Presenters

Eric Billmeyer holds undergraduate and Master's degrees in Geography and Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Eric began at Rocky Mountain Field Institute (RMFI) in 2003 when he completed an extensive survey of the Pikes Peak Watershed. He qualitatively assessed the erosion and sedimentation damage to the area's streams and wetlands due to stormwater runoff from the Pikes Peak Highway. Since 2005, Eric has acted as Project Coordinator for restoration work on the North Slope of Pikes Peak and as Associate Director of RMFI. Eric is also an instructor (Honoraria) at UCCS teaching courses on Physical Geography, GPS and GIS, and Environmental Problems of Colorado. He is on the board of directors for Friends of the Peak.

Perry Cabot received his Ph.D. in Biological Systems Engineering & Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently an Extension Water Resources Specialist for Colorado State University, specializing in irrigation water use, watershed management, and water quality. His current research efforts pertain to irrigation of oilseed crops, alternatives to agricultural water transfers, and revegetation of dewatered land. He also maintains collaborative partnerships with agricultural and urban interests to develop, research, and coordinate education on water topics for the benefit of the public. He provides water resource education to Extension agents so their comprehensive water knowledge helps them to be effective within their local communities. He also works with the CSU Water Institute to coordinate water outreach efforts for Colorado State University in the southern region of Colorado. He is a registered Professional Engineer.

Greg Foreman graduated with a degree in geology and graduate studies in planetary geology. Greg has a zeal for understanding earth processes and how they interface with the entire earth system. Greg's current work is focused on the consilience (a “jumping together” of knowledge) of information surrounding western plant ecosystems. The compilation of these studies into an integrated whole is the knowledge base Greg uses today in his landscape designs and principles. Greg's design style reflects this attempt of consilience, unifying many scientific disciplines to arrive at western landscapes that endure and thrive within the living ecosystem they are placed within. Greg combines these principles with his own plant obsessions to arrive at completed landscapes that sooth and satisfy the souls of any adventuresome plant lover.

Pat Hayward is a veteran of the region's horticultural realm, working in production, sales, marketing, and education since 1979. A lecturer, writer and photographer, she has written for numerous national publications and has co-authored two books. Her gardens have been featured in Colorado Homes and Lifestyles, Colorado Gardener, American Conifer Society bulletin, Women's Day magazine, and on HGTV. She joined Plant Select® as its first Executive Director in 2008, and grows many Plant Select® introductions in her own gardens in the foothills west of Fort Collins.

Dan Johnson has been gardening for as long as he can remember, and has worked in the horticulture industry for more than 25 years. His experience now includes 12 years with Denver Botanic Gardens Horticulture department, currently as Curator of Native Plant Collections and Associate Director of Horticulture. His passion for plants and love of the Western landscape are both evident in his instrumental involvement in redesigning and maintaining over a dozen of DBG's gardens, with a focus on xeric and native design. When time allows, he travels throughout the West and Southwest in search of unusual and underused natives for trial in Colorado's rigorous climate. Occasional forays to similar regions of the world help to further broaden the palette of plants suitable for western gardens.

Frank Kinder provides sustainability planning to the US Army at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. His team is helping the Mountain Post implement sustainable solutions as part of an overall military quest for sustainability. He has a master's degree in Applied Geography from the University of Colorado and an undergraduate in Finance and IT. He enjoys work in Low Impact Development, LEED buildings, Xeriscape, localized economies, sustainable agriculture, and Urban Design. Frank provides consulting expertise in these areas and is regularly involved in the community on behalf of Fort Carson's Sustainability program, projects, and accomplishments. He serves on various community boards and is excited about helping the beautiful Pikes Peak region becomes a greener, more sustainable place to live.

Ebi Kondo has a bachelor's degree from Tokyo University of Agriculture. His primary focus is the cultural approach to Horticulture (both eastern and western garden design, and garden history). For 10 years he has been responsible for the display gardens at the Denver Botanic Garden, these include Japanese, vegetable, Victorian, Monet, roses, containers and the lobby court. In recent years, through renovations and restorations to the DBG Japanese Garden (Sho-Fu-En), Ebi has been developing cultural outreach to the community, establishing the Tea Ceremony Guild and organizing the Fall Garden Tea Ceremony.

Brad Lancaster is a dynamic teacher, consultant, and designer of regenerative systems. He is the author of the award-winning, best-selling book series Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, the information-packed website www.HarvestingRainwater.com, and the Drops in a Bucket Blog. He lives his talk on an oasis-like eighth of an acre in downtown Tucson, Arizona, by harvesting over 100,000 gallons of rainwater a year where just 12 inches per year fall from the sky.

Cord and Penn Parmenter have been gardening and growing food in the Wet Mountains north of Westcliffe, Colorado, since 1992. Their three abundant gardens sit on a mountain at 8,120 ft. and feature numerous high altitude growing methods. The deer-fenced gardens consist of 16,000 sq. ft of about 75 raised beds, as well as containers. The water-storage solar greenhouses grow food year-round with no supplemental heating and were built from 90 percent recycled materials.

Cord Parmenter is a Master Blacksmith and on the property operates his business, The IronMan. Penn Parmenter has a B.A. in Theatre, acting and directing. She grew up in her family's clay studio; she now makes and sells red clay garden masks and wildflower tiles. Penn has been educating herself in horticulture for the last 17 years; she grows many medicinal herbs and loves to build native rock beds for her perennials.

Both Penn and Cord have practical experience in growing food. Cord loves to grow corn and pumpkins while Penn loves to grow greens and tomatoes. They live as close to a sustainable life as they can and teach workshops on organic, high altitude gardening for their community and at The Denver Botanic Gardens.

Melinda Couch, PT is the owner of Peak Performance Physical Therapy. She opened the clinic in the spring of 2005 in downtown Colorado Springs. Melinda graduated from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio, Texas in 1993 and moved to Colorado in 1995. She also works for U.S. Figure Skating and travels frequently with the U.S. Team serving at 2 World Championship events in 2007 in Tokyo, Japan and in 2009 in Los Angeles, California. She is the alternate physical therapist for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and works with both Rachel Flatt and Jeremy Abbott who made this year's Olympic Team. She believes in a hands-on manual therapy approach to physical therapy and has created a clinic that is comprised of several very talented and highly educated professionals to provide a holistic approach to a patient's care resulting in faster and more complete recovery and reduction of pain. Learn more about the Peak Performance approach and our team at www.peakperformancept.org.

Jeff Bickford is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Teacher. The Feldenkrais Method is a gentle and subtle yet very effective way to help reintegrate the nervous system with muscular function to improve spinal tracking and joint mechanics. This helps reduce pain and tension in the body. It helps people whose ability to move has been restricted by injury, illness, aging or simply the stresses of everyday life. Jeff is available for individual Feldenkrais treatment sessions at Peak Performance Physical Therapy. Find out more about this treatment modality at Jeff's website: www.jjfbickford.com.

Gail Gustafson has been a certified Therapeutic Pilates instructor for over 15 years. She utilizes the Pilates Reformer exercise machine in working one-on-one with patients. She trained in the original rehabilitative model of Pilates for use as a tool to recover from injury. She is also a Laban-certified movement analyst and uses these skills as well when working with patients to determine deficits and potential muscle imbalances that can be improved upon with the Pilates work. Gail is also available at Peak Performance Physical Therapy for individual sessions. She has a personal website located at www.movetowisdom.com to learn more.

Joel Reich is the Horticulture Agent with Colorado State University Extension in Boulder. He received an associates degree from Cabrillo College, a bachelor's from the University of California- Santa Cruz and his master's from Oregon State University.

Scott Skogerboe has been the Propagator at Fort Collins Wholesale Nursery for the last 14 years, where he grows 300,000 trees and shrubs every year for sale to nurseries from Casper to Albuquerque. Prior to his current position, Scott was the owner of a small nursery specializing in fruit trees and berries adaptable to the rigors of growing on the high plains of our region. One of his claims to fame is that he is the discoverer of the last remaining tree planted by Johnny Appleseed. Scott is a native of Fort Collins, and a graduate of Colorado State University with a degree in Landscape Horticulture. Prior to becoming a horticulturist, Scott was a sergeant in the United States Army where he was a combat medic and a clinical specialist. He had the honor of being selected to be the ambulance driver in the motorcades of President George Herbert Walker Bush and later with General Colin Powell.

Cecil Stushnoff obtained BSA and MS degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1967. He taught courses and worked in plant breeding and cold stress physiology at the University of Minnesota from 1967 to 1980 where he introduced 5 apple, 3 blueberry, 2 raspberry, 1 pear, and 1 plum cultivars. In 1980 he was appointed Head of the Dept. of Horticulture at the University of Saskatchewan, where he conducted research on cryopreservation of germplasm resources. He developed a procedure to store dormant apple buds in liquid nitrogen, one that is currently used by the USDA to preserve the world's genetic core collection of apples. In 1989 he was appointed senior research scientist in the Dept. of Biochemistry at Colorado State University and in 1991 a professor of Horticulture. He has taught courses in stress physiology and conducted research on biochemical and physiological mechanisms controlling plant responses to environmental stresses. Recent research has focused on antioxidant biochemistry in plants and food crops associated with crops for health. He was awarded the College of Agriculture Honor Faculty award in 2009.

Susan J. Tweit grew up rescuing wildflowers from development sites and eating from her family's big vegetable garden. Her love of plants led her to a career in studying sagebrush, wildfire patterns, and grizzly bear habitat. When she realized she loved the stories in the data more than collecting that data, she moved from wilderness fieldwork to writing about everyday nature. Her gardening skills were honed over 25 years, while “putting down roots” in Wyoming, West Virginia, Washington, Iowa, New Mexico, and Colorado. An award-winning writer, Tweit is the author of 12 books, including her most recent; Walking Nature Home, A Life's Journey, and The Rocky Mountain Garden Survival Guide, hailed as "tops" by BellaOnline. Her feature articles and essays appear in magazines and newspapers from Fine Gardening and Audubon, to Popular Mechanics and the Los Angeles Times, and have been heard on the Martha Stewart Living Radio Network. Her re-greened former industrial property has been featured in garden books and articles, and won a Habitat Hero award from Colorado Audubon; her formal kitchen garden is being considered for a feature in Better Homes & Gardens. Tweit writes, cooks, and gardens in Salida, Colorado.

Al Wegner is the manager of Mountain High Tree Care. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Urban Forestry/Arboriculture. He is an ISA Certified Arborist and has served on the ISA/RMC Board. He has more than 29 years experience in the field of arboriculture, of which 26 years have been with Mountain High Tree Care.