Al Gore and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Outstanding Citizen Advocate Award from the National Parks Conservation Association (1998); and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Outdoor Afro (2017).