Landmark is the groundbreaking project that ASC has undertaken in conjunction with American Prairie Reserve (APR) to provide “boots on the ground” support for the conservation management team at APR. Landmark crews consist of six highly motivated and skilled outdoors men and women who will leave and work on the Reserve for a month at a time, collecting valuable data that will directly influence conservation management on APR. Find out more about Landmark and apply for a crew position.

Meet the inaugural class of Landmark crew members, the pioneers: 

Rob Pudner was born and raised in New Jersey, but always felt more at home in Vermont where he attended college. There he caught the adventure bug and in 2010 moved to his current home of Bozeman, Montana.  He was drawn there because of its proximity to world-class ice climbing. Rob has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies with a minor in adventure recreation and is currently applying to a master’s program in urban planning. Rob is looking forward to exploring the wild prairie landscape and taking lots of photos.

Colleen Ferris grew up on the brackish rivers of the Chesapeake Bay outside of Annapolis, Maryland. Early years spent exploring the coastal environment led to a curiosity and respect for the natural world. She went west to study at the University of Montana in Missoula and fell in love with the community, landscape and fauna of the Rockies. After graduation Colleen served as a Community Environmental Developer with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. After 27 months of environmental education, mangoes, and sunshine, Colleen has returned to the States to brave the cold of eastern Montana. Interested in conservation genetics, Colleen is most excited about applying non-invasive wildlife tracking methods to learn about populations on the Reserve. 

Meet the rest of the team after the break:

Amanda Smith is from Madison, Wisconsin and currently lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. Amanda is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a BS in Zoology. She spent the last year working for a non-profit conservation organization as a volunteer coordinator and field leader. She has worked on camera trap surveys as well.  Her favorite part of being outdoors is experiencing the incredible details in an environment that build up the big picture we all enjoy.  

Tony Mancuoso is a recent graduate from Mansfield University with a B.S. in Geography and a minor in Geology. As an undergraduate he concentrated his degree on outdoor recreation leadership.  His passions lie in adventure.  Tony grew up backpacking through the hardwood forests of Eastern Pennsylvania and now enjoys whitewater paddling, climbing, and backpacking.  For the past two years he worked as a raft guide and trip leader on the Lehigh River. He loves learning to understand new places and this past summer completed a backpacking tour through the Mojave, Sonoran, and Great Basin deserts that culminated in a successful summit of Mt. Whitney. Tony’s professional ambition is to learn as much as he can about how the Earth works, and then spread the word to as many people as possible.

Tomas Ward has collected field data for conservation biology projects throughout the U.S. since 2004. Oregon, Southeast Alaska, and the Great Lakes bioregion are among the places where he has collected data in the field. He also makes a living as a horticulturalist, builder, and cook. Tomás is working with ASC this winter while taking a break from The Organic Gardener in Highland Park, IL.  

Cayley Faurot-Daniels grew up on the central coast of California and received a B.S degree in Biology with a concentration in Field and Wildlife from Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo. An appreciation for nature was instilled in her at an early age with summers spent on the Big Sur coast and in the high country of the Sierras, and she is thrilled that her work now continues to feed her love of the outdoors. She has become a field work enthusiast, working on projects ranging from kangaroo rats to grizzly bears and sea otters to amphibians. Work in Glacier NP brought Cayley out to Montana in 2011, and she has since worked in Yellowstone near Grand Teton National Parks as well. She is looking forward to exploring the prairie and observing and tracking all of the wildlife it has to offer. 

Find out more about the Landmark project on the Landmark page or by reading other Landmark blog posts. Keep up with ASC by subscribing to ASC’s blog, liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter (@AdventurScience), Instagram (@AdventureScience) and Google+.