Reed Beauregard Turner

Reed Beauregard Turner (Beau) currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Turner Endangered Species Fund. Beau is also the fish and wildlife manager for Turner Enterprises, Inc. the land holding group for the Turner family. In this capacity, Beau coordinates and oversees the wildlife-related projects for the approximately 1.5 million acre operation. Among Beau’s challenges is the directive to balance a strong concern and ethic for environmental protection with several for-profit ventures including the largest bison operation in the world.

For the past eight years, Beau has served as a Trustee for the Turner Foundation, a private family foundation created in 1990 and focused on environmental and population-related causes. In his role as Turner Foundation Trustee, Beau is involved in all aspects of the Foundation’s programs and special initiatives. In 1999, Beau, with his family, awarded approximately $25 million in grants.

Beau is also very active in the non-profit community. He currently serves on the board of directors of Tall Timbers, a forest conservation organization that promotes sound stewardship among land owners in the Red Hills region of Georgia and Florida. For the past few years, Beau has also been serving on the board of directors of Wetlands America Trust, a national conservation group dedicated to preserving and protecting both waterfowl and their habitat. Because of their work in protecting endangered bird species, Beau has also joined the board of directors of the Peregrine Fund. In addition, Beau serves on the board of directors of the Land Trust Alliance, a national program that assists land trusts across the United States. Beau recently joined the board of directors of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which is committed to understanding and protecting wildlife in over 50 countries around the world. Beau sees all of this work as part of protecting the very natural resources that support us all.

Mike Phillips

Mike Phillips has served as the Executive Director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund since Ted Turner launched the effort in June 1997. As Executive Director, Mike oversees all activities of the Fund. From October 1994 through May 1997 Mike served as Project Leader for the Yellowstone gray wolf restoration effort. From June 1986 through September 1994 Mike served as the Field Coordinator for the Red Wolf Recovery Program. Mike received his B.Sc. in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution from the University of Illinois in May 1980, and his M.Sc. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Alaska in December 1985. He has conducted wildlife research, with an emphasis on large carnivores, throughout the United States, Alaska, and Australia. His professional interests include conservation and restoration of imperiled species, integration of private land in conservation projects, and privatization of endangered species recovery programs.

Joe Truett

Joe Truett has served as a senior biologist with the Turner Endangered Species Fund since January 1999. Joe holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in wildlife ecology and a Ph.D. minor in range management from the University of Arizona. Joe serves as the project manager for restoration of black-footed ferrets, black-tailed prairie dogs, and other grasslands species and their habitats. Most of his work currently focuses on grasslands ecosystems on the Vermejo Park, Armendaris, and Ladder ranches in New Mexico, and on the Bad River ranches in South Dakota. On the Armendaris and Ladder ranches, he is assisting the ranch managers with the design and implementation of a range monitoring plan that will assess the effects of grazing on perennial grasses and associated grasslands fauna. Joe's professional interests include technical and popular writing (two popular books authored, one technical book edited, and numerous technical articles), grasslands and shrubland ecology, herbivore ecology, herbivore/predator interactions, and human impacts on ecosystems. Joe is an adjunct professor in the department of Fishery and Wildlife Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Dave Hunter

Dr. Dave Hunter has served as the veterinarian for Turner Endangered Species Fund and Turner Enterprises, Inc. since November 1998. Dave initiated his undergraduate work at New Mexico State University and received his B.Sc. in 1974 and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University in 1976. After leaving private practice, Dave was the Wildlife Veterinarian with the California Department of Fish and Game from 1986 to 1989. From 1989 to 1998 he continued his wildlife career as the Wildlife Veterinarian for Idaho working with the Idaho Departments of Fish and Game and Agriculture. He has conducted research on wildlife health issues on many avian and mammalian species. He is currently affiliated as an Associate Professor of Research at Boise State University, University of Idaho and Montana State University. He is a founding member of International Wildlife Veterinary Services and past president of the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians. Dr. Hunter lectures throughout the world on disease, immobilization, welfare and health concerns of wildlife.

Greg Hagan

Greg Hagan has served as a biologist with the Turner Endangered Species Fund since March 1998. He is responsible for restoring a population of red-cockaded woodpeckers to the pine forests of the Avalon Plantation and monitoring the pollinator community with an emphasis on bees and wasps. From April 1993 through February 1998 Greg served as a biologist for the U.S. Forest Service. His professional interests include demonstrating that private landowners can co-exist with endangered species, assessing the impacts of prescribed fire on native pollinators, and restoration of endangered species.

Dustin Long

Dustin Long has served as a biological technician with the Turner Endangered Species Fund since June 1998. Dustin manages the Fund's black-footed ferret breeding facility and the prairie dog colonies at Vermejo Park Ranch. Dustin earned an M.Sc. in Life Science from New Mexico Highlands University. His professional interests include population ecology, predator behavior, and prey survival.

Kevin M. Honness

Kevin M. Honness has served as a field biologist with the Turner Endangered Species Fund since 1998. He was initially assigned to the Fund's desert sheep project in New Mexico and is currently heading field activities aimed at restoring swift fox to western South Dakota. Kevin received a B.Sc. in Biology from Cortland State College in 1986 and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa from 1986 to 1989. He has participated in fisheries and mammalian research throughout the western U.S. Professional interests include grassland conservation and population and restoration ecology.

Melissa Woolf

Melissa Woolf has served as a biological technician with Turner Endangered Species Fund since August 1999. From November 1997 through August 1999, Melissa worked as an assistant to her present position. Melissa manages the Fund’s captive Mexican wolf facility at the Ladder Ranch and also works to restore black-tailed prairie dog colonies to the Ladder and the Armendaris ranches in New Mexico. Melissa earned a B. Sc. in Biology from Northland College, Wisconsin in 1996. Her professional interests include canid behavior, wildlife conservation, and restoration of endangered species.

Kristy Bly-Honness

Kristy Bly-Honness has served as a field biologist with the Turner Endangered Species Fund since April 2000. She is currently working on the restoration of black-tailed prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets to the Bad River Ranches in central South Dakota. In the last ten years, Kristy has been involved in the restoration of California condors in Arizona, swift foxes in Colorado, tracking wolves in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and census of grizzly bears and Canada lynx in northwestern Montana. She also participated in the Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery project, the Wildlands Wolf Survey program, as well as a Bark Beetle project and fighting fire. Kristy received a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Biology and Management from the University of Rhode Island in 1994. Her professional interests include the recovery of ecosystem biodiversity through imperiled and keystone species restoration, research, and habitat conservation.

Valpa Asher

Valpa Asher has served as wolf biologist for the Turner Endangered Species Fund since May of 2000. She is currently in charge of wolf monitoring and restoration efforts in the northern Rockies. Val was the field team leader for Arizona Game and Fish Department on the Mexican wolf recovery project from 1998 to 2000. From 1994 to 1997 she served as wolf field biologist for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Idaho and participated in the reintroduction of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park and Central Idaho. Val received her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Warren Wilson College in 1992. She has been involved in wolf, ungulate and peregrine falcon research throughout the U.S. and Canada for the past 13 years. Her professional interests include canid behavior, restoration ecology, and development of relationships with private landowners to promote wildlife conservation.

Carter Kruse

Carter Kruse joined the Turner Endangered Species Fund in June of 2000 as a senior aquatic biologist. Carter provides oversight on aquatics issues. Carter received his Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Wyoming in 1998 where his research focused on the ecology and conservation of stream salmonids. A two-year stint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission focusing on hydropower impacts on aquatic resources lead him to his current position. Carter serves as project manager for our efforts to restore the native bosque habitat along the Rio Grande river in New Mexico, manage threatened Chiricahua leopard frogs, and restore native salmonid and other fishes to stream corridors on New Mexico and Montana properties. Carter maintains an affiliate professor position with Montana State University and his professional interests include stream ecology, watershed restoration, and the restoration and conservation of aquatic populations.

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