Speakers:

Craig Childs:
Craig Childs is a writer who focuses on natural sciences, archaeology, and mind-blowing journeys into the wilderness. He has published more than a dozen critically acclaimed books on nature, science, and adventure. He is a commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Men's Journal, Outside and Orion. His subjects range from pre-Columbian archaeology to US border issues to the last free-flowing rivers of Tibet.

With a mother hooked on outdoor adventure, and a father who liked whiskey, guns, and Thoreau, his life was rigged from the start. In his teens, Childs began working as a river guide, and since then has held numerous jobs to support his field time, from gas station attendant to journalist to beer bottler. Now making a living as a writer, Childs lives off the grid with his wife and two young sons at the foot of the West Elk Mountains in Colorado.

Craig is the author of several acclaimed novels including, House of Rain, Animal Dialogues and The Secret Knowledge of Water.

Peter Illyn:
Raised in South Carolina, Peter  spent nine years serving as a pastor in Foursquare churches in Portland, OR and Yakima, WA. Peter returned to school for an undergraduate degree in marketing. Upon graduation, as a sabbatical, Peter took two llamas on a four-month, 1,000 mile trek through the Cascades, which set the long-distance record for llama packing.

According to Peter, “I went into the mountains an minister, but I came out an environmental activist. I believe God made a good earth and I am called to be a good steward; to protect the fruitfulness and connectedness of creation.” Peter returned to school for a Masters degree in social marketing, combining his three passions – nature appreciation, social marketing and Christian theology and began to create an alternative framework for Christians to engage nature, compared to the “dominion” theology perpetrated by the far right.

Edward M. Norton:
Edward M. Norton has been an advocate for the protection of special places of natural and historic value for more than 30 years. 

Mr. Norton currently serves as the Chairman of the Conservation Lands Foundation and a Trustee of the Wyss Foundation.  He is also Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco. 

Mr. Norton received his law degree from Harvard Law School. From there he went on to serve as an Assistant Attorney General of Maryland as counsel to the Maryland State Legislature and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.  From 1977 to 1981, he was a federal prosecutor with the United States Attorney in Maryland.

He has long served conservation organizations and has played key roles in advocating for better protection at home and abroad. His career includes serving as special counsel and Executive Director to the The Wilderness Society.

In 1986, he became the founding President of the Grand Canyon Trust.  He was also the founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, an organization that works to convert abandoned railroad corridors into recreational trails.  In 1994, he became Vice President for Law and Public Policy of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
 
In 1999, when he moved to Kunming, Yunnan Province, China to become the Senior Advisor to The Nature Conservancy’s China Program.   In that role, he helped to create The Conservancy’s Yunnan Great Rivers Project to conserve biodiversity in northwest Yunnan Province and to establish a system of Nature Reserves and Protected Areas. 

From August 2005 to January 15, 2007, he served as The Nature Conservancy’s Deputy Director of the Asia-Pacific Region, based in Bali, Indonesia and working on marine and terrestrial biodiversity conservation projects in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, China, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.  He also served as Senior Advisor to the USAID Orangutan Conservation Project in Indonesia.