Moab River Rendezvous

2010 Speakers

Profiles

Tom Martin

Tom co-founded the Grand Canyon Hikers and Backpackers Association, the Grand Canyon Wilderness Alliance, the Grand Canyon Private Boaters Association, and River Runners For Wilderness, in which he presently serves as one of the Co-Directors.

Tom currently works as a physical therapist at the Grand Canyon Walk-In Medical Clinic at the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Tom is author of Day Hikes From The River, the first hiking guide written for river runners in Grand Canyon National Park, and Guide To The Colorado River In The Grand Canyon, Lee’s Ferry To South Cove.

Photo: Tom Martin in the Grand Canyon (copyright Tom Martin); from River Runners for Wilderness  http://rrfw.org/

Dave Mortenson

     At the age of 13, Dave Mortenson made his first hike into the Grand Canyon off the end of the Great Thumb to be one of the first hikers to visit Keyhole Bridge.  A year later in 1962, he traveled down the Colorado before Glen Canyon Dam changed the river forever.  He was one of only 1700 people to ride the Colorado before it was dammed.   His half century of adventures in the Grand Canyon has resulted in a great deal of first hand knowledge, discoveries, photographs and stories, his passions including researching history.
     As one of the founders of Historic River Boats Afloat, Dave currently has facilitated six historic boats that are replicated or will soon be built that are significant to Colorado River running history before Glen Canyon Dam. Dave will share images and tell the story of “Big Water and Little Boats – The amazing journey of Joe Szep”.  The Szep photos tell a story of running the Colorado with unbelievable high water in the 1950's.  These photos and stories of epic journeys of the P.T. “Pat” Reilly's two boats, the Susie R and the Flavell and Moulty Fulmer's GEM will take us back to a time when running the river was before dams, before river guide books and before almost anyone would do such a thing. The boats Szep photographed have been replicated and are part of the 2nd Annual River Rendezvous in Moab

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Robert Adler

Robert Adler is Professor of Law at the University of Utah, who promotes a broader, holistic approach to the restoration and protection of aquatic and other ecosystems. After completing a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center (cum laude), he practiced environmental law for 15 years. He has published dozens of articles in professional journals, and two books, one on the history and impact of the Clean Water Act and the other on restoring Colorado River ecosystems. Professor Adler regularly teaches courses in environmental law and water law, and recently launched a new environmental clinic in cooperation with Western Resource Advocates. He loves to spend time in Utah’s outdoors, and in 2005 and 2008 completed the Wasatch Front 100-mile trail race through Utah’s beautiful Wasatch Mountains.

Richard Quartaroli

 

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I have been boating rivers for 40 years, with a favorite being the Colorado River through Grand Canyon.  Being a commercial boatman led me to research river history, to my avocation of Colorado River historian, and to my vocation of Research Librarian for the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies office and The Special Collections Librarian at Northern Arizona University Cline Library.  My special areas of interest are the picayune details and trivia of river history, with no nit too small to pick.  Never intending to make John Wesley Powell a focus of my research, reading a cryptic set of figures in his 1869 journal has set me on his course the last ten years, what he might call "a meandering reconnaissance."

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Jonathan Waterman

 

Jon’s unprecedented paddling journey down the 1,450 mile Colorado River, is detailed in his book, “Running Dry : A Journey From Source to Sea Down the Colorado River". Jonathan Waterman started shooting photographs on his expeditions three decades ago, but also found his calling as a writer and author. He has starred in and written several films for television, but is mostly known for his time exploring the North, detailed in six of his nine books and in national publications, including his Where Mountains Are Nameless; Passion and Politics in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  He has earned numerous literary awards, including Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award (2006), NEA Literary Fellowship (2004), Colorado State Council of the Arts Literary Award (2003), The Banff Book Festival's Best Adventure book (1995, 2001), The American Alpine Club Literary Award (1996), The National Park Service Special Achievement Award (1984)

 see Jonathon's site

Tildon Jones

Tildon is a fish biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Vernal, Utah, working in the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program.  His work involves conducting endangered fish population estimates, larval fish monitoring, nonnative fish removal, and endangered fish propagation, mainly within Dinosaur National Monument on the Green and Yampa Rivers.  Originally from South Carolina, Tildon earned a BS in Biology from Furman University and a MS in Zoology from Clemson University.  When not running rivers for work, he rafts and kayaks for play, and enjoys skiing and mountain biking around Utah with his wife.

Wayne Ranney

Wayne Ranney is a geologist and writer who interprets complex scientific ideas to interested non-specialists
through lectures, writing, and the development of museum exhibits. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Earth Science from Northern Arizona University and is an adjunct professor of geology at Coconino Community College in Flagstaff. Wayne has led international excursions to destinations that include
the Amazon, Antarctica, the Arctic, the North and South Poles, and South America. He leads wilderness river and hiking trips in the Four Corners states for Smithsonian Journeys and the Grand Canyon Field Institute. He is an award-winning author and some of his books include Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau, Carving Grand Canyon,and Sedona Through Time. For the past six years he has served on the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Northern Arizona. He lives with his wife Helen in Flagstaff, Arizona. See www.wayneranney.com

Michael Dean Smith,
Event Director / Founder

Plateau Restoration's Founder and Board President, Michael has lived on the Colorado Plateau since 1976 and in Moab since 1989. His love for the Plateau was ingrained while working at Phantom Ranch in the bottom of the Grand Canyon in the mid-70's. He later earned degrees in Outdoor Education and Recreation Management from Colorado Mountain College and in Outdoor Recreation and Resource Management from Prescott College, Arizona. He worked as a National Park Service Ranger in visitor and resource protection and interpretation at Arches, Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, and Dinosaur National Parks and Monuments, and has guided for numerous outfitters including OARS at the Grand Canyon and Canyonlands Field Institute in Moab, UT. Michael was Manager of Sand Flats Recreation Area, Moab, home of the famous Slickrock Bike Trail from 1998 to 2004. He is also a licensed landscaping contractor and Master Gardner.

Roy Webb

Roy Dale Webb, born in Farmington, New Mexico, in October, 1952.  I grew up in Farmington on the banks of the San Juan and Animas Rivers.   I've run all of the Green below Fontenelle Dam in Wyoming, all of the Colorado between Grand Junction and South Cove, the San Juan, the White River, and other rivers in the western United States.   I've written four books and many articles and book reviews on the history of river running in Utah and the Intermountain West.  I was a Fellow of the Huntington Library in 2004, doing research in the vast collection of river history in the Otis R. Marston papers, taught classes on river running history for the University of Utah, been a consultant for video documentary projects and television series, and have been a speaker for the training seminars given by the Grand Canyon River Guides Association, both during the land sessions and the two-week river training trips, and was a charter member of the Colorado Plateau River Guides Association.

Tamsin McCormick

A native of Zimbabwe, Tamsin has lived in the Four Corners states of the US since 1977. She holds Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees in Geology, and has been teaching college courses in geology on the Colorado Plateau since 1993. She has served as a naturalist guide on river and land-based trips since 1994.  She joined Plateau Restoration as a Board Member in 1996 and is currently the organization's Executive Director. Tamsin has Adjunct Faculty appointments at Utah State University in the Department of Environment and Society and Department of Wildlife Resources.