Board of Trustees

Gary grew up on a small farm in central Kansas where he spent endless hours exploring the fields and pastures.  He traveled extensively throughout Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska as he facilitated development of emergency response plans under the Clean Water Act.  A lifelong birder, he has visited all 50 states, Tanzania, and six countries in South and Central America. Gary and his wife Carolyn, live in Manhattan.  They own Far West Farm, an AOK legacy farm in Morris County. MORE

Cindy is a member of the Communication, Prairie Wings & Celebration of Cranes Committees and is a member of the Northern Flint HIlls Audubon Society. She is the editor of the NFHAS newsletter and administrator for the NFHAS website.  Cindy was a docent at the Konza Prairie Biological Station for many years, and is editor of the FOKP newsletter, "Bison and Bluestem". MORE

Jim received a B.A. in Biology from Southern Illinois University, a D.V.M. degree from the University of Illinois and a post-doctoral M.S. from the University of Missouri. In addition to three years of small animal veterinary practice in his hometown of Granite City, Illinois, he was University Veterinarian and Director of Veterinary Services at Duke University for five years and University Veterinarian and Director of the Animal Care Unit at the University of Kansas for 25 years before his retirement in 2009. He was privileged to have been the veterinarian for a rare prosimian primate center while at Duke and a wildlife rehabilitation program while at KU.

Rex is a member of the Sanctuaries and Celebration of Cranes Committees and is a member of Jayhawk Audubon.  He is Director Emeritus of the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS), based at the University of Kansas and has co-authored several books on geology. 

Randy is a lifelong Topekan, graduating from Topeka High School and Washburn University with a double major in Sociology and Economics.  He and his wife, Loretta, sold their family business Kansas Tire and Auto in 2021. He had worked there since 1972. He still maintains 12 rental houses owned by himself and his sons.  He is an avid birder and a big brother in Big Brothers Big Sisters since 1978, now mentoring his 11th little.

Elizabeth serves as the BOD Secretary and is a member of the Executive, Communications, Celebration of Cranes and Prairie Wings Committees. Elizabeth is also a member of the Flint Hills Audubon Society, a poet and essayist and is the Nonfiction Editor of the Terrain.org, the oldest place-based online literary journal. MORE

Heidi is a lifelong nature-lover and some of her earliest memories include seeing a Snowy Owl perched on a sign and fields full of what are now called Tundra Swans in rural Michigan. She moved to Kansas when she was six, so both of these memories are from when she was 4 or 5 at most. Heidi’s family regularly took drives on back roads or to wildlife refuges, with her mom pointing out Indigo Buntings and Dickcissels. She didn't keep a life list until she took ornithology at Kansas State University, on the way to her degree in Biology. She checked off all the birds she saw or had seen in the back of her Golden Field Guide to Birds of North America.

Heidi’s degree and love of animals led her to a 26-year career as a great ape keeper at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Part of her job was learning about conservation issues affecting the species she worked with and then educating the public about how they could help. Over the years she lived in Colorado, she became more and more involved with birding, including leading field trips with Aiken Audubon Society and the Pikes Peak Birding and Nature Festival. 

Heidi and her husband moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 2021. She enjoys meeting birders out in the field, and helping new birders learn. She has helped with Christmas bird counts and in 2021, she coordinated the Benedictine Bottoms count. This year, she took over a breeding bird survey route in her area. She considers herself an all-around naturalist, as there really aren't any taxa she doesn't like, and she believes everything needs to be considered when conserving an area, because it is all connected.
 

I am a retired physician.  I am currently (2021-2023) President of Wichita Audubon Society and I am an observer of AOK Chapter meetup.

After moving to Kansas about 40 years ago Sil taught science at Manhattan High, earned a Master’s degree at KSU and also served as president of Northern Flint Hills Audubon Chapter.  Sil enjoyed the friendship and camaraderie of members and was active in conservation issues including “Saving Cheyenne Bottoms.”

Moving to the Washington, D.C. area, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution/National Academy of Science creating science curricula.  For 10 years, as Director of Environmental Studies at Hard Bargain Farm located on the Potomac River, Sil taught everything from ecology to canoeing to cow milking. She formed partnerships to create an annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup with more than 100 sites and thousands of volunteers throughout the multi-state drainage basin from headwaters to the Chesapeake Bay.  She was invited to Japan several times to teach environmental education “American Style.”  

As a board member of Jeffers Foundation in Minnesota, Sil created Team Teaching with Mother Nature, a professional development workshop encouraging teachers to take learning outdoors. She also wrote several publications for teachers as well as two natural history books for children.  She is excited to be living in the Flint Hills again.

Ann Tanner is a pharmacist by training and a naturalist at heart.  She is originally from Mississippi but has lived in Kansas for many years.  Ann serves on the Board of Directors for the Burroughs Audubon Society of Greater Kansas City, is on the the Advisory Board for Kansas Master Naturalists, and is on the Board of Directors for Delta Wind Birds in Mississippi.